Stop blaming Southern rail staff

It’s blatantly obvious that if the public can’t get to work or interviews or conferences or leisure activities – our economy will suffer.

So why is that it that the Government cannot get its act together and resolve the issues between the staff and the bosses?

Stop blaming the staff – who the Network Rail and Govia Thameslink Railway openly admit have to work on their rest days to provide the minimum service.

The staff too, are reliant on their earnings for their ability to manage.

Only this week, all the evening trains to Worthing, Littlehampton and Hastings were either delayed or cancelled completely!

Earlier trains were significantly delayed because of a broken rail.

This had the direct impact on a great number of vulnerable members of the public of all ages, including me – stuck in London with no idea of how or if they would get home at all.

Fortunately, to their credit the staff put on an extra train to Haywards Heath and couldn’t have been more helpful.

But to be forced to arrive at your destination at 1am in the morning is not an acceptable outcome for anyone.

It gives credence to the support for more staff on hand to deal with and prevent serious issues arising – those in power should stop taking the public’s goodwill for granted, start working together and help us all get back on track.

Southern Rail have been given £20 million to rectify the problem, as it is the only rail group under Govia that is not making a profit for shareholders – we were promised a new Project Board, with a passenger representative on the board to take on board our views - what’s happened?

Where’s the action and where’s the plan? The Scots can resolve their rail issues, why can’t we?

Cllr Hazel Thorpe

Liberal Democrats

Rose Cottage

High Street

Tarring

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