Comebacks and other annoying things

Published 23/12/10 - Dunfermline Press

And the award for the remarkable comeback of the week goes to...[drumroll]...the snow! Much to the disgust of teachers, drivers and anyone who wants to hear about anything else on the news. But please, this Christmas, spare a thought for those trying to make it better for you. The Train Conductors, the Bus Drivers, the people who work in the Fife Council contact centre. They’ve been getting it in the teeth for the last few weeks, they’re not responsible for what’s happened but since they’re the public face of the operation – they get the blame. It’s not terribly fair. And no-one wants to be sad at Christmas.

 So, I’m taking it upon myself to try and explain what’s been going on and why everything is just as good as it can be. Ok, let’s start with the trains. The trains can get through snow with no problems whatsoever, the issue is that their electrical parts don’t like it one bit. The snow can be sucked into the engine’s cooling fans, blocking them causing the engine blocks to heat up and a safety system shutting the engine down. The compressors, which compress air to allow the drivers to take the brakes off don’t work in the extreme cold. You might have noticed the rather large lumps of ice stuck on the side of the trains, these are a nuisance since they can fall off and bounce off the sleepers, possibly damaging the underside of the train – as you can imagine, ScotRail aren’t too happy about letting trains run when that happens.

Then there’s the council, and boy, are they taking a beating. In my role as a Community Councillor, I receive updates on what the council has been doing each day to cope with the snow and ice. If I’m honest, given the extreme weather, they seem to be doing pretty well. On one particular day, in the ‘south area’ of Fife, they had over forty vehicles ranging from gritters and ploughs, to wee clearance machines hard at work on what they define as ‘primary routes’ – immediate access routes to schools and hospitals, as well as bus routes – and a few more on secondary, less important routes. There’s been much criticism of how smaller streets haven’t been cleared too. The answer, quite simply, is that there’s thousands of kilometres of streets but, they are not as important as the roads between our towns and villages, which we need for the emergency services and food deliveries, among other things. Also, the snow was quite often undoing their hard work not long after. 

Then there’s the buses which have struggled through the snow with some semblance of a service. But more than once entire routes have been suspended entirely, why? Among other things, cars that have struggled in the snow have been abandoned on some roads – making them impassable. Also, some drivers not being able to get to the depot. Give them credit though, they have tried to keep some major routes going especially the 7 and the 19.

So, with more colder winters on the cards what are we going to do? Snow tyres, perhaps. More organisation? Perhaps, although the council has done fairly well. More information – definitely. We complain because we can’t see what’s being done. So, tell us (like they have on FifeDirect) and keep us informed. But please, please, don’t harass the person on the other end of the phone. They’re probably as annoyed as you, it’s just they’re not allowed to admit it.

Thoughts on the 1909 to Edinburgh.

Aviemore in December is meant to be a Winter wonderland. It ain’t. It’s a mere -8^oC, there’s around an inch of sn-, sorry slush, on the ground and an entire season’s worth of snow on nearby Cairngorm. Getting around is difficult to say the least, when the locals refuse to use the backroads – it’s bad. The buses are at the mercy of the A9 and the gritters, while train services are being disrupted by snowploughs heading down the single track sections and the newer units being unable to cope with the arctic temperatures being experienced. As a result, I’m evacuating Aviemore on a train that’s been delayed 40 minutes caused by the crew being delayed by the same amount on a northbound train. Not only that, but the train is 20 years old instead of just 5 – that’s technology for you. Luckily, with all the disruption there’s a few of these things (I believe it’s a Class 158 – if you want to look them up and know what I’m talking about) lying around spare – so they’ve put three of them together to get everyone a seat.

The train crew have carried on this extra-helpfulness in their respective positions. The driver – by making the thing go like a Bat out of Hell (90mph between Aviemore and Kingussie? Hell yes!). And the Conductor by searching for passengers who have connections to catch and keeping them informed. As I got my laptop out I realised it was out of battery. I bumped into the Conductor and asked him if there was any First Class service tonight (given that it’s near identical, just a different pattern on the seat, a plug socket and a lamp)- result! The reply, “sit where you want tonight, mate”, gave me some much needed leg room, an article and a blog post!

The Conductor’s just passed me looking for Glasgow passengers, “Good news folks, the Aberdeen train’s been delayed and it’ll be in Perth at half past”. Well, they could have replied with some more enthusiasm anyway. Most of them just grunted their approval before going back to listening to the latest Clubland album.

So, given the above example, you’d be forgiven for thinking that ScotRail would like to have Conductors on every train. The fact is they don’t. Instead, they favour a method known as DOO, Driver Only Operation. This would mean that the Driver would be the sole person onboard responsible for the safety of the train, as well as its passengers. Instead of Conductors, Ticket Examiners would be employed. Ticket Examiners receive only 80% of a Conductor’s wage and do not get trained on the types of trains or the routes they work, so in the event of a problem or emergency a Ticket Examiner would not be able to help the Driver other than to evacuate the passengers (which they are trained in, along with First Aid). Also, their only job is to issue and check tickets and give advice on train times. There’d be no more phoning control to find out what the Aberdeen passengers should do. No one there at the doors to help your Granny get up the step, instead the driver would just look at his monitor, or at a mirror, while the train was stopped.

It gets worse too, regulations require worked conventionally to carry both a Driver and a Conductor when passengers are onboard. DOO would mean the Driver Could leave without a Ticket Examiner if one wasn’t available – would you feel safe on the last train at night, knowing that the only guy in charge of your safety is up the front Driving?

Post Script: The train is now between Perth and Kirkcaldy, the crew changed over in Perth and the journey is achingly slow. The train coasts for 3-4 minutes before the rumbling whine of the engine returns to pull us back to speed, which doesn’t take long at all. I’ve also not heard a word from the Conductor, over the tannoy or anywhere else. Typical, eh?

In the interests of balance:

·         Trains have operated without incident under DOO, largely out of Glasgow Central, without incident for over 25 years.

·         The Airdrie – Bathgate line opened on 12^th December 2010, the Conductors that worked the original Edinburgh -  Bathgate service were downgraded to Ticket Examiners, and kept the original pay and conditions. The dozens of new recruits didn’t.

·         Procedures have existed to ensure DOO is as safe as possible, yet a communication system with the Driver is hardly going to replace the human presence and knowledge a train Conductor has readily available.

Why tuition fees are threatening life as we know it

Published in the Dunfermline Press 09/12/10

EDIT: This was written in advance of the vote. Sadly, 21 votes the wrong way has seen countless futures go out the window.

Today sees the vote on the bill which may see tuition fees in England rise to £9000 in some of the most prestigious universities. Despite this being a decision that will only affect England, this has a huge bearing on the whole of UK as we know it.

The reasoning behind this decision is that taxpayers should not have to subsidize other people's 'lifestyle choices’ - a principle that goes against everything we value in this country.

If we were to apply this rather selfish attitude to say, the NHS - we get a whole load of problems. A 21 year old may argue that he shouldn't need to pay for the NHS, he's never ill. Someone else could argue that the Government shouldn't pay into retirement homes for ex-soldiers, since the Army has never done anything for him. The whole argument makes no sense whatsoever. Which is why the collective responsibility concept of the welfare state and the NHS is so brilliant and so valuable – you get free healthcare from birth, you get education for free, you pay taxes when you get a job, then you retire and the Government pays you a pension.

If the coalition's vote is successful (and sadly, it looks inevitable), are any of our public services really safe?

The NHS could be a target, since the biggest consumers are the young (too young to pay tax) and the old (generally have too low an income to pay tax) the rest of the population shouldn't have to foot the bill. What will this lead to? A dangerous situation where everyone needs private health insurance if they want any sort of decent healthcare. So the poorest get ill and can't get better or support their families, and the oldest get ill and can't pay to get better. Where is the justice in that?

Public transport? Why should you rely on the Government to help you get around because you haven’t been forward thinking enough to learn to drive. One thing’s for certain - if you want to get to Orkney, or you’re under 17, you’re in trouble.

It’s also worth pointing out why this bill will benefit the richest the most. Given that your average student doesn’t have £9000 to spare, he or she will have to take out a loan to pay back these fees with interest added on top. Meanwhile the richest students, many of whom will have benefitted from a private education already – a fast track to university – and a greater disposable income, will be able to avoid higher interest charges by paying back tuition fees quicker.

I feel that entry to higher education should be based on ability to learn, rather than ability to pay. So, why does the Government feel the best way to cut the budget deficit is to exploit young people in pursuit of an education? When they could have close loopholes to collect millions in lost revenue from tax dodging bankers?

In fact, since when were bankers more important the young people’s educations?

“If you think education is expensive, try ignorance” – Derek Bok, American Educator and Lawyer

I spoke too soon

The Scottish Youth Parliament has just opened nominations for its 2011 elections, if you want to take part in this fantastic opportunity Click here

Well, hello!

Hi, this is my new shiny blog. It's mostly going to be populated by my contributions to the Dunfermline Press, so that'll be the first post to this page next Thursday. So you'll have to entertain yourselves till then.

Cheers,

Angus