So flaming angry! 😡

I didn’t realise until recently, talking to an acquaintance whose husband had retired from the railways that as retirees they both get free rail travel - here - on the €* and huge discounted fares in Europe too! Who knew? She and her husband were going by train from Málaga to Madrid and only had to pay 25% of the price of their tickets. I did used to wonder why they used train travel so much! Huge retirement perk. In the UK they regularly travel up from Birmingham to Carlisle to visit family at No Cost. No wonder they’re all laughing lumps.

OldFrill

Sorry about your stress, l suspect the the demanding job doesn't help. Assuming you're over 22 and on the National Living wage you received a 9.8% pay rise this year. I think it was the highest rise so far.

That’s kind of you, thank you 🌻

Sorry about your stress, l suspect the the demanding job doesn't help. Assuming you're over 22 and on the National Living wage you received a 9.8% pay rise this year. I think it was the highest rise so far.

madalene

Grunty that sounds like a complete nightmare. I’m not surprised you don’t want to go on holiday again.

I agree 🤦‍♀️

Grunty that sounds like a complete nightmare. I’m not surprised you don’t want to go on holiday again.

Elusivebutterfly

I sympathise with you. I often travel by train and have been inconvenienced over the last couple of years by the constant strikes so am glad the pay claim is settled.

Railway staff got a rise of around 4.5% per year, which is about the average for pay rises currently. It seemed a lot as it was three years rises agreed at once.

I have been told by an ex train driver that the train companies never employ enough staff to allow for holidays or sickness, hence the problem you now have. It takes around one year to train a driver and the privatised system does not want to spend the money on training and salaries.

Yes: As regards train drivers, they simply have not recruited and trained enough new train drivers over the last few years. that why they have not got enough staff.

It's a demanding and very responsible job job with long shifts.

Possibly the expense of recruiting and training and paying new drivers in training got put to the bottom of the pile in our "for profit" divided train network?

At any rate, the average age of a train driver is now 48 and the older ones much less willing to work overtime and more days -and safety concerns?

In 2023, I had a holiday booked and paid for months in advance. At the same time as booking the holiday, I booked my return train tickets. 2 weeks before the holiday I saw that industrial action was planned for the date I was due to travel and so I went back online and rearranged to travel the day before. The industrial action was then increased to 3 days. Nevertheless, I worked out that, by travelling with different rail companies, and taking a mixture of trains and replacement coaches, I could still go on holiday via a more circuitous and difficult route. 2 days before travel, more industrial action was planned for the weekend I was due to travel home and, in addition, parts of the service via the circuitous route would be closed for the whole weekend for repairs and maintenance. I gave up. Didn't go on holiday and lost my money. It will be a cold day in hell before I use the train again.

pascal30

I also travel by train Shinamae and have found that by booking on-line I can get hugely reduced fares and have the senior rail card reduction. You need to travel at the exact time on the ticket but if they have to change the times you can claim a full refund and travel on the next available train. I don't like coach journeys...

My daughter booked my ticket for Me and the price isn’t bad. I think it’s £63 return.I don’t go through to Paddington because Paddington frightens me now..
My daughter will pick me up from Reading and then it’s about an hour to where she lives and then she will drive me back to Reading when I’m coming home…

I also travel by train Shinamae and have found that by booking on-line I can get hugely reduced fares and have the senior rail card reduction. You need to travel at the exact time on the ticket but if they have to change the times you can claim a full refund and travel on the next available train. I don't like coach journeys...

I sympathise with you. I often travel by train and have been inconvenienced over the last couple of years by the constant strikes so am glad the pay claim is settled.

Railway staff got a rise of around 4.5% per year, which is about the average for pay rises currently. It seemed a lot as it was three years rises agreed at once.

I have been told by an ex train driver that the train companies never employ enough staff to allow for holidays or sickness, hence the problem you now have. It takes around one year to train a driver and the privatised system does not want to spend the money on training and salaries.

That is extremely irritating Shinamae. I hope you get there and enjoy the time with your daughter despite the changes to the timetable. I agree it’s annoying that this sort of thing is still happening despite a very generous pay rise.
It just makes you wonder, why haven’t they got enough staff?