H&C full suspension all weekend

Could it be the current trend to publicise planned closures weeks in advance has backfired on this occasion? Whatever work was planned ended up being cancelled, but LUL decided against cancelling the closure - because the public had already been told about the closure and the replacement buses booked.
Has LUL ever cancelled a planned closure?
On the operating side, surely drivers who had been looking forward for weeks to a particular Sunday free, due to line closure, would be more than a little irritated if LUL suddenly changed its mnd a week or so beforehand and announced normal service.

Yes, many times, and sometimes it has worked out well, and sometimes it hasn't. You can't simply cancel a weekend shutdown on a Monday morning and expect a full compliment of drivers to turn up on the Saturday. Changing their duties is no simple task and cannot be done at such short notice.

The last time I was on duty when a major shutdown was cancelled, they attempted to run a near-full service with (predictably - and we warned them) disastrous results.

In answer to the first question, an engineering possession has to be taken for some of the testing being carried out on the Jubilee. Part of the protection for those on and about the Jubilee Line tracks is to stop the Met Line from running - there are areas where both lines are very close and there is no room to install any sort of physical barrier to protect staff.

In answer to the second question, they do carry out other works whilst the Met is shut. Obviously, in a round-about way, the Met cannot carry out certain work that may infringe on the Jubilee Line possession, and cannot carry out work that may be infringe upon by the Jubilee Line possession. If you see what I mean ;D

Is he on Twitter?

Despite the explanation given by MetControl, I'm shocked that I'm starting to see the passengers perspective ;D ;D

Anyway...

Additional free holidays? I wished!!

No, it's still a normal working day.

It very much depends on what is left of the railway to run a service on, but drivers duties will generally be quite close to the same hours as they would have been on a day with no engineering work. Again depending on what can be provided, it may be that there'll only be 3 or 4 hours actual driving with the rest of a duty being 'Duty Managers Instructions' - that can mean phoning up and agreeing to book on later or finishing earlier. Obviously a nice bonus.

If there's substantially less work to cover, some duties that would normally have driving work on them are made into additional spares.

There can also be days when the whole depot will be on 'Duty Managers Instructions'. What usually happens then is the book on's are arranged so that there'll be 4 or 5 drivers booking on together in blocks throughout the day. Those drivers can either be used to cover work for another depot, or managers will use the opportunity to catch up on performance & development reviews, teamtalks, etc. Naturally they don't keep us for the full booked hours so again early finishes are a nice bonus.

Weekends are notoriously difficult to get off, but it's naturally quite a lot easier when there's engineering works as less work to cover means a few losses can be swallowed - especially if there are additional spares.

When the whole depot is on 'Duty Managers Instructions', particularly if it covers a Bank Holiday weekend, management do actively encourage drivers to book an annual leave day - that's all well and good but is it worth wasting an annual leave day when you might only be there for a few hours anyway? Some drivers so still find the facility useful though, if they want it guaranteed off.

So depending on what's scheduled, it may be possible to cancel a planned special timetable for weekend engineering work (as MetControl says, it has been done in the past), but then again it may be that there's just too much to undo and they have to run with it regardless.

I had a touch of that the other week. Don't worry, there's a lot of it about. Quick visit to your GP for some ointment and you'll be back to leaving people on the platform in no time ;D ;D

The LT website has the service shown as suspended on 7/8 August but running Edgware Rd-Whitechapel on 14/15 August. Assuming this is accurate, is this because the weekend of 14th is the last weekend of the blockade, therefore meaning that units can get back to Hammersmith during the following week.

Thanks for the gen, Met Control. Presumably it will be a 10 minute Met service Edgware Road-Whitechapel.
Could it be that there are some now servicable rakes of C stock 'trapped' at Hammersmith which the powers that be are relying on being able to use. Of course, with works this large in nature they will have a fairly good idea by around Thursday-Friday whether the works are likely to be finished on time, so they will presumably have the option to go for a change of plan.