Channel 4 TV series London underground

Thanks, that's been put in the diary

Hi folks,
There is a TV programe on channel 4 this Thursday at 10pm
called confessions of the London underground this show is about drivers, maintanance workers and line controllers and staff.

They have been after staff who wish to be sacked (for whistleblowing), though they would be replaced by actors.
Will be interesting to see how they put things across such as blaming staff or the new and old equipment,,,

I am wondering if I should watch. I can see myself shouting repeatedly at the screen at an endless stream of cleverly edited comments (which is even easier when you're using actors).

Show me 1 person who doesn't have some sort of complaint about the company they work for. No reason to air your dirty washing in public though, and also put your own career in jeopardy if they find out it was you.

If the job is that bad, and the money not good enough, move aside and let someone else have a turn.

Anyway, we'll see what is said. I may be jumping the gun, and maybe everyone is full of praise (but that wouldn't make good tv would it...)

Me thinks the management ain't gonna like this broadcast!

Can't say I enjoyed watching that. Seemed very bleak to me.

I don't know what it's like behind the scenes but are things really that bad?

I'm surprised to find that I'm the first to comment having watched the programme seven hours ago. I got the distinct impression that the programme was made without the co-operation of TfL, a neat idea to get professional actors to voice the words of staff.

It was interesting to hear the thoughts of operational staff today, they seem to have more to say nowadays than that which I recall in my career and I guess it illustrates the pressures that they are under now compared to a decade ago.

It looks as though the filming was somewhat covert and general, the Technical Officer was not in a relay room at all but a Strowger electro-mechanical telephone exchange twiddling with telephone wiring. AFAIK all Strowger equipment was removed from the old LT exchanges at least 20 years ago and I certainly didn't recognise the room as an LUL site so I guess that was done somewhere else although most Strowger that I am aware of these days is in the hands of museums or in private collectors garages.

The station supervisor standing on the platform or sitting in a mess room, the station staff, train driver and ERU characters and the controller had much to say but all seemed out of place in terms of location which served only to highlight that the programme was made covertly, the open neck blue shirts were a bit of a mickey take.

Of course I could identify with much of what was uttered, in that regard nothing much seems to have changed since I retired and of course TfL/LUL still likes to offer stock answers to questions, presumably those answers were obtained under FOI requests and simply highlight just how out of touch the higher echelons of management are with the sharp end of the job as we used to call it before it became the front line.

As ever TfL/LUL cannot be honest, one would've thought that the lesson would have been learnt by now after so many years of official beeper centex. When will it understand that although the travelling public may not like what it would hear in an honest account of the state of the system it would prefer knowing the truth to being fobbed off all the time. This was highlighted by the remarks about 'good service' and how the front line staff are bearing the brunt of management politics.

LUL management has suffered from the same disease for many years, relying upon KPIs and statistics which as we all know reflect what they want to see rather than how it actually is! The system is so structured that nobody really wants to rock the boat because doing so could affect one's chances of promotion as it usually drops someone in it somewhere and managers hate to be embarassed. This may have been missed by some but the reference to 'points' and 'scores' made it clear to those of us who understand exactly what was said.

The reference to 'mystery shoppers' was food for thought, LU has used them for years to gather information but it really would be a better idea for high level managers to get out of the offices and travel in cognito around the system, making completely unannounced and covert visits to locations to see what staff do on a normal day rather than what they do when they know that a visit is imminent. Some may know that the system requires managers to make visits to sites and staffs under their control to keep tabs on H&S issues, fire compliance and other items, these visits are known about before they happen so the paperwork will always tend towards indicating 100% compliance with standards even if it isn't the norm.

I believe that the highest level managers would learn more from spending a few days travelling the system with their eyes open than sitting in their offices and believing the statistics submitted by those beneath them. As a former Technical Officer I was shocked at just how much the Engineering manager didn't know about the hoops we had to jump through sometimes to try and meet his targets and indeed what went on at intermediate level in his own department and I have never had any doubt that most department heads are similarly unaware of the detail involved in getting a job done. Of course it is the system that has enabled such a culture to thrive and survive.

Managers really should remember that it is the staff that keep the railway working efficently and not always because of the rules, regulations and procedures but because they take a pride in their work. It takes a strong individual to stand up to a manager determined to meet targets without the required resources but it is a battle that many face on a daily basis. Most managers will take liberties if they can at the expense of the personnel beneath them and that is a part of the old LT culture that continues to survive in corporate LUL even though those at the very top may not know it.

In all my years in the job I was always a 'Company man' and I was proud to work for LT/LUL but I always hated the apparent dishonesty, naivity or ignorance from above that I felt let the system and the staff down. The programme served only to reinforce my feelings, the pride in my many years of service tempered by the feeling of being let down by those in high places.

Who can but agree with the above. Fully endorsed, naturally..............

I can only comment from the train side as the last time I was on the platforms was so long ago that flares, platform shoes and high waisters were just going out of style. And most of what I was required to do was as a runner twixt the bookies and the station manager's office. A guy who didn't so much have a flutter, but flap his giant Pterodactyl like wings...........

Well, not to overtly sensationally negative - The wry Richard Wilson commentary kept that in check. It was Victor Meldrew wasn't it? Well yeah, put the remains in a cupboard until collection time, but NOT in mess rooms as has been the case. "You can't keep a dead body in here, it's where you prepare food!" << Doctor to Basil Fawlty, Kipper And The Corpse..........The mess room that the shirted bird sat in was a mock-up, or appeared to be. But they'd hardly be allowed to film in the real thing would they.........

I didn't like the use of on screen actors. Voice overs would of been just as effective. All that wandering around in just a scruffy shirt was irritating and hardly realistic. The driver sitting in his car looked the real deal though - Bald, fat, ageing n gobby. Too close to home for comfort actually. From a driver's perspective the program wasn't telling a downer, more just the way it is. State of the track, idiotic punters, crush loading on narrow platforms etc........

So scores out of ten. I'll give it an eight - 8/10 - What about you Ceiling Cat? 'Seven point five - 7/.5' 'Why the drop of a half dear puss?' 'Well I wanted it to show the skivvies on the gate line n the toffs passing through all getting along nicely. Historically accurate so to speak, just like in Downturn Abbey National...........'

IMHO it highlights a main issue with managers not managing but it didn't tackle properly the supervisors not supervising and the general lack of ownership some exhibit in their areas of responsibility (if you see what I mean...).
An interesting watch and I liked it, but from certain points of view it did seem like a load of people whinging.

I have learnt to not rely on a documentary voiced by Richard Wilson to have an impartial and balanced account of the facts. Not that I doubt these are real concerns for some staff, but that the editorial team have gone for the 'good stories'...

As for TfL's involvement, my understanding is that they have been involved at every stage. Of course any filming on location should have been completed by agreement with the TV/film office (although stock footage could also have been used). I suspect they may have been less keen to be involved when they saw the direction the programme was heading in though.

In order to appear to be a balanced and neutral programme, channel 4, as a publicly owned and public service broadcaster will be required to seek a response from TfL. Channel 4 will have submitted information late in production on the intended content of the programme to TfL/LU and invited a response. This response will be what was quoted within the programme.

You didn't mishear it!

I thought the program was a bit rubbish to be honest... and I think both my housemate and I were in agreement that it actually made some of the "staff" involved in the film out to be lazy and actually painted a very bad view of the both LU and those staff involved in general.

One in particular caused him to comment that if you didn't like the job you were doing, then why are you actually still doing it??

I don't mean to offend any staff on this forum, if any is caused I apologise.

I was not that inpressed with this documentary I thought it was untrue and were ezagerating a bit. Yes it is a old system but they are upgrading it.