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Post by jamesb on Aug 12, 2018 20:39:39 GMT
Yesterday, I found a pencil case left on a seat, containing a young lady's identity card, house keys, etc. I didn't want to leave it in the carriage (maybe I should have) and so took it off the train at Roding Valley.
I knocked on the door of the station office... no reply. I pressed the help point which rang and rang... no reply. I called TfL, who in turn called the station office... no reply.
The TfL person was very helpful. They were trying to find a contact number for the person, as I gave their details from the identity card. I was hanging on and on and eventually the train that I had alighted from was coming back having reversed at Woodford. I handed the item to the driver and informed the TfL person.
I was at Roding Valley for over 20 minutes trying to sort it out. I wasn't going to take the item home with me and I didn't particularly want to get the tube to Woodford. I heard from the TfL person that somebody from Woodford was coming to collect it from me, by which point I had already given it to a driver. He was a bit disappointed I think, after all of his efforts to reunite it with its owner.
You wouldn't want to need somebody in a hurry at an unmanned station...
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Post by John Tuthill on Aug 12, 2018 21:04:16 GMT
Yesterday, I found a pencil case left on a seat, containing a young lady's identity card, house keys, etc. I didn't want to leave it in the carriage (maybe I should have) and so took it off the train at Roding Valley. I knocked on the door of the station office... no reply. I pressed the help point which rang and rang... no reply. I called TfL, who in turn called the station office... no reply. The TfL person was very helpful. They were trying to find a contact number for the person, as I gave their details from the identity card. I was hanging on and on and eventually the train that I had alighted from was coming back having reversed at Woodford. I handed the item to the driver and informed the TfL person. I was at Roding Valley for over 20 minutes trying to sort it out. I wasn't going to take the item home with me and I didn't particularly want to get the tube to Woodford. I heard from the TfL person that somebody from Woodford was coming to collect it from me, by which point I had already given it to a driver. He was a bit disappointed I think, after all of his efforts to reunite it with its owner. You wouldn't want to need somebody in a hurry at an unmanned station... Someones ar*e wants a really good kicking if no one answers the help point!!!!  |
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Post by jamesb on Aug 13, 2018 0:13:01 GMT
Yesterday, I found a pencil case left on a seat, containing a young lady's identity card, house keys, etc. I didn't want to leave it in the carriage (maybe I should have) and so took it off the train at Roding Valley. I knocked on the door of the station office... no reply. I pressed the help point which rang and rang... no reply. I called TfL, who in turn called the station office... no reply. The TfL person was very helpful. They were trying to find a contact number for the person, as I gave their details from the identity card. I was hanging on and on and eventually the train that I had alighted from was coming back having reversed at Woodford. I handed the item to the driver and informed the TfL person. I was at Roding Valley for over 20 minutes trying to sort it out. I wasn't going to take the item home with me and I didn't particularly want to get the tube to Woodford. I heard from the TfL person that somebody from Woodford was coming to collect it from me, by which point I had already given it to a driver. He was a bit disappointed I think, after all of his efforts to reunite it with its owner. You wouldn't want to need somebody in a hurry at an unmanned station... Someones ar*e wants a really good kicking if no one answers the help point!!!! If there is no staff member at the station, who would answer it? It wasn't an emergency, and so I didn't press the green button, just the blue one. It would be useful if the help point would connect to an adjacent station / TfL if nobody was there though. |
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Post by John Tuthill on Aug 13, 2018 1:17:58 GMT
Someones ar*e wants a really good kicking if no one answers the help point!!!! If there is no staff member at the station, who would answer it? It wasn't an emergency, and so I didn't press the green button, just the blue one. It would be useful if the help point would connect to an adjacent station / TfL if nobody was there though. Sorry, your post didn't make it clear. |
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Post by aslefshrugged on Aug 13, 2018 12:41:56 GMT
"Every station will remain staffed and controlled at all times".
Mike Brown (now TfL Commissioner), back when he was Managing Director of London Underground, on the subject of closing ticket offices, 22 April 2014.
Back when Fit for the Future Stations was first proposed RMT and TSSA predicted that stations would be left unstaffed but they were branded luddites clinging on to outdated practises. Its common knowledge that Roding Valley, Snaresbrook and Theydon Bois are left unstaffed at times, no doubt there are a lot more across the combine but it will probably take a serious incident before the public ever realise what's going on.
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londoner
thinking on '73 stock
Posts: 480 
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Post by londoner on Aug 13, 2018 13:07:21 GMT
@aslef
It certainly was a strange idea. I could understanding perhaps closing ticket offices at certain quiet stations away from Central London, but the seemingly one rule fits all approach, and the removal of a large portion of staff, was bizarre.
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Post by Tubeboy on Aug 13, 2018 14:14:45 GMT
According to the station logbook, the station was unstaffed from 1900-2300. Earlier in the day it was unstaffed from 1200-1230 so the supervisor could have their break.
In terms of help points, the info button should be getting diverted to the line control centre, in this case, Wood Lane.
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Chris M
Global Moderator
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Posts: 19,795
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Post by Chris M on Aug 13, 2018 17:15:14 GMT
Are help points routinely tested? Including diversion to the control centre?
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Post by Tubeboy on Aug 13, 2018 17:25:07 GMT
They are tested regularly. Normally on a rotating basis, so over the course of a week, they all get done. Some stations only have a few, others have many. I haven’t tested it to the control centre. If a help point isn’t working, we get an alert on our system in the office. The fault can then be escalated to get it repaired.
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Post by aslefshrugged on Aug 13, 2018 17:35:02 GMT
@aslef It certainly was a strange idea. I could understanding perhaps closing ticket offices at certain quiet stations away from Central London, but the seemingly one rule fits all approach, and the removal of a large portion of staff, was bizarre. It wasn't a strange idea at all, it was obvious when London Underground signed the contract for Oyster Cards in August 1998 that management saw it as a way to close ticket offices and cut station staff as a cost cutting exercise.
Fit for the Future Stations would have happened in 2007 if LUL hadn't been transferred from the DfT to TfL, Ken initially agreed to close 40 ticket offices and would certainly have closed more but he wouldn't let them cut staff numbers, indeed he wanted more station staff as a trade off.
Then Boris got elected, reverse ferreted on his promise to keep the ticket offices open and LUL eventually got what they wanted all along.
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Post by crusty54 on Aug 13, 2018 18:03:37 GMT
In the dim and distant past Roding Valley was unmanned except on Monday mornings.
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Post by Tubeboy on Aug 13, 2018 19:11:49 GMT
In the dim and distant past Roding Valley was unmanned except on Monday mornings. Presumably to renew people’s travelcards pre Oyster? |
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Post by SunSeeker on Aug 13, 2018 19:23:57 GMT
I lone work at an outer station and when I am on my meal break I certainly wont be answering any help points.
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Post by revupminster on Aug 13, 2018 19:40:57 GMT
After the 1993 company plan I worked at Elm Park and often left the station unmanned taking the keys to Hornchurch or Dagenham East. If a night turn was missing then whoever had the keys would close the station and open it in the morning. We used a paid for taxi or our own cars.
One of the reasons for a four hour unmanned station was say 700-1500 work a double shift on overtime to 2300 and because of the 12 hour rest rule would not be back until 1100. Therefore was paid three shifts one at overtime and only work 2 and half shifts. Some staff made a fortune doing this. I wanted my time off. 700-1900 Sunday shifts had two meal reliefs and staff often left the station unmanned.
If the 2300-700 man covered the missing 700-1100 he only got half a shift at overtime.
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Post by John Tuthill on Aug 13, 2018 20:18:57 GMT
I lone work at an outer station and when I am on my meal break I certainly wont be answering any help points. Then what's the point of having them at all then? |
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Post by jamesb on Aug 13, 2018 20:46:42 GMT
According to the station logbook, the station was unstaffed from 1900-2300. Earlier in the day it was unstaffed from 1200-1230 so the supervisor could have their break. In terms of help points, the info button should be getting diverted to the line control centre, in this case, Wood Lane. Thanks for that - it would make sense, it was about 21:30 that I was at Roding Valley. Would the blue information button be diverted , or just the emergency button? Pressing the blue button caused the help point to ring and ring before an automatic voice told me "there is no reply, please try again" or something similar. Perhaps it was diverted, and wherever it was diverted to didn't pick up - but I didn't get the impression that it was being diverted. |
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Post by crusty54 on Aug 13, 2018 21:15:16 GMT
In the dim and distant past Roding Valley was unmanned except on Monday mornings. Presumably to renew people’s travelcards pre Oyster? Before even Travelcards. Season tickets were issued. |
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Post by SunSeeker on Aug 13, 2018 23:02:49 GMT
I lone work at an outer station and when I am on my meal break I certainly wont be answering any help points. Then what's the point of having them at all then? To get help when there is a member of staff on site getting paid to help. Meal break is unpaid. |
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Post by brigham on Aug 14, 2018 7:52:47 GMT
So 'help points' are in some ways similar to the 'alternative bus service' of Beeching days?
A way to justify cuts.
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