Tube on Xmas Day?

That's not what you implied a few posts ago (at least how it came across to me:



As for Christmas and it's relevance, where my family is concerned we are probably one of a dwindling number who have a limit on spending and more or less stick to it. No we don't attend church, but have never lost sight of the true meanings of Christmas.

As far as other Holy Days, the way in which we close down at Christmas is the way we do things in this country. We do not however, close down for Easter.

Other countries treat their Holy Days as they see fit. If the whole world had everyone else's Holy Days off work, we would never be at work.

I have a lot of respect for you Q8, but I thought you stood firmly on our side. The case you make for Christmas Day services smacks of passenger opinion.

On another thread it said the customer is always right,if people want a Xmas service sooner or later it will happen.Personally it wouldn't bother me to work Xmas,I hate the time of year anyway with all the false bonhomie brought on by excess alcohol.Most peoples objections to working aT Xmas to me smack of hypocrosy as how many of them are regular church goers or attend midnight mass on Xmas Eve?

But That's just not true. We may be a multi-cultural society, but we are still a Christian country, in exactly the same way that Pakistan is Muslim and Tibet is Buddhist.
Nothing will change that, and although employers may let their staff celebrate other religions' holy days it is the Christian holidays we celebrate here.

So whether Citysig goes to church or not he is entitled to celebrate Christian holy days.

As to a public service, if it WERE volunteers (money-grabbers) so be it, but after what happened to spreadovers I'm sure it would not be long before Xmas was 'assimilated' by the (self-seeking) union leaders even if the men were against it.

Having a look through the various bus company websites etc, I can't find any! In fact many don't operate on Boxing day or New Years day either!

Up here at least there are no trains on Christmas Day, and no buses between Christmas Eve and the day after New Year's Day. You Londoners get off lightly!

It's this line, and sorry to quote it again, but this was one of the lines that stuck in my groin throat:



The syntax is as clear as day in there. How else could that have been worded or, for that matter, mis-interpreted?



But, to open the debate slightly wider, should a colleague of mine who does not celebrate Christmas, and volunteers to work it, be rewarded the same (i.e. the triple pay.) After all, the reward is there in the first instance to compensate for someone who cannot celebrate the day at home with family.

But now tell me that the money is there simply because it is Christmas Day, and is there to attract volunteers. Tell me that and I will ask that if this society is so equal, where is my triple time on one of their religious holidays?

Call it going too far, and maybe taking the discussion to a different angle, but there you go.

Ah, but those are essential services! That's the big difference!
You couldn't join the police force and expect not to be working Christmas day! The emergency services, and those others quoted are all essential, whereas running a train service is not.

I completely agree that some people may want to go out and about on Christmas day, and I don't doubt there'd be plenty of volunteers to work (I certainly wouldn't volunteer, no matter what rate they offered, but that's just personal) but I still believe that London can cope without the Tube for just one day per year, surely?!

Q8's point about taking the rough with the smooth and working is only valid if one joined the company when it still ran a service on Christmas Day. I suspect those people are now in the minority and most of them will be in grades not directly affected or sufficiently senior that they can "organise" matters to their own satisfaction.

With regard to the service itself I see no point in only opening a limited number of stations, it needs to be all or nothing. A prospective passenger migh be able to get to a station that's open but if the station they're intending to travel too is closed they won't bother. The same applies if their local station is closed and their destination station open.

The trains need to run from fairly early in the morning (although not as early as a normal Sunday) through to a normal close of traffic although a substantially reduced number of trains could be run.

However, if you are going to run a train service it will also be necessary to run a bus service since relatively few people live near a station. Everyone's journey starts at their front door and ends at someone else's, a point seemingly overlooked by transport and service planners.

That's the easy bit dealt with; the real challenge is staffing the service. People who joined in the expectation that there would never be a Christmas Day service, and want the day off, are going to be very "disappointed" if they are suddenly put in the position of having to work. Whilst running it with people who have volunteered is obviously easier the possibility of there not being sufficient volunteers must be taken into account and appropriate measure put in place. If that means non-Christians running the service in return for other faiths having their special day off then why not? However, where does that leave atheists, humanists and other of no faith at all, why should they be left out?

Of the eight Christmases I was on the job I was only called on to work one and that was an overnight sleet turn. Thanks to a mild weather forecast I worked that from my own bed.

Oh dear, looks like I've missed a whole bunch of trouble while I was working. A great pity that the young guy who started this thread now thinks it's his fault. It is clearly not, as Phil has said elsewhere.

Regardless of religion, 25th December is a 'special' day in this country. This was so, even in pre-Christian days, when it was a festival to mark and celebrate mid-winter.

Although I'd have probably accepted Christmas Day working if it had continued from the early 1970s, I have now become accustomed to not working on it. Anybody who has joined LUL in the last 20 years would have done so on the understanding that they would NOT have to work on 25th December.

Perhaps one day, before I retire, we will be forced to work a full service on that day. Not a big problem for me now, but I'd feel sorry for younger blokes (especially those with little kids) who'd have to work. That wasn't on the cards when they joined.

Trying hard to remember now Colin, as it was a long time ago! Think it was 1974 (plus or minus a year).
From the attitude of the older guys I got the feeling that the (very limited) Christmas Day service was something that had been around for a long time. It was certainly around in the mid 1960s when I was a kid.

This is taxing my memory (1st post) but I remember (1) as a guard (what are they???) receiving a case of beer from a punter on the last train to Arnos Grove (1975) which I shared with my driver and the SM (promise) on Christmas Eve - and a doddle of a turn on xmas day 1976 which involved a move from Acton Siding (picc) to the platform for which I was paid 12 hrs and a day off in lieu - and didn't leave home before 08:30 (for a 09:30 start - service unti 13:30)

the beers went down VERY well!!!!!!!