[Archived] Virgin Lose Rail Franchise

[Grabbi Graeme]

Iam in the RMT union and I pay a monthly sub and all I get is a diary every year, I have yet to profit from any strike action that I have been involved in, I have lost pay through strike action because Bob Crow is a idiot, all he is is a publicity seeking nobody who doesn't giver a toss about his members.

[thenodrog]

Manchester leads, and the rest of the country follow. Tram networks have been built in Sheffield and Nottingham and are expanding, while Leeds has plans for trolleybuses. Is it too much to hope for Blackburn's trams to return one day ? They used to run from the town centre to Ewood on match days.

Fit em all on a tandem soon..... depending on how long Ewood is still the home of a football team. Just as an aside Jim would you sanction the spending of millions based on the ongoing situation with BRFC? I certainly wouldn't.

BUT I do recall there wa a feasibilty study carried out a few years back on running trams from Darwen to Accy via Blackburn but the project was abadoned with the reason given that the hills (presumably Audley and Craven Brow) were too steep.

[thenodrog]

...... I have lost pay through strike action because Bob Crow is a idiot, all he is is a publicity seeking nobody who doesn't giver a toss about his members.

Not an idiot as much as a communist politician although it's a paradox whether such a creature could ever exist. Communists don't have politicians do they? They have unelected elitist leaders instead.

http://www.communist-party.org.uk/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=461:bob-crow-called-for-maximum-support-for-the-new-peoples-charter&catid=35:wintor-0809&Itemid=2

[thenodrog]

No sympathy at all. All workers have the right to withdraw their labour. You know what I think of the twisted old hag and the damage she did to this country. One example is this great "car society" (her words) she helped to create and her refusal to invest in public transport for which we are all now paying the price in congestion and sky-high fuel prices.

Peter Hitchen. A rather unlikely ally for you I would have thought. Bottom of page...... http://www.dailymail...ories-will.html

[martonrover]

Not strictly relevant but I love First Group as they gave me the chance to be a train driver :-)

[DanLad]

Not strictly relevant but I love First Group as they gave me the chance to be a train driver :-)

Train driver. Good job. Well done!

[martonrover]

Train driver. Good job. Well done!

Cheers, still can't believe my luck

[Grabbi Graeme]

It is to be discussd in the commons on Mondayabout the West Coast franchise award to First Group, not sure anything is going to come of it as I cant see the goverment climbing down over this, and in the event that they do decide against awarding the franchise to First Group, then the West Coast goes into goverment hands and the whole bidding process starts again.

[Grabbi Graeme]

Well I didn't see the Dft doing a U turn on this but they have announced today that they have scrapped the current franchise bid on the West Coast Main Line while they investigate flaws in the bidding system. They are now to decide what happens to the WCML in the mean time while they conduct their investigation into the the way companies bid for rail franchises, Virgin have offered to run it as a non profit company until the Dft have sorted this mess out and the bidding process starts all over again.

[jim mk2]

It doesn't matter whether the railways are publicly or privately owned but the whole stupid franchising system should be scrapped and the whole lot put back together again.

[meerkat]

Iam in the RMT union and I pay a monthly sub and all I get is a diary every year, I have yet to profit from any strike action that I have been involved in, I have lost pay through strike action because Bob Crow is a idiot, all he is is a publicity seeking nobody who doesn't giver a toss about his members.

If your so unhappy, get another job?

Apparently there are loads of them out there.

Cheers, still can't believe my luck

Good on you +1

Manchester leads, and the rest of the country follow. Tram networks have been built in Sheffield and Nottingham and are expanding, while Leeds has plans for trolleybuses. Is it too much to hope for Blackburn's trams to return one day ? They used to run from the town centre to Ewood on match days.

Trams FTW, get cars and buses off the roads.

How the hell they would cope with Brandy House Brow I'm not sure , but believe they coped with Haslingden Road with no problems.

[Grabbi Graeme]

If your so unhappy, get another job?.

Where in my post did I say I was unhappy in my job?, I was stating that I didn't like Bob Crow who is the leader of the RMT union of which Iam a member.

[cn174]

http://blog.bigjigstoys.co.uk/our-wcml-bid-has-been-accepted-almost/

[jim mk2]

Lovely stuff. Good to see civil servants still have a sense of humour despite job losses and the efforts of this govt.

Now can they please put the network back together and end this wasteful and destructive franchising system ?