THE BRIGHTON BRANCH OF A.S.L.E.F.

‘With record passenger numbers we now need more, not fewer, rail staff. Services for passengers should be improved by 

investment in modern railway infrastructure and rolling stock – not by dismissing and deskilling guards and placing even 

more responsibility on the driver. ‘We will campaign in unity to oppose any extension of D.O.O., D.C.O. and D.D.O. and to 

seek to explore ways of reversing it where it has been introduced. This will include making our views clear to employers, 

government, and other politicians.’

Wilko raises the bar for railway pay talks

I want to thank all those working for our members in Freightliner and D.B.S. hit by the serial effects on the freight sector of 

the loss of steel and coal traffic. This loss – 16% plus in areas already economically depressed – is a bitter pill to swallow for 

the whole supply chain. Every officer and company council member is working hard to ensure those impacted are given every 

opportunity to stay on the railway.

The Shaw report flirts with further fragmentation of the railway to offset investment debt. There is talk of selling off 18 major 

stations so Network Rail can concentrate on its core business. Rumours abound about the sale of the overhead line structure, 

and communications structure, of the railway. None of this makes economic or operational sense.

Meanwhile the competition authority, endorsed by the O.R.R., suggests breaking up inter-city routes to encourage open 

access. 

More madness! Interesting, of course, that it’s only on lines that generate a surplus. These must be the only bits of the railway 

that need more – albeit smaller – geographical monopolies?

And we have Peter Wilkinson of the DfT, on £265k a year, publicly declaring that he is going to rip up the contracts of all 

those £60k a year three days a week train drivers? Apparently we all have big cars and credit cards and will crawl back after a 

couple of days on strike. To my knowledge there are no £60k a year three days a week drivers but maybe this base line of his 

should be the basis of all our future pay claims? We could call it the Wilkinson formula!

More importantly, is this DfT policy or did Wilkinson go rogue? We have asked the Transport Secretary to comment and 

asked what he is going to do about this person. And we reserve the right to take action if any driver suffers abuse or assault 

arising from his lies. As I said during the Night Tube and junior doctors disputes, they use this dirty tactic of demonising 

people publicly to damage their terms and conditions and futures. I wonder, is it our turn again?

Finally, I was overwhelmed by the massive support to allow me to continue as general secretary of our trade union. The 

numerous messages and endorsements, both within ASLEF and the wider movement, left me truly humbled and more 

determined not to let you down. Deepest thanks, as I see this as recognition of the work all of us in A.S.L.E.F. do together.

General Secretary

Just hours after Mick demanded that Wilkinson withdraw his offensive remarks he offered this half- hearted apology: ‘I 

apologise for any offence caused by my comments. I care passionately about the rail industry and I am committed to helping 

government deliver a better rail service for passengers. To do this we need to work with the whole of the rail industry.’ The 

DfT added: ‘It is right that Peter Wilkinson has apologised for his comments.’

But Mick said: ‘This bland unacceptable non-apology does nothing to restore faith or trust in the DfT for those in the frontline 

who deliver the railway every day.’

Mick has written to Patrick McLoughlin to ask if the Secretary of State for Transport thinks ‘the term muppet is appropriate 

language to use about staff who deliver the rail services we rely on every day’ and to ask whether Wilkinson’s views ‘reflect 

those of the DfT.’

I dreamed I saw Joe Hill last night

GREGOR GALL examines how capricious and rapacious employers are using the courts – and the Conservatives’ anti-

union legislation – to push back workers’ rights

GAME ON FOR SOUTHERN FAILWAYS

Web developers frustrated by continuing delays on Southern railways – the company dubbed Southern Failways by long- 

suffering passengers – have used their ordeal as inspiration for a new online game which ridicules the ToC and its ‘rubbish’ 

management. Tens of thousands of angry commuters have downloaded ramJam’s game Southern rail Tycoon – the aim of 

which is to stop guards from boarding trains so services are cancelled and ‘boom’ profits are picked up from passengers. once 

a sufficient number of train guards board a train and a delayed service eventually departs, the player loses the game. A 

Southern rail spokesman said: ‘It’s nothing to laugh at.’

-  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -  -

LOCOMOTIVE JOURNAL

OCTOBER 2016

PAUL DAVIES, managing director of a management consultancy, 

reveals the cosy relationship between Govia Thameslink Railway and the Department for Transport

Where is undoubtedly a cosy relationship between the Department for Transport and Govia Thameslink railway but perhaps 

more worrying are the attempts to cover up this unhealthy alliance – now orchestrated at the top of the civil service and 

including the cabinet secretary, sir Jeremy Heywood, and the government in the form of the minister for the cabinet office, 

Ben Gummer.

We all have an interest in this – because it appears that the government, and the DfT, are using the relationship with GTR to 

bully the train company’s staff and, as the service deteriorates, to blame the unions to cover up an unhealthy relationship 

between civil servants and a private company.

WEB OF FALSE INFORMATION

I started to unravel this cosy relationship, between Govia and the DfT, over what seemed to be initially a fairly trivial matter

the Independent Penalty Fares Appeals service. Parliament required that if penalty fares were introduced, there should be an 

independent appeals service. But it turns out that I.P.F.A.s is anything but independent – in fact it is run as an integral part of 

southeastern Trains – owned, like southern, by govia. To cover this up the DfT and its Permanent secretary Philip Rutnam 

created a web of false information including the statement that I.P.F.A.s was a separate business unit and then ‘an arm’s length 

subsidiary’. Even though he knew neither statement was true, Philip Rutnam has refused to respond to requests to correct 

them.

Nick Bisson, then Director for rail, eventually admitted that every time a penalty fare appeal is turned down, executives of 

govia personally benefit financially – with the blessing of the DfT. A DfT official also admitted that if an appeal is upheld, 

govia’s executives still benefit financially as the DfT has authorised Govia to charge an ‘administration fee’.

This is when i started to smell ‘something rotten in the state of Denmark’. i seemed to be scratching on the surface of a major 

scandal – if the DfT were prepared to help Govia’s executives make money secretly here – what else was going on?

I started to dig deeper and found that David Brown, chief executive of Govia, on a base salary of £2,160,000, used to be head 

of London surface transport – and a colleague of Philip Rutnam. I saw that the contract to run Thameslink wasn’t actually a 

franchise – but a management contract. This meant that Govia could do what it liked but faced no financial risk – it just got 

paid.

Platform danger on Southern Failways 

The Association of British commuters has called on the Department for Transport to step in and prevent a tragedy on southern 

rail. ‘We have been inundated with reports of health and safety risks related to overcrowding on the southern rail network,’ 

said a spokesperson. ‘Problems we witnessed for many months, and reached their peak during the strike action. our lawyers 

have written to the D.F.T. seeking clarity on whether they conducted any risk analysis in advance of the R.M.T. strikes, and at 

what point the D.F.T. will consider these risks sufficiently serious to warrant termination of the franchise.

‘We want to know what instructions, if any, the D.F.T. has given to G.T.R. to minimise the effect on rail users, and whether 

G.T.R.’s implementation of these instructions is being properly monitored. Witness reports include violence at Brighton 

station, dangerous overcrowding, mass panic, mass rushes along overcrowded platforms to board trains after last minute 

announcements, and a child abandoned on a platform due to overcrowding.

‘The D.F.T. has failed to enforce the G.T.R. franchise agreement and is evading responsibility to provide proper transparency. 

We have no confidence in G.T.R.’s management of the network, or the D.F.T.’s oversight; extra overcrowding during the strikes 

represents an unacceptable H&S risk to the public; it is not a matter of if but when we will see a tragedy on the network.’ 

Mick Whelan has told M.P.s why A.S.L.E.F. is opposed to the introduction and/or extension of driver only operated routes, 

why the union is balloting members on southern for industrial action, and why D.O.O. is inherently unsafe.

‘it’s been our policy for over 15 years to seek to eradicate D.O.O,’ said Mick. ‘D.O.O. was designed for three-car 317s on the 

Bed-Pan line in the late ’80s early ’90s. But increased footfall in our industry means that, unfortunately, when you have 1,100 

passengers on 12 cars and you get two seconds to check 24 sets of doors, well, we don’t feel that’s adequate time to deal 

properly with the safety of the public.’

Mick was giving evidence about the industrial dispute with G.T.R. on southern, and the failure of franchising, to the House of 

Commons Transport select committee in the Grimond room at Portcullis House on 24 October.

‘We were aware [of plans for D.O.O on Southern] and did consult with the D.F.T. but they go through a token exercise and 

ignore the input. We did warn of the possible outcome of changing terms and conditions and methods of working through the 

invitation to tender. But the company is saying the government has told them to do this; so the people trying to resolve this 

situation don’t have the power to resolve it.

‘The difference between us, and the D.F.T. and some of the companies we have to deal with, is that we’re honourable. Where 

we have agreements we seek to change them because we think they’re inherently unsafe. And the industry is now catching up. 

D.O.O. is not fit for purpose. There are blind spots all over the place.’ 

In the eye of the storm

The say it’s peaceful at the eye of the storm but, let me assure you, it’s not. You quickly learn that the media, the government, 

and some of the public don’t care about the real issues. The media, with one or two interesting exclusions, pander to the 

rhetoric about nasty unions hurting working people. I am yet to hear many people defend us for standing up not for gain, but 

for safety, on GTR Southern. And where is the public outcry for 1,116 freight train drivers facing uncertainty at DBC after 

years of loyal service?

The government has chosen not to intervene or investigate the issues that may put the viability of our infrastructure at risk and 

I do not hear a lot from the appropriate industry quangos. As for GTR Southern, having employed them to do their dirty work, 

and caused all the issues that face us, the government attacks our right to strike; something we never do lightly or without 

family, and personal, cost. They’re getting desperate when they claim we are seeking to bring down the Tories; we are simply 

reacting to issues not of our making. Apparently we have a pact with sister trade unions; we do not, we have a joint campaign 

and are not even both affiliated to the same political party and, of course, compete with them in several areas.

We understand that passengers, paying inflated fares for a service that was crap before any action was taken, are naturally 

upset. 

Evidence of full crews sitting around while trains are cancelled makes you wonder what the company is up to. But we are 

receiving far more messages of support and 73% of the public want a guard on every train.

I am never surprised at the solidarity and unity you are showing at this difficult time. The constant drip feed of lies that we are 

refusing meetings, or of offers being made, and of course taking us to court, is all designed to undermine that. Offers to meet 

if we suspend or cancel action are not genuine; going to ACAS to be told ‘let us complete what we are doing and then we can 

talk about how we normalise relationships’ is not an offer, and you would rightly castigate us if we pursued either of those 

avenues. 

This is not about DOO, but dwell times, and is a scenario likely to be repeated in other franchises in coming years.

Despite our challenges, may I take this opportunity to wish you a Happy and Peaceful New Year.

Yours fraternally

Mick Whelan

General Secretary

The company – with a desperately thin argument about E.U. laws on freedom of movement and the right of people to get to 

Gatwick Airport, described by the judge, Sir Michael Burton, as ‘novel’, a legal euphemism for ‘risible’ – took the case to the 

High Court, where it lost, and then to the Appeal Court, where Lord Justice Elias, sitting with Lord Justice Lewison and Lord 

Justice Lloyd Jones, backed our right to take lawful industrial action.

A.S.L.E.F. officers were out in force explaining our action. The G.S. was interviewed by John Humphrys in the prestigious 8.10 

a.m. slot on Today on Radio 4; by Jo Coburn on Daily Politics on B.B.C. 2; by ITV News, Sky News and Channel 5 News. 

A.G.S. Simon Weller appeared live with Steph McGovern just after 8 a.m. on B.B.C. Breakfast; with Michael Crick on 

Channel 4 News; and with Jeremy Vine on Radio 2. D.O. No.1 Graham Morris was on B.B.C. South-East and Radio 5 Live 

and E.C. No.1 Marz Colombini did B.B.C. London and a phone-in on 5 Live, too.

Mick said: ‘Our critics, in the government, and in the media, do not understand that unions, especially this one, are 

‘What Mr Plummer disingenuously refers to as “smarter working” is, in fact, a desire to cut corners, and cut costs, and bring 

in zero hours contracts, in order to drive up profits for the privatised train operating companies that he represents.

‘As the trade union which represents Britain’s train drivers, we, too, believe in investment in the railways; but investment in 

what should be a public service, run properly and efficiently for passengers, businesses and taxpayers, not for the TOCs 

which, as we see every day on Southern Railways, are manifestly failing passengers as well as staff. We would be willing to 

debate this publicly with Mr Plummer, any time, any place.’

We sent a letter refuting all of Paul Plummer’s allegations but The Times, which acknowledged receipt of our response, chose 

not to publish it.

Wilkinson and DfT in conflict of interest row

PETER WILKINSON, the controversial civil servant who is paid £265,000 a year – considerably more than the Prime 

Minister 

– as director of rail passenger services at the Department for Transport, has been exposed by an investigation in The 

Guardian for an apparent conflict of interest.

Under the damning headline Civil Servant Gave Southern Rail To Client Of His Firm, Lucas Amin and Rob Evans revealed 

how Wilkinson, who ‘awarded struggling Southern Rail its franchise, made the decision to award the contract while owning a 

large share in a consultancy firm that had been advising its parent company.’Wilkinson played a key role in handing the 

Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern franchises on a plate to GTR in 2014. 

But he was, at the time, a director and the main shareholder of First Class Partnerships, a consultancy which had Govia as a 

longstanding client. Wilkinson was also involved in awarding a 15 year franchise – the Essex Thameside service – to C-2-C 

which, The Guardian revealed, had also paid handsomely for the services of First Class Partnerships.

According to The Guardian, an internal inquiry by D.f.T. officials concluded that Wilkinson had a ‘clear conflict of interest’. 

Wilkinson refused to comment. 

COLD, WET AND WINDY

Executive Committee Member No.1 MARZ COLOMBINI 

REPORTS FROM THE PICKET LINE:

It’s very early, it’s very cold, it’s very windy and there’s not an oil drum fire in sight. Contrary to what the mainstream media 

would have you believe, standing on a picket line is no fun and not where we want to be. It is a place to which we have been 

pushed. Six days of strikes and I’ve managed to visit picket lines at Selhurst, Norwood, London Bridge, Three Bridges, 

Horsham, Eastbourne, Brighton and Barnham. From these visits several things have become clear: our members are 

disgusted with Southern’s disregard for our safety concerns and outraged by the company’s approach to industrial relations, 

but, above all, they are solid. Whether in the capital, on the south coast or anywhere in between, spirits on the picket lines are 

high and our members are solidly behind the industrial action and solidly behind A.S.L.E.F. On behalf of the executive 

committee I want to say thank you all for your strength, resolve and loyalty. Thanks also to our members who made the 

journeys from the Isle of Wight, Salisbury and Sheffield to show solidarity with our pickets. Your support is greatly 

appreciated.

GS Mick Whelan reflected last month on how it felt to be caught in the eye of a political, industrial and media storm. Now 

Keith Richmond looks at how A.S.L.E.F., and our industrial action on Southern, have been covered in print, on television, on 

radio and online.

The strike, and overtime ban, on Southern Railways is an industrial, not a political, dispute – whatever it suits Transport 

Secretary Chris Grayling, Rail Minister Paul Maynard, and a clutch of under briefed backbench Tory MPs to claim. It is 

unusual because it is not a battle for more pay, better Terms &Conditions, or a shorter working week, but a row over 

passenger safety.

Not that you would realise this from some of the lazy, dishonest – and sometimes downright malicious coverage that 

A.S.L.E.F., and this dispute, has had. The Sun, Daily Mail and Daily Telegraph were, predictably, the worst.

THE BAD

Mario Ledwith in the Mail tried to make our industrial dispute political with a story about Labour Party leader Jeremy 

Corbyn and EC president Tosh McDonald – Corbyn Led Standing Ovation For Strike ‘Comrade’ (2nd January) – while Lucy 

Osborne – who cheerfully admitted ‘the editor doesn’t like strikes, strikers or trade unions’ – wrote ‘A.S.L.E.F. has banned its 

members from doing overtime’ (5th January) even though it was explained to her that members had voted overwhelmingly for 

an overtime ban. She also deliberately got the general secretary’s salary wrong (7th January) by including pension provision 

and NI contributions despite being provided with the correct figure.

Patrick Foster, swallowing an inaccurate briefing by the D.f.T., went big on Union Leader Warns Of 10 Years Of Unrest in the 

Daily Telegraph (13th December) while Robert Mendick, chief reporter of the Sunday Telegraph, took Mick to task for 

Disingenuous Claims Of Firebrand Union Boss 

Behind Rail Strikes (8th January) although he did concede, after attacking what the R.M.T. said about an O.R.R. report into 

D.O.O., ‘A.S.L.E.F.’s response was rather more slick’.

The Sun (22nd December) tried to make something of nothing with Unionists’ 2 Days Off Rails while the Evening Standard 

splashed with Rail Strike Boss Off To Work By Car (6th January) – a risible story which prompted Mark Ellis of the Daily 

Mirror to laugh ‘Man has lift with wife shock!’ – and went with Strike Bosses Accused of Being Dictators (12th January) 

above quotes from Tom Tugendhat, Tory MP for Tonbridge & Malling.

The cartoonists had a field day too, with Mac in the Mail (15th December) and Adams in the Telegraph (19th December) 

imagining Jeremy, Tosh and Santa at Christmas.

THE GOOD

Conrad Landin interviewed District Organiser No.1 Graham Morris for a piece which appeared in the Morning Star under 

the headline We Are Determined To Win - Passenger Safety Too Important To Risk, and The News Line, the paper of the 

Workers’ Revolutionary Party, splashed on Southern Are Bullies! (both on 11 January) after talking to Graham on a picket 

line atLondon Bridge. Driver Only Safety Claim Blown Apart By Accident by Morning Star news editor Will Stone (12th 

January) with a picture of an incident on an F.G.W. service at Hayes & Harlington underlined our point that the traction 

interlocking system doesn’t always work.

Mick was interviewed by Simon Hattenstone for a flattering flagship profile in The Guardian (14th January) and Tosh talked 

to Danny Scott for a fascinating Life in the Day feature in the Sunday Times Magazine (15th January). And Gwyn Topham 

wrote a typically thoughtful, and well-informed, analysis on the problems in the rail industry – Is Britain’s Train System 

Getting Worse? 

– in The Guardian (7th January).

Our officers have been working hard to get our message across. Mick was interviewed by John Humphrys on Today on Radio 

4; by Richard Westcott for B.B.C. News; and by I.T.V. News; Sky News; C4 News; C5 News; by Sally Taylor on B.B.C. South 

Today; by Eddie Mair on P.M. on Radio 4; by Nick Ferrari on L.B.C.; and on Daily Politics on B.B.C.2.

AGS Simon Weller talked to Vanessa Feltz on B.B.C. Radio London; became a frequent guest on the breakfast and drive time 

shows on B.B.C. Sussex and B.B.C. Surrey; appeared on B.B.C. Breakfast with Steph McGovern; talked to Jeremy Vine on 

Radio 2; and Michael Crick on C4. Graham Morris was interviewed by Radio 5 Live and Helen Catt, political editor of 

B.B.C. 

South-East, while E.C. No.1 Marz Colombini talked to B.B.C. London and went live, at length, on 5 Live.

AND THE UGLY

B.B.C. South-East disingenuously claimed that A.S.L.E.F. was invited to take part in a debate on the dispute recorded on 

Sunday 8 January and broadcast on B.B.C.1, in the south-east, the next day. We weren’t. Michael Gravesande, the executive 

producer, invited Charles Horton of Southern; Huw Merriman, Tory MP for Bexhill & Battle; Caroline Pidgeon, Lib Dem 

member of the London Assembly; and Mick Lynch of the R.M.T. to be on a four-person panel. We were offered a chance to sit 

in the audience. 

Lauren Worrall, the assistant producer, promised we could sit in the front row and added: ‘I guarantee you will get to ask a 

question.’

It is, of course, the corporation’s call who it invites to be on its panel though – given that A.S.L.E.F. was the union on strike – 

it was a perverse editorial judgement. Quentin Smith, editor of BBC South-East Today, subsequently rang to apologise but 

continued to maintain the fiction that an opportunity to sit in the audience was ‘an invitation to participate in our debate’.

We live in a free society, with a free press, which has had, for 300 years, the right to be partial, and the right to be wrong. But 

in a post-truth world where the alt- right embraces fake news, it was sad to see Auntie, in the south- east, turn its back on Lord 

Reith and sell the licence payers short. 

It’s easy as 1-2-3 do-re-mi, A-B-C

GREGOR GALL, professor of Industrial Relations at the University of Bradford, 

looks at the opportunities afforded by protests

organised by the Association of British Commuters against the Conservative government and Southern Rail

Because, until now, the travelling public has been unorganised and atomised. Passengers grumble – often using expletives – 

when trains break down, signals fail and leaf mulch gets too much. But then they get off the train, get on with their lives, and 

put it all behind them until the next time. And so on, and so on.

But one group of passengers has decided to buck this trend. Arising out of the still continuing disaster that is Southern Rail, 

run by Govia Thameslink Railway, a passenger lobby group called the Association of British Commuters was formed in 

September 2016 after months of delays, cancellations, and overcrowded conditions, with short-staffing and strikes 

compounding these problems.

DIRECT ACTION

The old bureaucratic ways by which the rail users’ consultative committees and rail passengers’ councils used to operate were 

thrown out of the window in favour of direct action. For the last year, rail users and local campaigners came together to 

organise protests, initially at Brighton and London Victoria stations.

With the success of these protests, the #SouthernFail campaign was born. Then, in December, the ABC organised a large 

demonstration at Victoria, calling for the resignation of Transport Secretary Chris Grayling. They marched to the Department 

for Transport where they called on the government to intervene in the dispute, and for an independent inquiry into the 

shambles at Southern.

Stephen Joseph, executive director of the Campaign for Better Transport, believes the ABC represents ‘a new type of 

passenger lobby group organised by young professionals who are adept at using social media’. Currently, the

ABC has 4,000 Twitter followers and some 1,500 friends on Facebook showing it has a bigger reach than these numbers alone 

suggest. Indeed, it crowd-funded £25,000 to launch a judicial review of decisions made by the DfT and the government over 

Govia and Southern.

Out of all this, the ABC has established itself as a non-profit company to represent the interests of the travelling public. So it 

(i) campaigns for a safe, affordable, accessible and reliable transport system – not only in the south of England, but right 

across Britain; 

(ii) provides an online community for discussion by members, volunteers and partner campaigns; 

(iii) seeks to build greater public understanding of the issues surrounding the Southern Rail crisis, as well as transport issues 

around the country; and 

(iv) wants to elevate the voice of the commuter to be heard in Parliament and the national press, while exerting pressure 

on key organisations in the rail industry.

MANNA FROM HEAVEN

After the announcement of the snap general election, the ABC said ‘there [wa]s no better time for... restat[ing] the demands 

we’ve been making throughout the Southern Rail crisis. We will be addressing all former and prospective MPs with these 

demands and requesting their full response – so we can tell you which candidates have the best positions on Southern Rail’.

And it called for an independent public inquiry into the relationship between Govia Thameslink Railway and the DfT; the 

return of guaranteed assistance for disabled passengers on services currently branded as Southern Rail – best achieved through 

the ‘guard guarantee’; the immediate removal of the Southern contract from GTR; and ‘passenger representation in any 

solution’.

So the ABC represents a positive development in terms of passengers getting themselves organised. But, before anyone 

concludes that this is manna from heaven for the rail unions, a few issues must be pondered.

Given that it has taken one of the longest and most intractable industrial disputes on Britain’s railways to bring ABC into 

existence, one has to ask – somewhat gingerly – if that is what it will take to get the travelling public organised in other parts 

of the country in order to make the ABC a genuinely national organisation. One hopes not.

FLASH IN THE PAN

Next, it’s possible the ABC will prove to be a ‘flash in the pan’ and peter out of existence if, as and when the Southern 

franchise is sorted out. Once the anger is gone, the momentum and mobilisation will go too.

And, finally, while the rail unions could make common cause with the ABC over increasing rail fares, understaffing, and 

safety issues, etcetera, there will also be times when the likes of ASLEF will be in danger of falling out with the ABC. Most 

obviously, over industrial action in support of a pay claim.

So, while alliances with passengers should be sought, it’s worthwhile not seeing the ABC as a magic panacea. The return to 

public ownership by a Labour government must remain the key priority. And that opportunity may come sooner than we think 

given the Labour advance – and Tory meltdown – on 8 June!

The resolution accepted by our drivers on southern applies only to that company and that franchise. ‘it’s important to stress 

that this deal is company-specific and does not have implications for any other train operating company on Britain’s railway 

network,’ said Mick. ‘since the break-up of British Rail, and the privatisation of our railway, we have negotiated on a bi-lateral 

basis with each company and that is what we have done here.

Taking toilets off our train

Southern rail say they are trying to ‘improve the service’. let me remind you what Southern’s idea of improving the service for 

passengers is. they now run trains between Brighton and Portsmouth with no toilets on them. When challenged they said 

people can get off the train and use the toilets at stations. But most stations have locked their toilets because of vandalism. 

Southern say ‘ask a member of staff to open them for you’. unfortunately, another of Southern’s great ideas for improving the 

service is to remove staff from lots of stations.

Keith Wells, Brighton