PTS being suspended

[mbulgaru25@yah]

hi everyone! I'm new on this forum and I'm honestly need some advice and if anyone can help I'll very much appreciate.. Back in September I have had my PTS COURSE completed along with A&D test and medical done accordingly all went fine and got my card a few weeks later . never had a chance to work on it till this week and only to realise that my PTS IS SUSPENDED for a positive D&A test witch initially came as negative .Does anyone know how to challenge this with sentinel? as I never used any drugs and don't even drink .thank you for any help

 

[TPO]

As a starter for 10, take the matter up with your Sentinel sponsor.

This sounds a bit fishy to me as any decent Sentinel sponsor sould contact you when the D&A comes back positive. Some things can cross react which is why you must always tell the people doing it if you are taking ANY medication.

You do/did have a Sentinel Sponsor I presume? In theory you need a Sponsor to get on a course.......

TPO

 

[Highlandspring]

Who is your sponsor? Best course of action is now to discuss with them. It would be very unusual to say the least for a D&A analysis to come back with a false positive.

 

[MT18]

If it was Network Rail, you would have been tested at the medical stage and wouldn’t have made it any further if tested positive. I’m sure with any D&A tests you can appeal and demand proof of secondary test results etc.

 

[43066]

hi everyone! I'm new on this forum and I'm honestly need some advice and if anyone can help I'll very much appreciate.. Back in September I have had my PTS COURSE completed along with A&D test and medical done accordingly all went fine and got my card a few weeks later . never had a chance to work on it till this week and only to realise that my PTS IS SUSPENDED for a positive D&A test witch initially came as negative .Does anyone know how to challenge this with sentinel? as I never used any drugs and don't even drink .thank you for any help

The tests are robust and the chance of challenging a positive result is slim to none. If I recall correctly you are able to request (and pay for) samples to be retested independently.

Put bluntly a positive result suggests you’ve either taken something you shouldn’t have, or potentially failed to declare a medication. Both hanging offences which lead to immediate job loss!

 

[bouff34]

hi everyone! I'm new on this forum and I'm honestly need some advice and if anyone can help I'll very much appreciate.. Back in September I have had my PTS COURSE completed along with A&D test and medical done accordingly all went fine and got my card a few weeks later . never had a chance to work on it till this week and only to realise that my PTS IS SUSPENDED for a positive D&A test witch initially came as negative .Does anyone know how to challenge this with sentinel? as I never used any drugs and don't even drink .thank you for any help

probably a good idea to change your forum name for something that isn't 95% of your email address - thinking from a security perspective and also the fact that any employer on here can work out who you might be....

 

[Highlandspring]

probably a good idea to change your forum name for something that isn't 95% of your email address - thinking from a security perspective and also the fact that any employer on here can work out who you might be....

If the Sentinel competencies have been revoked due to a D&A fail then the second part of what you say won’t matter much as the Sentinel record is linked to the individual’s National Insurance number, so they won’t be eligable to reapply for a Sentinel card for the next 5 years. You can change your username here or your email address but you can’t change your NI number…

 

[bouff34]

If the Sentinel competencies have been revoked due to a D&A fail then the second part of what you say won’t matter much as the Sentinel record is linked to the individual’s National Insurance number, so they won’t be eligable to reapply for a Sentinel card for the next 5 years. You can change your username here or your email address but you can’t change your NI number…

Yeh, I didn't mean it specifically relating to the d & a fail just on a more general basis in terms of privacy/security..

Who is your sponsor? Best course of action is now to discuss with them. It would be very unusual to say the least for a D&A analysis to come back with a false positive.

but an admin error could easily see the result put against the wrong sentinel number I would assume...

 

[Highlandspring]

but an admin error could easily see the result put against the wrong sentinel number I would assume...

It’s not impossible but when you’re screened your name, date of birth, Sentinel number and NI number are all recorded with the sample, your details are verified with some other form of ID (driving licence etc..) and you also sign the form to say you’ve checked that your details on it are correct, all medications you’ve taken in the last 14 days have been declared and the process has been explained to you, so it would take something pretty extraordinary to cause a test result to be logged to the wrong person. It’d be easy to check if this were the case because at the time of the screening you’re given a carbon copy of the form you signed and so is your sponsor.

This is why it’s so critical you actually read the thing before you sign it.

 

[Economist]

I did hear about a couple of bus drivers challenging false positives for cocaine, they took hair tests at their own expense and these showed they had no trace of the substance over a period of a few months (including the period of the false positive). Both drivers took their employers to an ET for unfair dismissal and won on the grounds that the tests had been contaminated by cocaine present in the banknotes they handled as part of their job. Quite how long back a hair test will cover I don't know.

If this route fails, then I think the only case would be the fact that the failure to notify the OP meant that it wasn't possible to get a second sample tested. AFAIK, the correct protocol is that they split the sample provided into two, so that if the first one comes back positive, they can send the second one to a lab of the subject's choice.

The only time of the railway I've heard of an allegation of inaccurate testing was the Northern Line driver who was dismissed in 2015 after providing a positive breathalyser test, it was suggested that him having diabetes caused him to fail and resulted in a successful strike ballot. It all went a bit quiet after that so I'm guessing a settlement was reached or he was reinstated, otherwise I'd have thought it'd have got to an ET.

My advice for anyone working on the railway is that you avoid illegal drugs/"legal highs" like the plague and that you avoid mixing socially with people who you know to use them.

 

[crablab]

My advice for anyone working on the railway is that you avoid illegal drugs/"legal highs" like the plague and that you avoid mixing socially with people who you know to use them.

It's an interesting general point though as, from my understanding, drugs (of many types) aren't broken down by the body and just excreted.

I don't know if they specifically treat waste water to remove these types of chemicals, but they certainly do test the waste water in various studies to get an idea of population consumption etc.

Therefore, the water you ultimately drink could contain trace amounts and how much will depend very much on environmental factors.

My question would be whether the amount in the water system will get to a level where the PPM is high enough to muck with the sensitivity of some of these tests?

(A hypothetical point, not a suggestion for a defence for the OP)

 

[baz962]

Not sure if it's a true story. I was told of a driver or two that failed the breath test. Turned out that the person administering the test was a newbie and was cleaning the machine with alcohol wipes / solution

 

[bouff34]

It’s not impossible but when you’re screened your name, date of birth, Sentinel number and NI number are all recorded with the sample, your details are verified with some other form of ID (driving licence etc..) and you also sign the form to say you’ve checked that your details on it are correct, all medications you’ve taken in the last 14 days have been declared and the process has been explained to you, so it would take something pretty extraordinary to cause a test result to be logged to the wrong person. It’d be easy to check if this were the case because at the time of the screening you’re given a carbon copy of the form you signed and so is your sponsor.

This is why it’s so critical you actually read the thing before you sign it.

Ok, so sounds very unlikely to be an admin error...

 

[SignallerJohn]

Tell them everything you’ve taken.

I rattle off vitamins, paracetamol brands, protein shake ingredients and electrolyte solutions to them. I even keep a list of them in my work bag to avoid anything like this happening, I also note in my diary what day I’ve taken what. Rather be safe than sorry.

 

[bouff34]

always good when an OP asks for advice then disappears without trace...

 

[Stigy]

always good when an OP asks for advice then disappears without trace...

Pun intended?

 

[bouff34]

Pun intended?

It wasn't but sure there are plenty more... just annoys me when someone comes on here asking for advice which people kindly provide... then nothing, no update, no thanks... just bad manners really...

 

[43066]

It wasn't but sure there are plenty more... just annoys me when someone comes on here asking for advice which people kindly provide... then nothing, no update, no thanks... just bad manners really...

Agreed. Unfortunately that seems to happen a lot (in this case I highly doubt the OP will be working in the industry again, so perhaps not that surprising).

The way I try to look at it is that any advice provided on here will be beneficial for others who have the same question in the future; not just the disappearing OPs.