Ivor
Member
I was in two minds whether to post here or under jobs & careers but as Covid has created the issue both positively & negatively now on agency staff hope I’m posting correctly.
I have been railway agency staff for nearly three years on behalf of GTR: CSA, Gateline, bus replacement, crowd control, social distancing, advising mask wearing & during the Summer months at big coastal stations getting thousands of beach goers through large manually opened/closed double gates as Gateline closed for exit but was like trying to herd kittens.
Although shifts pre Covid could be hit & miss it was not unusual to go weeks without a single shift.
Early in the year many of us across the Southern Coastal routes & Main Line routes got many months work covering SD, CSA etc plus some of us had work at Gatwick Airport due to the current station/airport building improvements but passengers in the main not travelling. Due to lack of footfall we have been sidelined & I understand that business is business.
The past couple of months & more so couple of weeks has heightened the majority of us being ‘laid off’ totally (we can remain on the books) as Gatelines have reopened, social distancing ‘policing’ ceased, one way systems disbanded (not all) etc
So all this work because of dramatically lower footfall especially outside of the Summer has gone.
Many of us now left like many in the UK job hunting & whether the work as I say has been hit & miss of course we have been pleased to have something even if a couple of days a week in some locations or 5-6 shifts so we have been grateful for that.
We assume now the Government via the DfT are slowly reigning in financing the railway? even if the coming Summer sees the ‘rush for the beaches’ again surely they won’t close Gatelines to ensure crowds are through as quickly as possible socially distanced & many obviously travelling minus tickets hence revenue losses?
How do you see this panning out? I really can’t see us being called back & the costs incurred, as I say ‘The Covid effect’
I have been railway agency staff for nearly three years on behalf of GTR: CSA, Gateline, bus replacement, crowd control, social distancing, advising mask wearing & during the Summer months at big coastal stations getting thousands of beach goers through large manually opened/closed double gates as Gateline closed for exit but was like trying to herd kittens.
Although shifts pre Covid could be hit & miss it was not unusual to go weeks without a single shift.
Early in the year many of us across the Southern Coastal routes & Main Line routes got many months work covering SD, CSA etc plus some of us had work at Gatwick Airport due to the current station/airport building improvements but passengers in the main not travelling. Due to lack of footfall we have been sidelined & I understand that business is business.
The past couple of months & more so couple of weeks has heightened the majority of us being ‘laid off’ totally (we can remain on the books) as Gatelines have reopened, social distancing ‘policing’ ceased, one way systems disbanded (not all) etc
So all this work because of dramatically lower footfall especially outside of the Summer has gone.
Many of us now left like many in the UK job hunting & whether the work as I say has been hit & miss of course we have been pleased to have something even if a couple of days a week in some locations or 5-6 shifts so we have been grateful for that.
We assume now the Government via the DfT are slowly reigning in financing the railway? even if the coming Summer sees the ‘rush for the beaches’ again surely they won’t close Gatelines to ensure crowds are through as quickly as possible socially distanced & many obviously travelling minus tickets hence revenue losses?
How do you see this panning out? I really can’t see us being called back & the costs incurred, as I say ‘The Covid effect’
