On the face of it very poor. Moving a train a few feet along a platform is a lot more of a faff than might be imagined, but hardly insurmountable (where I am it would involve a driver to call signaller and move the train, TM to close doors and make appropriate PA announcements, and platform staff to supervise the move from outside the driver’s cab and ideally someone at the buffer stops end of the platform to prevent people throwing themselves at the train as it unexpectedly starts moving).
Delays can be drummed in too hard at times causing people to react in an irrational fashion at the prospect of even potentially taking an action that might result in delay. I imagine the staff involved just fixated on the prospect of delay until someone pointed out that the problem was the TOC's, it was a direct issue with the interface between the train and the station and it is relatively easily resolved, so get on with it whilst keeping delay to a minimum.
Agree, this does seem very odd on the face of it when all staff were present and correct and happy to proceed.
It would be interesting to know exactly what had been relayed to the guard (and when) by platform staff. I can only imagine perhaps she had been told about his threats to cause a “security incident” which isn’t ideal language to use (because the worry for traincrew is what if the person kicks off in the middle of nowhere). No doubt any such concerns would have been easily resolved had she spoken to him, but she perhaps didn’t want to be on a video.
The irony is that the concern is generally misplaced. I've delayed many trains on my own initiative and even refused direct instructions on rare occasions and whilst I've been asked to explain (as I'd expect as someone with decision making authority who can cause thousands of pounds worth of expense to the business) I've never had any legitimate response criticised beyond that.
Again agreed. Same experience here. A couple of times I’ve unfortunately over carried wheelchair passengers on trains that are next stop London (I expect you can guess which large intermediate station in the midlands was involved
). In each case the TM has buzzed me, asked if I’m happy to stop out of course (which I
always am) and then said they’ll call control for permission, I’ve said “just call them and tell them we’re stopping”! If anyone ever challenged me on it I’d fall back on the ultimate safety concern: I don’t ever want to be driving a train with someone on it who doesn’t want to be there, and who may pull an egress.