Ben Bashford

Well firstly he stopped the train half way down the platform causing everyone to bundle down to try to get on, then slowly crawled down the platform before opening the doors. An entire platform of people that need coffee badly shuffling sideways down the platform is well funny.

Once we were crammed on the train the doors closed and… well, we just sat there. About ten minutes passed and we’d still not been given an explanation for the delay. Then we saw the driver walking down the platform to a phone, pick it up and make a call. There was a station announcement.

“Due to a faulty train there is severe delays in the Drayton Park area”

Well thanks for that info. We’re at Drayton Park. People were tutting, grumbling and calling their bosses explaining that they were going to be late.

Then the driver got back into his cabin and made an announcement to the people on the train.

“Ladies and gentlemen, sorry to inform you that there is a fault with this train’s communication link with the signals and I have to wait for someone competent enough to drive this train through the tunnel. If you can I’d advise you to take alternative routes into work today”

Brilliant. So the train is fucked – that’s ok. What really bothered me is the sentence “I have to wait for someone competent enough to drive this train through the tunnel”. Hang on a minute, are you saying you’re not competent enough? What are you, some kind of only driving a train out in the open kind of driver? Have you not finished your tunnel driving module at train school or something? If so, you’d think there are tunnels all over the place and you’d expect basic train driving training to include driving through tunnels wouldn’t you?

Scary shit.