Letters to the editor: Southern strikers have lost the plot

A Southern Rail commuter holds a toy train set, which was presented to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling
EPA
21 December 2016
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As A long-time regular user of Southern rail services, I know how badly the company has been managed since it took over the franchise. The online booking service quickly deteriorated and customer complaints were responded to with nonsense. At first the unions had a good case for strike action but the timing of the latest walkout has lost them sympathy with commuters — and even some of their members can see the strike is not about safety.

I recently spoke with a Southern driver who was waiting to take over a delayed train for the next leg to London. He had been a guard but 10 years ago saw “the writing on the wall” and retrained as a driver because although he predicted that job would eventually go too, it would see him out.

Now he worries that when union leaders — sitting in their warm offices with assured pensions — call on their troops to strike again, they may just be hastening the driverless days.
Barry Fox

E W Parkman [Letters, December 19] is a little out of touch to say that unions pay members to go on strike. I have been a member of the RMT for 25 years and have been on strike numerous times to protect my job and my standard of living — and I have never received a penny.

Strikes are not always about money — the loss of guards on trains has led to hundreds of safety incidents and some of those have been fatal. Southern has put a price on a life — a guard’s salary. That is a pittance. Safety is surely worth more than that?
Gwyn Pugh

Before industrial action started, Southern’s rail service was very much hit-and-miss, with multiple cancellations and little or no explanation. Try asking a Southern employee why a train is cancelled and you either get a shrug of the shoulders or they just shake their head.

There appears to be a general malaise that management has failed to act upon and the finger-pointing between unions and management leaves passengers in the dark.

It is now time that Government ministers got involved. Perhaps the Transport Secretary Chris Grayling should try commuting from Crystal Palace to Victoria to experience what commuters have to go through every day?
Roger Reddman

Since a third of UK trains run without guards operating the doors, and since the last fatality occurred years ago with a guard on board, how can the unions pretend that they are striking over a safety issue?

As Southern rail has promised that there will be no redundancies and no loss of earnings, it is a mystery to any traveller how this anti-democratic strike is within the law — it should not be for too much longer.
Tony Jones

At last some sense over our heritage

It is great news that the Mayor plans to protect views of St Paul’s Cathedral by consulting more widely on tall buildings [“Sadiq Khan vows to protect views of St Paul’s Cathedral from new skyscrapers”, December 19]. This is an encouraging step towards better planning for tall buildings in London.

The new Manhattan Loft Gardens tower in Stratford, which spoils the protected view of St Paul’s from Richmond Park, demonstrates how far-reaching the impacts of tall buildings can be, and this building must not be allowed to set a precedent. People have enjoyed views of St Paul’s for hundreds of years and they should be treated with care and respect.

London is home to some of the most cherished views on Earth and we are concerned that the impact of some developments on these views is only being discovered too late.

Wider consultation will help to avoid this in future but there also needs to be a strategic, city-wide vision for London which will enhance, rather than damage, our capital’s special heritage.
Emily Gee, London planning director, Historic England

Put a stop to the Paddington Cube

It is appalling that Westminster City Council has ignored a growing number of residents petitioning to halt the Paddington Cube development. Historic England and Save Britain’s Heritage have rightly pointed out that the planned block would tower over Paddington station, a Grade I-listed building, and is in a conservation area.

Worryingly, the London Ambulance Service says the development would badly affect a major emergency route it uses to St Mary’s Hospital.

I will be writing to the Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government, Sajid Javid, to ask him to reject this damaging scheme. Surely he must insist that important heritage concerns and the welfare of residents are taken into account?
Bridget Fox, Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate

Walking tsar is a good step forward

It is good news for Londoners that the Mayor has appointed a walking and cycling commissioner. That the role is full-time reflects the importance of prioritising journeys on foot and by bike. Will Norman’s background in social justice is crucial. It is not fair that London’s poorest communities have to put up with heavy traffic, congestion and dirty air outside their own front doors. Tackling these health inequalities will be a key challenge for him as he works to get more Londoners up and active.
Caroline Russell, London Assembly Green Party group

Lord Kitchener’s misogynist world

Julian Fellowes rails against male primogeniture, which he thinks prevented his wife becoming Countess Kitchener [“I’m surprised it’s even legal that only men inherit titles”, December 19].

The famous war hero for whom the title was created in 1902 was a well-known misogynist, widely rumoured to be gay. Since he had no children the title only survived through a rarely used device known as a special remainder which decreed that the earldom should pass to Kitchener’s eldest brother. It would have been possible for a woman to inherit but Kitchener specifically ruled that out.
Alistair Lexden, House of Lords (Con)

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