It is often said that Boris doesn't do detail and he was certainly short of information on LBC's Nick Ferrari show on Tuesday. He announced that recruitment of part time TOps for Night Tube had just opened even though the advert has been online for about three weeks and was due to close that evening. He said there would be 300 new jobs which TfL later corrected to 180 and that there have been 4300 applications for the post with an unspecified number from existing TOps. That probably isn’t going to be cause for celebration at 55 Broadway as the last time they tried to recruit directly from the public the response was significantly higher and it only produced about 30 TOps.
He didn't say when Night Tube would start which seems
reasonable as in all probability they'll have to readvertise and also its
going to take a while to train 180 new TOps. The last 8 weeks of the 16
week course is done on a one-to-one basis with an IOp in the cab of a
train with passengers on board, of the 450-odd TOps on the Central Line
we've only got about 20 IOps and no doubt the other lines are similarly limited. He didn’t know how much they’d be earning and jokingly
suggested that Ferrari apply for the job. While it is true that TfL will
allow its employees to do other jobs they have to be approved and as Ferrari
pointed out his show ran until 10:00 on a Friday morning which wouldn't give
him the 12 hour rest period prior to the earliest booking on for Night
Tube at 21:00.
Maybe whoever briefs Boris was still recovering from the Festive Season......
Too true about Boris. Whatever his script is, let him exercise it, then come back to the topic about five minutes later, ideally with something different intervening. He has poor short-term memory and will only bluster. That's why he's not allowed out without a minder. If you see him 'alone' he's commanded to stay quiet.
ReplyDeleteBoris works by a veneer of charm and 'manners'. He's dangerous because he works a crowd, big or small, but by the time you've twigged, he's away. He's vulnerable to attacks on his integrity, which makes him go ballistic (discovered this by accident at a meeting with him many years ago), and loosens his mouth.
you're not so hot on detail yourself as the recruiters are at Westferry and HQ has not been at 55 for a couple of years LOL.
ReplyDeleteanyway, it kind of contradicts what you said a while back about LU management hoping it would go away on the presumption the whole idea was a Boris mandate
Really? How better to sabotage Night Tube than not publicise part time TOps until the day recruitment is set to close? Jog on....
Deletehow about not do it at all?
DeleteASLEF considering strike action,late January and early February according to the Beeb today
ReplyDeleteYes they are and 2 off the days being suggested are during the half term holiday so won't effect any school trips on those days, and so some passengers may decide to take sometime off if they have school age Children and so the impact of strike will be lessoned. This is likely be my last time on strike as I am taking early retirement in March, I hope I get a cheque in the post for this years pay rise one day,as the pay deal looks some way off from being settled.
ReplyDeleteAnd if the situation does get too shitty then there are plenty of drivers with half a million in house equity, property portfolios, pensions matured that will chuck it in and create staff shortages.
ReplyDelete£50k is no longer 'rich' in London. For a newbie it would take about 8x salary for the average London mortgage.