"Mizter T" wrote:

BBC:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-london-12189442

Standard:
http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23914025-.do

Bozza said (amongst other things): "It is a fact that anybody in this room
could in a matter of a few weeks acquire the qualifications to supervise
an Underground train."

Crow retorted: "Suggesting that drunken bankers and grandees can drive
Tube trains is a disgrace."

Leaving aside the worrying notion that the bankers may have actually been
mostly sober during the run up to the financial crises, Boris does seem
particularly keen to pour some kerosene onto the naked flame of the
dispute with the Tube unions - this isn't really the stuff of sitting down
with them and negotiating a no-strike deal as his manifesto promised!

The BBC story mentions the phrase 'driverless trains', and in the ES piece
it's a phrase used by some of those reacting to the speech - whilst I
rather suspect that was Team Boris's intention, it seems he didn't
actually use the phrase (not as such) - rather his point seems to be that
in an ATO environment, Tube train operators assume a lesser role
(therefore they should be good and stop causing trouble). Well, I don't
think you're really onto a winning strategy there Bozza, for numerous
reasons.

Just looked at the title I used for this thread, it's probably not the
best - I'd originally written "talk of driverless trains", prompted by the
BBC's piece which uses that phrase, but then edited it to say "automatic
trains" instead, given that Boris seemingly didn't use the word 'driverless'
during his spiel.