wrote:

A few weeks back I found myself on a tube train with somebody who was S
Byers double. I hadn't quite got the nerve to ask if he was Byers and
to ask why Ministers were such lieing ****s.

Why are you telling me this?

--
John Ray, London UK.

John Turner wrote:
"Clive D. W. Feather" wrote

Like Violette Szabo?

New one on me - never heard of him/her.


http://www.violette-szabo-museum.co.uk/foyer.htm
http://www.specialforces.co.uk/violette.htm
http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/violette_szabo.htm

On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 21:24:44 +0100, James Farrar wrote in
, seen in uk.railway:
On Sun, 24 Jul 2005 21:18:41 +0100, Ross
wrote:
[...]
My wife and I run a small model shop where we are totally reliant on the
good will of our customers. We've been doing that for almost twenty
years, but not many customers come back if you treat them with contempt,
so we have to treat them well.

The difference is that bus drivers, TOC staff et al know full well that we
*have* to use their services

No you don't, any more than you *have* to use Woolworths, a company
which IMX wouldn't know what customer service was if it was tied to a
wet fish and slapped around their face.

A shockingly false analogy.

I disagree.


Woolworths has no monopoly.
In the main, TOCs *do* have a monopoly.

The OP in the (sub)thread I'm replying to wasn't complaining about
TOCs but about LU. I'm not aware of any part of London where the
Underground has a monopoly of travel.

In any case, even if TOCs were involved, since when have trains been
the only possible way of getting from A to B?


work, I can catch a Southern train, or I can take about three hours
travelling on multiple buses. Since I don't propose to spen a quarter
of the day commuting, I have no option.

Bike. Car. Motorbike.

There's three options immediately.

--
Ross, Lincoln, UK

We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:50:36 +0100, Ian F. wrote in
, seen in uk.railway:
"Ross" wrote in message
...

No you don't, any more than you *have* to use Woolworths,

What a fatuous analogy! There are dozens of shops that sell the same items
as Woolworths.

I assume that by "fatuous analogy" you mean "Oh, ****, he doesn't
agree with me and I can't come up with a decent argument"?

In case you haven't noticed, there are far more methods of transport
than just trains. Of course, if you wish to only consider one method
(be that train, bus, car or elephant), that's up to you.


And yet they don't seem to have any problems making a profit

I think you'll find they do!
rest of post snipped due to lack of credibility

Yup, I was right. You can't come up with a decent argument so you try
to claim my point isn't credible.

Still, the fact that you are unable to defend your own assertions says
everything I need to know about the value of your own position.


It's very noticeable that throughout this thread there are plenty of
people posting about how awful transport staff are and how the
business is a monopoly, but only who is actually willing to justify
his statements - and he's not one of the people who's claiming poor
staff. All the rest either go quiet or start stonewalling when their
views are challenged.

Strange that. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact they know
they're talking ********?

--
Ross, Lincoln, UK

We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 10:52:48 +0100, John Turner wrote:

"Clive D. W. Feather" wrote

Like Violette Szabo?

New one on me - never heard of him/her.

Next time the film, "Carve Her Name With Pride" is on, watch it.

--
http://gallery120232.fotopic.net/p13309746.html
(47 599 at Birmingham New Street, Jun 1985)

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 12:21:09 +0100, Ross
wrote:

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:50:36 +0100, Ian F. wrote in
, seen in uk.railway:
"Ross" wrote in message
...

No you don't, any more than you *have* to use Woolworths,

Snip

And yet they don't seem to have any problems making a profit

I think you'll find they do!
rest of post snipped due to lack of credibility

Yup, I was right. You can't come up with a decent argument so you try
to claim my point isn't credible.

Just in case anyone is interested in facts, see
http://www.companyannouncements.net/...00271040K.html
--
Terry Harper
Website Coordinator, The Omnibus Society
http://www.omnibussoc.org

"Ross" wrote in message
...
On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 03:50:36 +0100, Ian F. wrote in
, seen in uk.railway:
"Ross" wrote in message
...

.



It's very noticeable that throughout this thread there are plenty of
people posting about how awful transport staff are and how the
business is a monopoly, but only who is actually willing to justify
his statements - and he's not one of the people who's claiming poor
staff. All the rest either go quiet or start stonewalling when their
views are challenged.

Strange that. Perhaps it has something to do with the fact they know
they're talking ********?

--
Ross, Lincoln, UK

We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com

Two points in reply
1) Public transport staff I meet on my travels are very nearly all fine to
deal with. The ones who are difficult are a very small minority and we can
all have the odd bad day.
2) Trains do have effective monopolies. For example train is the only public
transport to Manchester from my town unless I want to use a succession of
local buses

On Tue, 26 Jul 2005 19:17:24 +0100, BIG_ONE
wrote;

well **** off and die you fat *******

Feeding the troll, perhaps, but some people "run hotter" and therefore
sweat more than others regardless of fitness level. I'd not cycle to
work (about 5-6 miles) if it were not for the fact that showers (very
nice power showers in fact, and thus better than the one in my flat -
there's motivation!) are provided.

Neil

--
Neil Williams in Milton Keynes, UK
When replying please use neil at the above domain
'wensleydale' is a spam trap and is not read.

On Mon, 25 Jul 2005 15:39:48 GMT, Tom Haliax wrote in
, seen in uk.railway:
[...]
Two points in reply
1) Public transport staff I meet on my travels are very nearly all fine to
deal with. The ones who are difficult are a very small minority and we can
all have the odd bad day.

Quite. There *are* some complete arseholes working in the transport
industry, I know this from my own experience, but then there are
complete arseholes working everywhere. My problem with the comments in
this thread is that some people seem to be asserting that it is *only*
the transport industry which has arseholes working for it.


2) Trains do have effective monopolies. For example train is the only public
transport to Manchester from my town unless I want to use a succession of
local buses

Um. Straw man, I think. You're making rail a monopoly by specifying a
small usage sector in your argument. If you make the wider argument,
by discussing available transport rather than only public transport, I
should think it's a very different story.

To give a concrete example: rail has the monopoly of public transport
business between Lincoln and Nottingham, because the only public
transport competition is an occasional National Express coach.
However, rail carries only a minority of Lincoln - Nottingham
travellers, because the majority use the car.

--
Ross, Lincoln, UK

We're *not* afraid
http://www.werenotafraid.com

"Uncle Fester" wrote in message
enews.net...
SB wrote

Laughing Jackasses on the Railways

What is it that causes the misfortune and disruption of others so much
amusement from those who should be serving us paying customers?

Such is the attitude tonight amongst staff at stations just after the
second wave of 'bombings.'

On 7/7 I had the sense not to visit London due to the severe
disruption, not, I repeat not, due to any fear of being blown to bits
by any Islamic murdering cowards.

However tonight I was damned if these fools were going to stop my usual
Thursday night in town.

BUT at many stations including local ones, London Underground and
certain TOCs, the customer service staff seemed to revel in the
dusruption. Laughing and joking the ones I spoke, to ask which lines
were running, could hardly take time off from their smiles and laughter
together, to take my concerns seriously, to answer my questions and to
put my mind at ease that things were under control.

I suspect that I'm not the first commuter nor will be the last to get
the impression that by asking for help I'm actually being a damned
nuiscance to them. This has been the attitude towards passengers, sorry
customers, for years. And even in these more dangerous times nothing
seems to have changed.

I might add that at Paddington there are two young customer service
staff who take great delight in acting the arse rather than being
ambassadors for their companies, Great Western &/or National Rail. This
is especially evident when the old Great Western Band is playing on
Friday evenings. These two not only take the **** out of the musicians,
but also out of the passengers watching.

With so-called 'customer service' like this it is no wonder passengers,
customers, commuters, or whatever are ****ed off, especially in London?


You dull ****. Transport staff are going to be in the front line
throughout their working day. They don't have a choice - you do.
Now **** off and grow up.


Now now, just because he's an inbred dimwit, there's no need to call him a
****.

Arf!

Cru

--
"If God had meant women to drive trains he would have put a sink in the
cab."