REDSKINS wrote:

"Tristán White" wrote in message
. 109.145...
This morning I took the DLR - it appeared to be the only line that hadn't
completely gone tits-up - and sat at the front on the right. The "driver"
(or whatever you call him, as he doesn't have to drive it) was so tired he
fell asleep between every single stop.

I don't know why - could be because he moonlights as a taxi driver at
night
for all I know - or he could be sick, suffer from narcolepsy, or the poor
sod has had a sleepless night for whatever reason, screaming baby,
whatever. That is not the point.

What is the point is that he clearly should have realised he was not fit
to
"drive" and gone home sick.

Which made me think again. Maybe he is doing contract work (like me) and
doesn't get paid for sick leave. And can't afford to lose a day's pay.

Is that ever the case? If it is, perhaps they should ensure that all staff
get full paid sick leave. After all, fatigue is a very dangerous problem
and can kill.

But then I got to thinking even more. Had nothing else to do, forgot to
pick up a paper and had left my book at home. If this "driver" was
allowing
himself to fall asleep, in full view of his passengers, between every
stop,
what happens in the privacy of the tube-driver's cabin?

Driving a tube is far more dangerous (I imagine) and the driver really
does
drive it and look out for signals and whatnot. Whereas a DLR train is
essentially driverless.

Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. Had a long and frustrating day..... :-)

So are you trying to say that between every stop this guy after closing the
doors and operating the train start proceedure so it could proceed to the
next station, physically walked to the front driving seat, sat down fell
asleep, then got up at the next station and did the same again?

Lee

The doors can be closed from the front driving seat. I think some of
the stations might have mirrors installed that assist one in doing this.

"REDSKINS" wrote in
:


"Tristán White" wrote in message
. 109.145...
This morning I took the DLR - it appeared to be the only line that
hadn't completely gone tits-up - and sat at the front on the right.
The "driver" (or whatever you call him, as he doesn't have to drive
it) was so tired he fell asleep between every single stop.

I don't know why - could be because he moonlights as a taxi driver at
night
for all I know - or he could be sick, suffer from narcolepsy, or the
poor sod has had a sleepless night for whatever reason, screaming
baby, whatever. That is not the point.

What is the point is that he clearly should have realised he was not
fit to
"drive" and gone home sick.

Which made me think again. Maybe he is doing contract work (like me)
and doesn't get paid for sick leave. And can't afford to lose a day's
pay.

Is that ever the case? If it is, perhaps they should ensure that all
staff get full paid sick leave. After all, fatigue is a very
dangerous problem and can kill.

But then I got to thinking even more. Had nothing else to do, forgot
to pick up a paper and had left my book at home. If this "driver" was
allowing
himself to fall asleep, in full view of his passengers, between every
stop,
what happens in the privacy of the tube-driver's cabin?

Driving a tube is far more dangerous (I imagine) and the driver
really does
drive it and look out for signals and whatnot. Whereas a DLR train is
essentially driverless.

Anyway, just my 2 cents worth. Had a long and frustrating day.....
:-)

So are you trying to say that between every stop this guy after
closing the doors and operating the train start proceedure so it could
proceed to the next station, physically walked to the front driving
seat, sat down fell asleep, then got up at the next station and did
the same again?


No mate, he was doing it all from the seat. He had a button for the doors.

On 25 Jan, 01:37, "Richard J." wrote:
It's true that the actual driving is done by computer. But the agent
has to be alert enough to close the doors safely, and to deal with any
emergency that might occur during the journey. If he's not in a fit
state to do that, then there is a clear safety lapse which ought to be
reported to DLR management.

Seems a little harsh when the only positive evidence is that he closed
his eyes for a few moments.

DLR PSAs undertake other duties such as revenue protection and
assisting customers. Having his eyes closed for a few moments is IMO
little different to being immersed in a ticket transaction in that
he's not going to be immediately alert to deal with, say, a one-under.


BRB Class 465

wrote:
On 25 Jan, 01:37, "Richard J." wrote:
It's true that the actual driving is done by computer. But the
agent has to be alert enough to close the doors safely, and to
deal with any emergency that might occur during the journey. If
he's not in a fit state to do that, then there is a clear safety
lapse which ought to be reported to DLR management.

Seems a little harsh when the only positive evidence is that he
closed his eyes for a few moments.

There's a lot of difference between "closed his eyes for a few moments"
and "was so tired he
fell asleep between every single stop".

DLR PSAs undertake other duties such as revenue protection and
assisting customers. Having his eyes closed for a few moments is IMO
little different to being immersed in a ticket transaction in that
he's not going to be immediately alert to deal with, say, a
one-under.

The point is not that he wasn't keeping a look out; it's that if he was
so tired that he kept falling asleep, he would not be alert enough to
deal with *any* duties properly.

BRB Class 465
Huh?

--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

On Jan 25, 4:33 pm, Olof Lagerkvist wrote:
Boltar wrote:
On 24 Jan, 21:56, "Tristán White"
wrote:

This morning I took the DLR - it appeared to be the only line that hadn't
completely gone tits-up - and sat at the front on the right. The "driver"
(or whatever you call him, as he doesn't have to drive it) was so tired he
fell asleep between every single stop.

More likely he just closed his eyes. I'd be quite impressed if someone
could sleep for 1 minute at a time and wake themselves up to open the
doors at each stop.

...or did he fall asleep so that the passengers had to wake him up to
operate the door controls at the stations...

I have seen very sleepy and otherwise daydreaming attendants at the DLR,
not only in the mornings, but I have yet to see any of them actually
fall asleep so that we passengers have to wake him up at a station. But
I think it would scare me if it ever happend.

But then I got to thinking even more. Had nothing else to do, forgot to
pick up a paper and had left my book at home. If this "driver" was allowing
himself to fall asleep, in full view of his passengers, between every stop,
what happens in the privacy of the tube-driver's cabin?

On the automated lines who knows , though I suspect a lot of paper
reading goes on. On the non automated lines I expect you;d soon notice
if the driver fell asleep as you'd be sitting in a tunnel stationary
for quite a while.

Problem would be if any of them manage to fall asleep still pushing the
master control in his sleep. Maybe that was what actually happend at
Moorgate once upon a time, noone knows for sure.



I don't think the DLR whatever-they-are-called-nows (facilitators?
stewards?) have to do anything for the doors to be able to open, but
they do have to close them before the train can move on. I guess if
no one got off (and opened any doors) the computer would happily move
the train on to the next stop without them waking up. Not very likely
though.