Congratulations to all those mentioned in The Queen's birthday Honours List.
Special mention should go to Mark Carne who receives a CBE. His tireless work to make the UK's train service smooth running and efficient, was reflected in his meagre £820,000 salary (5 times that of the Prime Minister).
Under Mr Carne's management, Britain's railways are now more chaotic, inefficient, and overpriced, than one could ever have imagined possible. Delays and cancellations are now the norm.
If Her Majesty is handing out gongs for failure, then put me down for a knighthood! I've worked bloody hard to earn one; even without the obscene salary.
Never ceases to amaze.
ReplyDeleteAin't that the truth!
DeleteThese awards are a nonsense.
ReplyDeleteSome of the worst awards ever!
DeleteI was reading about the chaos of a new timetable for Northern Rail? Duh, they don't have enough drivers or trains to run the new timetable. We caught the Trans Pennine Express from Newcastle to Manchester via York, run by the same company, and it was the worst UK/European train we've ever caught, with the staff service the worst, and as for first class? Well, I feel very sorry for those in economy if what we travelled in was first class. I'm afraid Maggie was a bit wrong with competition and privatisation is always good.
ReplyDeleteNetwork Rail, Carne's employer, is a nationalised industry.
DeleteCarne should have declined to take it. He does himself no favours in accepting it even if there is something, somewhere within Network Rail which makes him deserving of it. It is hard to see what although I see his pledge to health and safety, that good old chestnut, is mentioned. Network Rail is partly responsible for the failure of Northern to be able to implement its new timetable.
ReplyDeleteIn a practical sense; what does he need a CBE for? He has amassed a fortune, he will have a very generous pension, and he will probably find a few directorships to keep him busy. His CBE seems unimportant. Had they gone one step up, and offered a knighthood, I could understand him keeping it; but not a CBE.
DeletePerhaps his pledge to Health and Safety was to not let trains run on the lines at all. Belt and braces.
DeleteI have been informed by the commuters in my family, whose journeys to and from work are disrupted every day, that the current chaos has been caused by the new timetables and staff management. Mr. Carne is not responsible for these things, he is responsible for maintenance of the tracks. Still, the whole thing is a farce.
ReplyDeleteNetwork Rail do a lot more than just repair tracks. They own over 2,000 stations, amongst which are all the major London stations. They have fingers in many inefficient pies!
DeleteNetwork Rail were partly responsible for the failure of the implementation of the new timetables. Their responses at all stages leading up to the changes were slow, off target and last minute creating part of the mess that we are now seeing.
DeleteI think 'insensitive timing' would be a gross understatement.
ReplyDeleteYou can say that again!
DeleteThey cannot possibly take it away from him now without undermining the Queen's authority, even if she doesn't decide who gets what. It really is a sign of the times. This country is in a very steep nose-dive.
ReplyDeleteThe decent thing would be to refuse it.
DeleteObscene salary indeed.
ReplyDeleteThey name their own price!
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