London Underground driver sacked after knitting and watching videos at the wheel

Why is this not also a criminal offence? It would be for a lorry driver or a bus driver.

Automate them and get rid of the drivers already. It’s ridiculous that we’ll probably have self driving cars on the road in a couple of years but a train that literally has to follow the tracks can’t be driverless.

Automate the train, replace the drivers with guard/conductors.

Automation. That’s the key.
Remove the human element.

It’s safer, less error-prone, and more cost-effective.

There’s no reason why people should be manually knitting in this day and age.

It’s relativelly common to see drivers on their phones when approaching the platform…

I suspect she wasn’t the only one. Just that she got caught by a nosy onlooker taking video

OK, I haven’t worked on London underground trains for 20 years but there is a large amount of stupid misinformation here.
The trains I worked on were all automated. The driver was there for safety. They just open the doors, check the passengers are on, shut the doors then send the train to the next stop. You could never get a train every 2 minutes without computer controls.

The driver is there for safety. Every now and then a track side pac fails and the train doesn’t get the data it needs, so it switches to manual mode, or the train computer fails or any number of other faults. The driver’s responsibility is to get the train moving and keep the passengers safe until the problem can be rectified.

In auto mode it’s just button pressing and waiting for the next station. If someone jumps on the track or there’s an obstacle there is almost nothing the driver can do anyway.

That was my experience 20 years ago. It’s certainly got more technical and more reliable in that time

They shouldn’t be diverted with knitting but it’s a very boring job and it is very unlikely anything would go wrong.

Seems harsh… They had said ‘pullover right now’, and he did a pretty blue one!

There’s a lot of nonsense of this thread. People who bang on about automation never have any idea on the details

Several tube lines, not all, but several, are automatic. Automatic means the train drives itself, but there’s still a driver – Jubilee and Victoria lines do this. I believe a driver can drive in manual if they wish and can keep up with the timetable – they also need to, to keep up their skills.

To automate – either to automatic or driverless, you need to resignal the line. That costs billions. If we followed Paris, you’ll also need to add platform edge doors (I’d support installation regardless)

For current trains, you then need to either rewire them for the new signalling and automatic abilities (that’ll cost millons, if not hundreds of) or scrap them for new. Rule of thumb, a train costs 1m+ per carriage

People, however, fail to understand Underground health & safety. By law, every station that’s physically underground needs staff to be open. This is why DLR stations underground are also staffed.

However, the DLR was purpose built as driverless. This is very different from converting lines with tunnels from 1900.

DLR tunnels and the most modern rail tunnels – Elizabeth Line, the Channel Tunnel, Northern Line Battersea extension, etc. they all have walkways for evacuation.

The oldest tunnels, i.e. nearly all of the Tube ones, do not have this. An evacuation of a deep level Tube train means walking on the actual tracks, which is even harder to do on the tube than railways, because theirs 4 rails, not 2/3. And without staff, 99.9% of people have no idea how to turn the power off.

Now, you could have driverless but with onboard staff like the DLR. But the costs of converting to driverless with staff simply isn’t worth the cost in apparent long term savings. And not only that, it’s safer to know exactly where a member of staff is on an overcrowded tube train than if they’re mingling with passengers.

I’m in no way defending the driver here. What they did was in no way acceptable and it’s right that they should be dismissed.

However, saying it’s an easy job is way off the mark. Yes, when things are fine it’s straightforward. Press a couple of buttons and the train takes over. It’s when it goes wrong that you earn your fat salary.

You’re on your own with upwards of 1000 passengers, some of whom may be injured. You’re in a tunnel that’s barely bigger than the train itself, in the dark. The tunnel’s lined with electrical rails at lethal voltages. The next train is 2 minutes away. You’ve got to make sure the next train is stopped, the line is made safe and the passengers can make their way out of the train and to the next station.

Geoff Marshall did this video with an Elizabeth line train driver shortly after the line was opened in 2022. The driver was basically laughing and joking about how they ‘don’t really do anything’ once the train is in the tunnel. Kind of leaning back and pretending to relax etc.

I thought it was a really bad look for a job that is always asking for more and more money.

🎵
Some people might like to get a train to work

Or drive in an n a Beemer or a Merc

Some guys like to travel in by bus

But I can’t be bothered with the fuss

Today, I’m gonna take my bike

‘Cause once again the Tube’s on strike

The greedy bastards want extra pay

For sitting on their arse all day!

Even though they earn 30k

So I’m standing here in the pouring rain

Where the fuck’s my fucking train?

London Underground (the London Underground)

They’re all lazy, fucking, useless cunts
London Underground (the London Underground)

They’re all greedy cunts

I want to [redacted] with a [redacted]

All they say is “Please mind the doors”

And they learn that on their two-day course

This job could be done by a four-year-old

They just leave us freezing in the cold

What you smell is what you get

Burger King and piss and sweat

You roast to death in the boiling heat

With tourists treading on your feet

Nail bombs on every seat

So don’t tell me to “mind the gap”

I want my fucking money back!

London Underground (the London Underground)

They’re all lazy, fucking, useless cunts

London Underground (the London Underground)

They’re all greedy cunts

I want to [redacted] them all with a [redacted]

The floors are sticky and the seats are damp

Every platform has a fucking tramp

But the drivers get the day off when

We’re all late for work again

London Underground (the London Underground)

Wa-wa-wankers, they’re all wankers!
London Underground (the London Underground)

Take your Oyster card, and shove it up your arsehole!🎵

(The London underground song from 2004)

So an ex friend of mine was an underground driver, and occasionally he would jump into the group chat on discord and play league of legends for hours on end whilst driving the train, we all used to think it’s was hilarious, when every so often he would go afk in game and then we would hear his voice over the tannoy system…..but now that I am a few years older I realize just how dangerous this was and often wonder if he still does this…

But the point I’m trying to make is that from what I have heard this is extremely common with underground train drivers , who are so unionized they feel invincible….