Protecting Safety, Refusing to Drive

Posted in Tubeworker's blog on ,

Wednesday on the Central line saw more evidence of the failures of Metronet - but also an inspiring example of Tube workers acting to defend their own and passengers' safety.

At 9am, an eastbound train became defective at Holland Park. After initially fearing a possible derailment, it then became clear what had actually happened: the negative shoe gear had fallen off, caused by split pins, which lock the nuts in place, not being replaced properly during Tuesday's maintenance. The ERU later found the EPBU cover and negative shoe lying on the track.

LUL management seemed to think that drivers would simply accept that everything was OK now and get on with driving trains despite the distinct possibility that the same problem could affect the rest of the fleet.

To intensify drivers' concerns, at 1135 a train was puffing smoke out onto the platform at Epping having recorded a full positive earth. And three hours later, a westbound train suffered severe arcing as it pulled out of Epping, and was found to have its leading A2 positive shoe gear coming away because a bolt was missing.

So no, assurances from management were not enough to persuade drivers to take their lives into their hands and take trains out. Drivers refused to drive on safety grounds, and management were forced to have the whole fleet checked. By the evening, virtually the whole line had come to a halt.

Without the firm action of drivers, backed by their union reps, management might have risked everyone's safety in their mania for keeping the service running. As it was, confidence and collective action drew a line against unsafe working. An example to us all.

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