TransPennine Express is not being straight about a major cause of its cancellations: it has lost the goodwill of the staff
- The Secret Train Driver is a driver with TransPennine Express
I’ve been with TransPennine Express (TPE) for quite a few years now and I love being a train driver. I used to thoroughly enjoy my job but now I am completely demoralised. We all are. It is embarrassing to talk to passengers when 20% or 30% of trains every day are being cancelled. On Wednesday they cancelled 226 services – that’s more than 60% of the whole timetable. The next day we hear that the government is putting fares up by 5.9%.
The excuses TPE gives just don’t add up: “This train has been cancelled because of a short-notice change to the timetable.” What does that mean? It’s cancelled because we’ve cancelled it.
The Secret Train Driver is a driver with TransPennine Express. As told to the Guardian’s north of England editor, Helen Pidd
