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West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Discussion in 'Heritage Railways & Centres in the UK' started by gwr4090, Nov 15, 2007.

  1. johnofwessex

    johnofwessex Resident of Nat Pres

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    It was interesting to read the RAIB report into the trolley runaway on the ELR that was published recently.

    Now I simply use it as an example but an incident on what is as far as I am aware is a well run line exposed a major omission in its procedures.

    I have no idea why the ORR visited the WSR, BUT and I suspect that they are not the only ones, if a thorough inspection could find several such omissions on the WSR, which give what was revealed on the ELR may not be suprising, taking the opportunity to extend the winter shut down seems a wise move
     
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  2. Paul Kibbey

    Paul Kibbey Well-Known Member

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    Correct , but at least it is something , better that than nothing . Tbh , I'm not familiar with DBS checks , I assume it is similar to CRB checks , ( Criminal Records ) I've had a couple done on me for various jobs I've had and of course they both came back clear and it was quite painless . It will be a cost to the WSR but a necessary one .
    Paul.K
     
  3. nanstallon

    nanstallon Part of the furniture

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    Are shareholders meant to have received a letter from the plc Board? A small shareholder, I have not received any letter - should I have done?
     
  4. Yorkshireman

    Yorkshireman Part of the furniture

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    AFAIK none have been sent. I complained to the General Manager the day it appeared on the staff website but he has not replied. Not good enough!:mad::mad:
     
    Last edited: Nov 17, 2018
  5. flying scotsman123

    flying scotsman123 Resident of Nat Pres

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    For GOODNESS sake stop moaning! It was published for all to see less than 24 hours if I recall after volunteers and staff saw it. That to me is exactly as it should be, volunteers and staff have a right to see these things before it all goes public. Given the nature of this particular issue I am sure any GM will be even more snowed under than usual, and as an armchair member I don't see why you should be bothering the general manager at all and adding to his pile of emails. Even as a volunteer I wouldn't be emailing the GM over something like this if I had cause to, I'd probably be looking to talk to a personnel type person.
     
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  6. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    I don't know how many shareholders the WSR has acquired over the last 40 years, but the shareholders travel warrant I was sent had a five digit number on it and if the WSR really has that many shareholders then I can assure you, as someone who worked in a print room, that printing that many copies of a four page letter isn't going to be something that can be done quickly and once they're all printed they have to be folded and inserted in the envelopes and that will take a while even with a folder/inserter machine. Then, of course the cost of the printing and postage isn't going to be cheap, so perhaps due to the financial situation the board have decided to save the money.
     
  7. 21B

    21B Part of the furniture

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    If the stirring of this particular teacup gets any more vigorous there won't be any tea left in the cup to stir :). There is a new chairman. New board to follow. New management structure and processes by the sound of it will follow shortly. Impossible for these people to communicate in as much detail as people would like. Best let them get on with it and judge their progress when the railway reopens.
     
  8. Yorkshireman

    Yorkshireman Part of the furniture

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    Ever heard of email?
     
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  9. Matt37401

    Matt37401 Nat Pres stalwart

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    I thought that was what a Yorkshireman said when he saw the postman? What is the Information you want? Hasn't it been communicated either on here or on @West Somerset Wizard's website?
     
  10. DragonHandler

    DragonHandler Well-Known Member

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    Yes, I've been using it since 1991. :):);)
     
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  11. MellishR

    MellishR Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    A bit late to be following up on that posting, but I think worth mentioning that DBS probably wouldn't be required for someone who is only one of a group, not alone in charge of children or vulnerable persons.
     
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  12. Occasional

    Occasional New Member

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    I too am a shareholder. I would much rather the time and money were used and spent on dealing with the problems. But then I do not have an inflated idea of my own importance. And better uses of my life than sitting on this site all day.
     
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  13. Yorkshireman

    Yorkshireman Part of the furniture

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    You are missing the point. The company has most shareholder's email addresses on file. Secondly the company has a clear duty to keep sjareholders informed. So it is neither difficult, or expensive, to keep them informed by email. Without the leak from the staff website nobody else would have known what was going on. The WSR amangement need to understand the power of communicating quickly and cheaply with their core supporters and the press. Useful as the feed of posts from NP is it is only a small monority that use it.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2018
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  14. Yorkshireman

    Yorkshireman Part of the furniture

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    Snide remarks don't make a convincing argument. The WSR PLC have a database of mest shareholder's email addressesso it is a simple and cheap way of communicating with them. Keeping shareholders informed is well worthwhile as they are the ones who hae put their money down and are likely to be a future source of funding, As for sitting in front of the screen all day to see what is happening in fact members of NP can choose to have new posts emailed to them.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2018
  15. Bayard

    Bayard Well-Known Member

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    We heard the same moan many times in the days of the struggle with the Ex6. There were suggestions that WSRA members should send their email addresses to the Association so that they could be emailed communications instead of those having to be posted. This I did and now I receive communications from the WSRA by email, most recently one containing a link to the previous letter from Mr Jones-Pratt. While the WSRA haven't actually sent me a link to his latest letter, it doesn't alter the fact that it is long overdue for the board of the WSR to have solicited the email addresses of their shareholders so that they can communicate with them directly in a C21st way, not a C19th one and not have to rely on the WSRA. Yes some shareholders will not have email, but they can be put on a short list of those who still need to be posted communications. Any shareholders who do not reply with an email address or a request for posted communication can then only be sent the legal minimum of paperwork.

    I appreciate that the board have more important things to do right at this moment, however, unlike most commercial organisations, preserved railways have two sets of customers to be kept happy, their supporters and their passengers. The former group are made up of people who are interested in the railway. Because they are interested in the railway, they need to be kept informed as to what is going on. You cannot expect supporters to continue to contribute money if they are kept in the dark about anything. Information about the Railway is one of the products of the Railway that the Railway is "selling", as much as the experience of working steam and the heritage of a railway as it was in the past. What else does a supporter in the US, say, get for their money?

    The dissemination of information is neither time-consuming nor expensive in these days of email and the internet. Unfortunately the habit of secrecy is deeply ingrained in most organisations, probably for the reason that, if no-one knows what you are doing, then no-one will know if you do it wrong, or at least, no-one will find out before you have a chance to put it right.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2018
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  16. granmaree

    granmaree Member

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    Communication isn't in their vocabulary.
     
    Last edited: Nov 18, 2018
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  17. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    It’s a grey area, and I’ve twice had to undergo checks for roles where I don’t have unsupervised contact with children or vulnerable adults.


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  18. Robin Moira White

    Robin Moira White Resident of Nat Pres

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    Far from home but among friends...

    Robin

    3DF1DFDA-EFF7-4C2B-BC97-6C62D88AE8FE.jpeg
     
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  19. Steve

    Steve Resident of Nat Pres Friend

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    Under the old system (CRB) it would have been illegal to ask for a check on someone who didn't require it, which it sounds like you didn't.
     
  20. 35B

    35B Nat Pres stalwart

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    As I said, grey areas, and both leadership related. One is actually a requirement of the role, the other is national advice and to the best of my knowledge not challenged by the DBS.


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