WCRC Licence Suspended

Only when it suits them.

 

This is a "duck feet" situation in that more is going on in the background than is being made public. Some with "inside" information are reporting it without realising potential legal consequences whilst others who realise it are saying nowt - or as little as possible to correct any obvious "false" information. The current situation is a murky pool with many a rumour being reported as "fact" but - suffice to say - the NR, ORR and RAIB are each making their own investigation into WCRC matters and each will report FACTS once investigations are complete. Sadly we can do nowt but sit on the sidelines and await developments hoping for the best; rumour-mongering at this time will serve nobody any good.

 

I think we all had a giggle at that one...

The ORR can require documents and other evidence to be produced, can visit any premises to obtain that information and can turn up unannounced. IIRC, I read a reference recently to the ORR "raiding" the WCRC offices (in one of the on-line newspaper report, I think, so was probably the usual journalistic hyperbole). One can see how rumours about an ORR official visit become exaggerated to an ORR "raid" and then, perhaps, a "police raid", especially when repeated by folks who don't understand the intricacies of how the various organisation work.

Repeating such rumours on here is not particularly harmful because there are enough sensible people around to debunk them. Sadly, it's probably a fair example of what's being said in mess-rooms, pubs and line-sides at the moment, and illustrates the unwanted side-effects of the lack of official progress reports. I'm sure WCRC and their customers, NR, the ORR et al, are too busy sorting out all the things that have to be done to give much thought to PR. Silly rumours and pages of internet debate spring up to fill the vacuum.

 

Don't tell me - it was a midnight raid with SWAT, sniffer dogs, pixelated faces, etc.

WCR are a Train Operating Company, not Columbian Drug Lords!

I think someone has been watching too many episodes of COPS in their downtime. Maybe this is the real tragedy of the suspension - too many people watching bad TV when they should be out photographing trains in their spare time.

 

Or, heaven forfend, actually riding on them and contributing to the bottom line!

And, by the way, whatever happens to WCRC, this weekend and every weekend throughout the year, there will be scores of steam engines in operation carrying tens of thousands of passengers throughout the land.

Tom

 

Please can we remember that steam was not, as far as we know, a causal factor - e.g. it's not the fault of steam traction. WCRC have been suspended from running all forms of traction. It may turn out that something happened on the engine that could only happen on a steam engine and that will then become a significant factor. Until we know that, Steam is not at fault. (It is much more interesting for journalists and the media but that doesn't make it a fact).

If it was a fault of steam, DBS (and any others) would have been banned from running steam trips as well.

Mike

 

A very interesting article, early on this week from the Daily Telegraph. Sorry if this was posted somewhere earlier in the 746 posts, I'm not going to print the whole page, other than one of the sub headlines, ORR demands cancelation of WCRC licence to operate.
Doesn't seem to be coverage in. Other newspapers and how it could effect the future running on UKs railways.

 

Is that fact or just media spin? Seeing as how there's bugger all info being made public.

 

That was why I mentioned no other papers seemed to have that statement, they had interviews with staff, others calling it the owners personal Train Set.
Unless someone in know at ORR has leaked it, we will have to wait and see, as other previous reports state 3/5 issues corrected. Where do they get the information I'd like to know?

 

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/uknews/road-and-rail-transport/11530499/Off-the-rails.html

 

Hi Standard 4MT (sorry I don't know your name), I've looked at the article online and there is no sub headline that you quote "ORR demands cancelation of WCRC licence to operate" nor is this phrase in the text. Was your quote from the paper version of the newspaper in which case the online version is different? Are you sure it said "ORR DEMANDS" - my capitals? That is a very serious statement from a regulatory body and unprecedented - they do not generally DEMAND anything. Can you clarify exactly where these words were in the copy you have please?

Generally, the article was as badly researched and written as we have sadly come to expect. My suspicion is that the writer, Adrian Quine, is not a subject matter expert in the area of rail regulation.

Thanks for your help in clarifying this,

Mike

 

Apologies, put my glasses on and I can clearly see your name on your posts, John.

Mike

 

I think your comments about the Adrian Quine article are unfair and unjustified. Yes, I am sure he is not a trainspotter or steam enthusiast but most of his article is quoting from reliable sources and as painful as it is to read, it offers a fair and valid perspective on the crisis now hitting mainline steam in the UK.

 

The article is somewhat clumsily written.
"the steam engine pulling 13 coaches of passengers came to rest on a track junction just moments after a high speed train had passed after it failed to stop at a red light" reads as if it was the HST that failed to stop.
And "The company took the unprecedented step of suspending the company’s Track Access Contract".
NR, ORR and RAIB all have different responsibilities and so could conceivably all come to different conclusions about what needs to be done.

 

Yes, I agree with you about the clumsy use of language. Unfortunately this is increasingly the case in the modern media. You'd have thought The Telegraph as well as maintaining the traditional broadsheet size of the paper would also uphold it's high standard of English And grammar, but obviously not !

 

Off thread but, writing journalistic prose used to be a skill, now it seems anyone with a thumb and a mobile phone can do it LOL #ivebecomeagrumpyoldman

 

I completely and utterly disagree with you, based on all the other stuff spouted in the Telegraph, it can't be seen as either fair or valid, at best fanciful speculation designed to sound as bad and dramatic as possible.

 

Journalists are in the business of selling their reportage and therefore it is in their interest to make such reports sound sensational. Whilst we can see this in the approach they take to subjects where we have a little more understanding, we should remember that it also applies for other topics where we don't have that extra little bit of insight.

(NBDR)L

 

Doesn't that apply to every newspaper?

 

Alas yes, these days it is not confined to the red tops.