|
Confirmation has been received from Virgin West Coast Trains that we will
be required to service them from 23 August to 31 August 2003. These
nine consecutive days will require assigned drivers for eight-hour shifts
both day and evening, as well as drivers to cover the one -off trips that
arise throughout the day. Further to the nine days, we will also be
required for every Sunday up till the end of the year. The hourly wait
premium and mileage rate is the same as before, however there will be even
more fixed price journeys. Northampton Station has been added to the list of stations we will be supporting. Originally we were only to service those trips coming south from Northampton, but we have now been asked to include Nuneaton in our costing. We will also be doing trips on behalf of Silver Link trains and at this moment are in the process of checking routes from station to station. Our task is to have a variation of routes available to drivers just in case the motorway becomes blocked at any time. In addition to supplying the route information, we have been instructed to supply journey times that will be given to passengers on the day. Virgin West Coast has very high standards of customer service and believes journey information to passengers is of great importance. Marshals will have copies to give to drivers, but this does not mean that drivers should not have a good Great Britain road atlas. The real difficulty we have with this type of work is the actual allocation of drivers. This time we have decided that the best way is to let the system decide who should take part. |
VIRGIN WEST COAST - HOW IT WILL WORK |
|
 There will be no need for any of you to come to the office to complete pieces of paper which will not only save our time, but yours as well. Initially, selection will take place via a dummy zone. The zone will be open at a set time in the morning and in the afternoon according to how many drivers are required; we have yet to be notified about the exact numbers, but feel sure it will be more than the 35 per shift that were used at Easter. Drivers will be asked to book into the zone where they will receive a queue position. For example, if the number of cabs required is 35, those who receive a queue position from 1 to 35 will be acknowledged by a message to their terminal that they have been chosen. Contact will then be made to the driver with instructions of what station they will be required to start at. The same procedure will take place for the evening shift. Each of the nine days will be selected in advance, which means the first Saturday being 23 August will be selected on Monday 4 August, Sunday 24 will be selected on Tuesday 5 August, right up till Sunday 31 August, which will be selected on 14 August. We also anticipate continuing the practise for each of the Sundays. No selection will take place on a weekend and everyone will only be allowed to participated in being pre-allocated just the once. |
Should we run out of drivers wishing to take part in being
pre-allocated, then we will start the process over again. Once we have the number of taxis we need booked in, the call centre will take a screen print from V6 of all those call signs. These will be checked against a database to ensure no one books in twice and gets allocated two shifts. Should anyone decide it would be good idea to try and beat our system, we will not only issue a complaint, but the first pre-allocated session - providing it has not already taken place - will be taken away from that individual. It is anticipated that from August to December, we could possibly use up to 2400 cabs for the pre-allocated shifts alone, so everyone will be given an opportunity to take part. For one off-trips despatched through the system, any driver can book in and take them. The only time this is not allowed is on the day when a driver has been chosen for a pre-allocated shift. To ensure that every driver is aware of how this account and selection will operate, a letter will be sent by the end of July explaining everything. We hope that by doing this, every driver will be made aware and no one will be able to say they did not know about it. Drivers will also be welcome to visit the office on the days selection takes place to witness the procedure. This is really good news for us and will, I'm sure, help everyone through what some say maybe a quiet summer. Keith Cain Drivers Operations Call Centre Manager |
|
