True stories from the Great Railway Disaster
A weekly chronicle of the absurdities caused by the Government's privatisation programme; No 58: so you want to use BR's internal mail?
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Your support makes all the difference.MANY parcels and letters for use in the rail industry are sent quickly and cheaply through the internal mail system which uses BR trains. Now that the rail system is being broken up and privatised, that will no longer be possible.
A leaked letter sent anonymously by a disgruntled employee of Great Western, one of the two lines privatised to date, reveals that rival companies will no longer be able to use its internal mail system.
The letter, dated 30 January, just before the sale of the company to its management, is from Barbara Salter, its director of human resources, and says that while "currently Great Western carries mail for all British Rail Board companies and its subsidiaries" this will not continue after sale. It adds: "Equally, we will not be in a position to use other companies' services to carry our own internal mail" and warns that "alternative arrangements in so far as Great Western services are concerned" must be made.
BR companies will now have to start using trains still run by BR, but when all the franchises have been transferred into the private sector, the companies will have to use the post, which is both slower and more expensive, wasting money that ultimately comes out of passengers' and taxpayers' pockets.
And this is also happening to free rail travel for workers in the various privatised bits of BR. Another disgruntled employee, who works for BR Telecoms - and who also must remain anonymous - claims his free travel pass is under threat.
He says: "They want to make us get warrants in advance so that the train- operating company can get reimbursed, but often when you are repairing a fault you have no idea where you will be going. So most people won't bother and they will use their cars, which is pretty stupid."
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