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RMT helpline 0800 376 3706 :: january 2017 :: RMTnews
4
RMT SLAMS SOUTHERN
RAIL ‘WHITEWASH’
R
MT slammed the Office of
Road and Rail’s (ORR) report
into Driver Only Operation on
(DOO) Southern Rail as a
complete whitewash that proves
conclusively that it is no longer
fit for purpose.
The government rail
regulator claimed that DOO can
be made safe despite its own
reports highlighting over 20
serious safety failures.
The union said that any other
industry that had serious safety
failures would be put under
special measures but with the
government itself pushing DOO
it was no surprise that this
whitewash appeared on the eve
of further strike action.
RMT said that it proved that
the ORR was nothing more than
an arm of the government,
wholly committed to propping
up the train companies.
The authors of the report
took no evidence from trade
unions and swallowed the
distorted picture painted by
Southern Rail.
The report also limited its
work to the issue of door
control when there is a whole
raft of safety issues that are
allied to the question of DOO.
RMT general secretary Mick
Cash warned that as a result
there was no genuinely
independent safety regulation
on Britain’s railways, an
appalling situation.
“The ORR is claiming to be
an independent safety body
when in fact they are a
department of the government
made up of Tory appointees and
funded by the transport
industry.
“RMT has no confidence in
ORR whatsoever and will
continue the fight for safety on
Southern and across our
railways and genuine,
independent scrutiny free from
central government,” he said.
ASLEF general secretary Mick
Whelan also said that the ORR
report did not give DOO a clean
bill of health.
“It doesn’t say it is safe,
merely that it can be safe.
“The company seems to