In England, if you are unfortunate enough to have to take the train to and from work on the Portsmouth Harbour line, you do not have the correct train. South West Trains, the operator of the service has some very smart trains with sleek carriages. In those carriages are two seats abreast in each row and there are also number of 2 seats each side of a little table. They are quite comfortable. Instead though, SWT primarily runs a London commuter train on this route. This train has a three and two set up which means you are forced to perch rather than sit and you are actually touching the person next to you.

For the pleasure of this highly unsatisfactory arrangement you are charged the highest train fares in Europe for one of the least reliable and least comfortable services. I have used a lot of trains in Europe and they are uniformly great. That’s not what makes my blood boil though.

What really infuriates me is we are conducted on the trains by Neanderthal ticket collectors who almost all have at least one RMT badge and often two !  The RMT is the rail and maritime transport workers union. It is run by a very unpleasant man called Bob Crow. I understand he is actually a communist. Under his instructions the RMT will down tools and walk off the job anytime one of their useless members gets found out for being a lazy oik and is fired. This buggers up everyone’s working week and causes massive disruption. What the train conductors are doing, in my view, by wearing these badges. They are just reminding me and everyone on the train that they care far more about their pay and conditions than providing a decent service that we are paying way over the odds for. Everyone except members of the RMT, hates the RMT. Why on earth would you walk around wearing the badge that says you are a jobsworth, who is more interested in your perks than you are in your passengers who pay your wages. I just do not get it ! As Wogan used to say “Is it just me?”