Southern releases Conductor sickness figures

Southern releases Conductor sickness figures

OVER 1000 DAYS OF CONDUCTOR SICKNESS IN ONE MONTH

CONDUCTOR SICKNESS HAS DOUBLED COMPARED TO PRE-STRIKE LEVELS

ONE-IN-SIX CONDUCTORS HAVE TAKEN SICKNESS LEAVE IN LAST MONTH

Southern has released new figures showing the level of conductor sickness absence currently causing significant disruption to the rail service.

The key figures released by the company are:

• In the last 32 working days the company has been hit by 1066 days of conductor absence.
• The rate of absence that has more than doubled since the first conductors strike on 26 April.
• In the two weeks prior to the first strike, conductor sickness absence ran at an average of 23 conductors off sick each day. Since the strike, that number has nearly doubled to 40 conductors off sick each day. In the last ten days, that figure has increased still further to 45 conductors off sick each day.
• In the last month, 74 conductors have had at least one day of sickness absence. This amounts to one-in-six conductors having had a day’s sickness in that period.
• On a daily basis, an average of 83 Southern services are being cancelled due to the current ongoing sickness problems.

A spokesman for the company said:

“We would not usually release such information, but passengers deserve to know the reasons behind the unusually high level of train cancellations they are presently experiencing.

“For those conductors who are ill the company is offering all the support we are able to and working out how they can get back to work. But these figures show a remarkable and unprecedented level of sickness absence which commenced at the time of the first strike. We are presently looking into what steps can be taken to investigate this deterioration in the health of conductors across our network.”

The following chart shows the number of conductors off sick each day since 4 April.