Trouble ahead as heritage railways
face steam train driver shortage
By Jessica Carpani
BRITAIN’S heritage railways are in
danger of running out of steam, as
bosses revealed a “pressing need for
new blood” and called for younger vol-
unteers to replace drivers on the brink
of retirement.
The Swanage Railway in Dorset –
one of the biggest heritage lines in the
country – needs to find 40 drivers over
the next five years to fill the gap.
The majority of their drivers are
aged 60 or above and are likely to step
down in the coming years. While the
retirements will be phased, the railway
must act now, as training a new steam
driver can take at least four years.
David Rawsthorn of the Swanage
Railway said: “We have 42 drivers – the
youngest is 27, and the oldest, still fit as a
fiddle, is 79. We need seven or eight new
drivers every year for the next five to
ten years to cope with drivers retiring.”
The not-for-profit company has been
operating since the late Seventies and
has a small number of paid staff, more
than 500 volunteers and attracts
200,000 visitors a year.
Despite the increased interest in
steam trains, with heritage lines at-
tracting over 13 million visitors a year,
other services have admitted that they
too are suffering from an ageing work-
force. Michael Gough, managing direc-
tor at Great Central Railway (GCR) in ]
Leicestershire said that while “plenty
of people want to drive a train”, wider
volunteering positions, such as train
guards and platform staff, struggle to
attract younger applicants.
He said: “It’s quite often difficult toget younger people to train up as
guards. There is no doubt that heritage
railways have quite an old age profile.
It’s the sort of thing that people come
to do when they’re in semi-retirement
or in retirement.”
Currently, GCR have 30 guards cov-
ering 52 weeks a year with the oldest in
their 70s.
“Throughout the summer we run al-
most every day, and in the winter at
least three days a week, and every sin-
gle train we operate has a guard. It’s
quite a challenge,” said Mr Gough.
Epping Ongar Railway in south-west
Essex also said it struggles to fill sup-
port staff roles with younger people.
Dean Walton, general manager, said:
“The real challenge is getting young
people into volunteering in a whole
host of other positions such as mainte-
nance, engineering, permanent way,
catering and other jobs needed to keep
our wheels turning.”
To conquer the age gap, North York-
shire Moors Railway has plans in place
to develop volunteers and recruit 12 ap-
prentices to ensure its continuation.
There are 156 steam heritage rail-
ways and about 30 steam museums and
centres in Britain, and Steve Oates,
chief executive at the Heritage Railway
Association, has said that there is a
“pressing need for new blood”.Heading for Reading Revellers make their to Reading Festival in sunshine yesterday with
warm weather expected for the three-day music event, twinned with the Leeds Festival.BEN CAWTHRA/LNPProsecution
of man who
spat at police
officer fails
By Charles Hymas
HOME AFFAIRS EDITOR
THE first prosecution for
spitting at a police officer
under new laws has failed af-
ter the Crown Prosecution
Service (CPS) ruled it was
not in the public interest.
The offender, a drug user,
assaulted Insp Alex Taylor
by spitting into his eyes, re-
quiring him to undergo eye-
rinsing treatment and tests
for hepatitis.
“It was absolutely disgust-
ing. I would rather be
punched and kicked than
spat on,” said Insp Taylor, an
inspector with Greater Man-
chester Police with more
than 20 years’ service.
The case was dropped af-
ter the CPS ruled it was not
in the public interest be-
cause psychiatric reports
suggested the attacker was
unfit to stand trial.
A spokesman said: “Fol-
lowing consideration of a
psychiatric report, we con-
cluded it was not in the pub-
lic interest to prosecute.”
There is growing concern
among ministers and front-
line police officers that
courts and prosecutors are
not taking attacks on police
seriously enough.
Following the death of Pc
Andrew Harper, who was
dragged to his death by a
vehicle after going to inves-
tigate a reported burglary,
Priti Patel, the Home Secre-
tary, demanded a crackdown
by courts and prosecutors
on assaults on police.
John Apter, chairman of
the Police Federation of Eng-
land and Wales, said:
“There’s has got to be a de-
terrence. The overwhelming
feeling from very many po-
lice officers is that the wider
criminal justice system
doesn’t rate assaults on offic-
ers with sufficient gravitas.”
Insp Taylor, who was
attacked by the “aggressive”
52-year-old man as he tried
to calm him at a police sta-
tion, said he did not know
why the case was dropped.
“If he had been sectioned,
and I had been told then, I
would have understood
that,” he said. “I’ve been as-
saulted many times over my
22 years on the police, and I
was hoping that the new leg-
islation would have a much
bigger impact on the way we
were treated as victims by
the CPS and the courts.”
The alleged offence came
just three months after the
new Assault on Emergency
Workers (Offences) Act
made assaults on officers
punishable with jail terms of
up to 12 months.
Police chiefs, however,
say the sentencing council
has yet to provide guidelines
to courts and judges to en-
sure spitting is treated as a
serious assault requiring
longer sentences.
Greater Manchester Po-
lice confirmed that a 52-year-
old man had been arrested
and subsequently charged
with common assault of an
emergency worker.Students with fake
nails not up to scratch
By Camilla Turner
EDUCATION EDITOR
A SCHOOL has banned fake
nails because they are ruin-
ing girls’ handwriting.
Burnside College, in
Wallsend, North Tyneside,
wrote to parents to warn
about acrylic nail exten-
sions.
“We are revising our uni-
form policy due to the in-
creased number of students
wearing acrylic nail exten-
sions,” it told parents earlier
this year. “Some are unable
to fully access the curricu-
lum and in extreme cases are
unable to use a pen, having a
detrimental effect on their
learning.”
The school has now
banned acrylic nails and nail
extensions, explaining that
nails should be a “sensible
length”.
Students were warned
they faced “appropriate
sanctions” if they failed to
comply with the new rules.
But the move has prompted
a backlash from some par-
ents, who called it “bonk-
ers”. Gracie Fish, 15, a pupil
at the school, was ordered to
remove her green gel nails
on health and safety grounds
before a week-long place-
ment at a college in Newcas-
tle. When she refused, she
was ordered to spend the
week in isolation.
Samantha Fish, 46, her
mother, said: “I just don’t seewhat part of this is health
and safety, especially as she’s
doing health and beauty.
“I think she’s been dis-
criminated against. It is pa-
thetic and she was
devastated. I lost my temper
and said she’s not going back
in September.” Acrylic nails
have been popularised by
reality TV show star Khloe
Kardashian as well as Love
Island contestants.News
Applicants, aged
16 and over, start
as a locomotive
cleaner, and will
be expected to
learn about the
working parts of
locomotives.
This can take up
to two years.
Cleaners then
progress to
fireman, with
practical and
written
examinations. At
“firing school”
they learn how
to fire up the
train and keep it
going with coal.They will also
learn the rules of
their heritage
line and
Network Rail
plus water
management.
This may take
several years.
Fireman then
have to complete
a significant
number of
driving turns
before they are
examined to
become a driver.
The whole
process can take
a minimum of
four years.Getting on track How to
become a steam train driverCPS drops first case
under new laws as
it is deemed ‘not in
the public interest’
Anna Vakili on
Love Island has
made long
acrylic nails
popular with
childrenThe Daily Telegraph Thursday 22 August 2019 *** 9
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