SWR and RMT argue over a Twitter typo

A TWITTER typo about the role of guards on trains has sparked a row between South Western Railway and the RMT.

The union for railway workers accused the firm’s Twitter manager of ‘letting the cat out of the bag’ over the future of its train guards after they made a blunder in a reply to a customer on social media on Monday.

Via its 24/7 updates account, @SW_Help, the operator said to one tweeter: ‘Morning, the trains we currently have on the network cannot be run without a guard, that situation would change, the dispute is about the introduction of new stock, which could potentially be operated by the driver.’

The since-deleted tweet sparked fears in the RMT that the operator, which runs serices through Portsmouth, had confirmed it would scrap guards on its future services – dealing a blow to its continuing strikes against the issue.

But South Western Railway has hit back, claiming the reply was ‘badly worded’ – criticising the RMT for using a ‘typo’ to ‘justify unnecessary strikes’.

A spokesman for the firm said: ‘This was a badly worded tweet.

‘The tweet should have read “the trains we currently have on our network cannot run without a guard, that situation WON’T change, the dispute is about the introduction of new stock, which has the potential to be operated by the driver.”

‘We have made it very clear that our intention is to keep a guard on all our trains, including the new stock when it arrives.

‘We have even offered the RMT a framework agreement which guarantees we would never run a train without a guard if they work with us to help ensure the new trains are operated in a way that maximises the performance benefits of the new fleet.

‘The RMT is trying to use a typo in a tweet to justify these unnecessary strikes that were called weeks ago.’

Mick Cash, general secretary of the RMT, said the union ‘doesn’t believe for a moment' the tweet was an accident.

‘SWR are now back-pedalling as they know that the truth is dynamite in terms of this union’s campaign.’