Question mark over West Somerset jobs as 43 staff are put on notice

THE on-going effects ofthe coronavirus and the resultant loss of income has forced the West Somerset Railway (WSR) to inform 43 of its paid staff that their jobs may be at risk of redundancy.

A letter was sent out on

May 13 to staff in the mechanical engineering, permanent way, operations, and commercial/ admin departments, advising them West Somerset Railway pie had reached the position of having to propose redundancies across the business.

The letter from WSR pie chairman Jonathon Jones-Pratt confirmed the reason for the proposed redundancies was "the severe impact of the Covid-19 virus on the business, both in terms of us not being able to run our services at present, and because of the impact that this has had on us being able to run services this year and into next year, and potentially longer term''.

In total, 43 of the line's 45 paid staff are at risk, with the two unaffected being in the commercial and administration department.

"Wherever possible, we will seek to avoid redundancies, and we are constantly monitoring Government guidance and the potential impact on our business to try to avoid redundancies;' said Mr Jones-Pratt.

"Iffollowing consultation all 43 redundancies are required to be made, then all at-risk employees would be selected for redundancy. We very much hope that this is not the case. "Any employee who is made redundant will, on termination of his or her employment, receive their statutory redundancy payment entitlement and any outstanding contractual payments:'

The situation comes as a bitter blow for the WSR, which was steadily making a recovery from the near financial collapse of 2018. There were a handful of redundancies at that time, but the railway, which is heavily reliant on paid staff, has invested a considerable amount in its infrastructure in order to overcome its previous problems. Speaking in a video log on

May 20, Mr Jones-Pratt said: "This is a crisis for the West Somerset Railway. We are in unprecedented times, and it is a sad state of affairs to have the railway closed during what is our best time of year.

"We are a seasonal railway, but it is unlikely we will be able to run this season, which will mean we have suffered three winters of hardship:'

Instead the railway is in what Mr Jones-Pratt described as a "care and maintenance"situation, where certain work was being undertaken to stay on top of things, with a view to the line being able to safely reopen in March of next year.