Ahhh bless! What started out as something where you felt sorry for the driver is now turning into a bit of a shambles. You may have read all the stuff about the London Underground driver who got sacked for playing squash when he was supposed to be off sick with an ankle injury. He had been told by his doc that playing squash would improve his ankle. But the LU bosses thought otherwise, sacked him and this led to a strike in November by the RMT to try to reinstate him.
The next strike over this dispute is planned for Xmas Eve and also on New Year's Eve, and the driver has spoken out to The Evening Standard today in an attempt to get public opinion on his side.
"I'm really sorry if by having a strike I'm going to ruin people's Christmas - but my whole life has been ruined," he says.
"I don't want revenge, I just want my job back. That's why I have to piss off the people of London ... it's the one course of action available to me. I have to look after my family."
Well the strike didn't work before and it's unlikely to now. Even Mayor Ken Livingstone is against this strike who pointed out that Chris Barrett had taken 218 days off sick in five years.
Fortunately it will just be limited to the Hammersmith & City Line, so will not "ruin people's Christmas", but inconvenience many thousands who'll be swearing at this man, then swearing at the Unions and calling the whole thing a farce.
Just in case you travel on that line it will be effected from 0430 GMT on 24 December and 0429 GMT on 25 December, and between noon on 31 December and 1159 GMT on 1 January, 2004.
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