http://www.thisislondon.co.uk/standard/article-23758108-im-an-easygoing-jedi-says-tube-worker-in-abuse-row.do

Ian Morbin, a London Underground Customer Service Assistant, was doing platform duties at Holborn tube station at the height of the rush hour when an elderly man ignored the instruction to stand clear of the train doors and wedged his arm in them, thereby delaying the departure of a packed train and putting himself at risk of injury.

Mr Morbin snapped and launched into a tirade of abuse which was filmed by another passenger. The incident made front page headlines in the Evening Standard and London Lite newspapers.

Funny that, when Public Sector pay is presently a hot political topic...

He was suspended from his job and has subsequently resigned.

I'm so disappointed that Ian Morbin has resigned without going through the normal disciplinary procedure.

In fact, it's a quite odd thing to do just a couple of months before Christmas; if he'd presented his case in the usual manner, at least he would have drawn a few weeks pay while the necessary board was convened.

All of which makes me suspect that a deal has been struck with Management: go quietly and we'll give you some dosh. That way no embarrassing medical evidence will be presented about the kind of stress under which LU ask staff to operate, day in day out, week after week, extreme shift to extreme shift.

I don't know anyone who's done that particular thankless job who HASN'T "lost it" at one time or another. I know I certainly have, on two or three occasions over 11 years with the company. Anyone who says they haven't is either a saint or a liar.

Ian Morbin, I think, is set to become a kind of London Underground folk hero, a Robin Hood character for the huddled masses who work for the firm: the man who actually came out and said what everybody else actually thinks and feels at least a dozen times a shift.

I didn't know the detail of this case. The reports I read just said that the underground worker went nuts, shouting and abusing an elderly person. After reading the above, I think I would have reacted the same way, what a stupid person to put his arm in the train doors like that, not forgetting the inconvenience to all the other passengers. Shame Ian Morbin resigned and shameful the way it was reported.

Geez, why support either one? I didn't work underground for years, but I did do six months as a Glesga tramcar conductor, and believe me, after fitba' games there were enough assholes nd to spare rushing the car at every stop, when it was already overcrowded, so you just rang three bells for the driver, who stopped dead at the sound and didn't move the car until you had cleared the excess bastards off it. No need to lose it on them, no way they were going anywhere til you said so.

On the subject of ranting maniacs, it might be wiser to look for citizens coming under that particular category amongst members of the travelling public rather than London Underground staff.

Small example:

Making my way home on Monday night/Tuesday morning from Aldgate East tube station, pretty shattered after 7 consecutive "dead late" shifts, it took me a few moments to register the nature and origin of the commotion on the opposite platform.

A female staff member was screaming, "He's going to throw himself on the tracks!!" and, sure enough, looking further along the opposite platform I saw two male members of staff sitting on top of a prone and ranting customer.

Since my colleagues seemed to have the whole matter well in hand, I shrugged and boarded my train home...

Such events are not THAT unusual.

Eddie, I seem to remember you saying that you plan to cut down your hours quite heavily. Have you done so? If you have, how's it going?! Or have you changed your mind due to the current financial situation etc.

Oh, and I didn't vote. Neither get my support as both acted badly. Secretly, my support is for the tube worker, as I can only imagine how bloody stressful that job can be. I certainly don't blame anyone for snapping from time to time in a job like that... But obviously he can't act like that to every tosser he comes across. So, No Vote!

Doing your bit...you're a saint Eddie, truly a saint.

And so is the tube worker who threw himself under the train, so to speak. You poor guys, I can't imagine how hard it must be for you guys that they make you endure through so much. Mr Torbin was right to yell that the old man should be thrown under the train. I mean, how can tube workers be expected to conduct themselves in a rational and respectful manner when they have to work fulltime...fulltime work!..it just isn't fair. And as to the citizens who feigned such shock that they were supposedly compelled to film Mr. Torbin's justifiable rant, I bet it was a management ploy...purely political. They probably were out to get Mr. Torbin and set him up for a fall....and at Christmas time no less, not that Christmas is anything other than a capitalist ploy to dupe consumers into spending all their hard earned cash.

All of you angry and overworked tube workers should just quit. That would really show them. Then they would be forced to hire all new employees. The public, although unworthy of consideration, would probably be better served by a new set of shills who haven't been worked to death in such a stressful environment. Stand up for what you believe in....QUIT! You can either be a whiner, or quit. You don't have a hair on your ass unless you do.

You have my full support, and evidently not a small portion of the general public.

Gateline. Liverpool Street Station during the morning peak.

I'd give you...say...20 minutes before you either burst into tears or shot somebody stone dead.

Or both.

I'm with Eddie, Mac. Sarcasm is even cheaper than cynicism, and cynicism rarely is paid for.

sarcasm?...cynicism? I'm with Eddie too. We all are!..it's what online friendships are about, sticking together. It's like a union of sorts.

Shoot 'em and cry later, or not. An old man who fights his way through the crowd day in and day out, gets desperate and tries to stop the train by sticking his arm in the door, who needs that kind of aggravation, "sling him under a train". The tube worker's union should adopt that slogan, "Sling Him Under A Train". But take care what you wish for, you buck the slogan and they just might sling you under a train....but you'd probably deserve it.

Uh oh, I haven't voted yet, but I just checked the vote count and it seems some scum bag has voted against throwing the old man under a train.

Hey scum bag, show yourself, if you dare.