I'm a failure

Well, it's finally happened. I've failed a train. Given my previous 'Jonah Complex' I'm surprised it's taken this long. It was actually something of an anticlimax when it finally happened. Predictably it had to be a door fault on a Class 315 rather than anything more spectacular, but safety first...!!

We were at Hackney Downs on our way down to Hertford East when I noticed that people were having trouble getting into the leading coach and that the hazard light was not on. Given the number of times you have to shout "Press and hold" at punters because they can't operate the door buttons correctly and the frequency with which hazard lights fail, I initially though nothing of it. However, the minder I was with jumped out at the next stop to investigate and found that there was no door release on that coach at all. A phone call to control later, and I'm turfing everyone out at Seven Sisters, changing ends and heading back to London empty as the unit cannot continue in service.

Ironically, I'd just been speaking to another trainee before setting out who was telling me that he had lost all his main air after hitting a large bird between Ware and Hertford East (he wasn't sure whether it was a swan or a goose). Perhaps I should have taken that as an omen and gone to somewhere less risky, like Enfield Town. Still, it meant that I got a nice early finish to round the day off. What a result!!