M Rifkind
xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx@xxxxxxxxxxxxxx.xxx
18 May 2011
Dear M Rifkind,
I am writing in response to your Freedom of Information request, dated 14 April 2011, concerning the
training and training materials provided to East Coast’s ticket office staff.
All new entrants to East Coast go through a three-day Corporate Welcome programme that covers
the company values and aspirations in addition to the regulatory and compliance requirements such
as disability awareness, fire prevention and safety training. Frontline staff will also go through a two-
day customer services training course and a one-day conflict avoidance course. However, as these
programmes are not specific to ticket office staff, I have not included materials for these courses
within the scope of this request although I have attached a copy of the East Coast Induction Policy
that explains the training process new members of staff will follow to provide a clear overview.
Following these more generic courses station and ticket office staff attend a two-day course, the
contents of which is detailed within the Travel Centre and Station Staff Work Book and the Travel
Centre Trainer’s notes days 1 and 2.
Following these courses, new employees will then receive on the job training at their new work
locations. The Travel Centre Induction Log Book is used at this point as it acts as a guide covering all
of the things a new member of ticket office staff should learn. As part of this on the job training new
employees will learn how to use Tribute, the main computer system used within the Travel Centre.
Tribute is mainly used to purchase tickets and/or make seat reservations. This process ensures that
new employees will not start work by themselves until they are ready to do so.
The training materials provided to ticket office staff during their initial training, the training notes
used for these sessions and the resources stored on ‘Retail Net’, that we can release, are attached to
this document. Retail Net is a section of the East Coast intranet dedicated to retail staff, such as
ticket office staff, and is a central pool of information that staff can access to assist them in their
work. During the induction process ticket office staff are trained regarding how to locate Retail Net,
what information is available and what that information can be used for.
The titles of the attached documents, their purpose, and details of any information that we are not
able to disclose are listed below. Please note that where reference is made to a travel centre, this
means the same thing as a ticket office within this documentation:
•
Travel Centre Induction Log Book – the purpose of this log is to record progress of new
entrants. We have removed the access password detail for the Tribute system from this
document;
•
Travel Centre and Station Staff Work Book – this work book forms part of the induction
programme;
•
Travel Centre Trainer’s notes days 1 and 2 – these are the trainer notes from the induction
programme. The passwords used to enter the Trust computer system for the first time have
been removed from this document;
•
Travel Centre Management Procedures Manual – these are the procedures that Station
Registered in England
Registered Offices:
4th Floor, One Kemble Street, London, WC2B 4TS
Registered Number: 04659708
Managers and Duty Station Managers must follow in respect of East Coast travel centres;
•
Acceptable Forms of Payment Manual – this manual details the payment types accepted by
East Coast;
•
TRUST training form – this user guide is for TRUST, one of the computer systems in use within
travel centres. TRUST is used mainly for monitoring train movements or for train connections
information;
•
Ticket on Departure information – this was a one page brief detailing the process that staff
have been instructed to follow should customers not have the relevant credit card available
when collecting train tickets from a ticket office or fast ticket machine. However, this
document has not been disclosed;
•
National Rail Conditions of Carriage – this document is listed on the ‘Retail Net’ section of East
Coast’s intranet for staff to access. However, this document is available to the general public;
•
STIMS user guide – this document is accessible to staff through Retail Net and is a user guide
for the STIMS computer system (Season Ticket Information Management System). As the full
name suggests, this computer system is used to manage season ticket holder’s information.
Please note that this document is dated and does need updating as some of the instructions to
staff are now incorrect;
•
Travel Centre Procedures Manual – this document details the procedures and responsibilities of
Travel Centre Consultants and Shift Leaders. We have removed the sections of this document
concerning the process to follow for stranded passengers and the maximum insurance value
we have for cash bags;
•
Tribute Handy Guide – this formed a brief user guide for the Tribute system. Please note that
this document is no longer in use. More information on the Tribute system training is detailed
below;
•
Cash Regulations Manual – this manual details the cash handling process that employees
handling cash should follow. Sections 3.3 to 3.5, 3.7.4, 3.7.5 and 3.9 have been removed from
this document. These sections concern various security related instructions to staff such as
control of cash, access to safes and secure areas. Pages 8, 9 and 11 have been left
intentionally blank and wholly contained information from these removed sections;
•
Impartial Retailing Brief – this brief was issued to all ticket office staff during the last 12
months and outlines our regulatory requirement for impartial retailing;
•
Pricing and Ticketing Updates (PTUs) – although these are briefings rather than training I have
disclosed all updates issued from the start date of the East Coast franchise. These updates are
issued to all retail staff (those who handle or sell train tickets). One paragraph from the
December 2009 PTU concerning an instruction to Train Guards following Advance ticket issues
has been removed from the document; and
•
Product and Retail briefs – these detail specific products or promotions and we have included
the briefs issued over the last year. However, one of the product briefs detailing the process to
follow when customers are not carrying the obligatory reservation coupon with their Advance
ticket and two separate promotional offer briefs have not been disclosed.
In addition to the training directed at new employees, all ticket office staff receive a briefing/training
day every 12 weeks to ensure they maintain their key competencies, remain fully abreast of relevant
information and to provide an opportunity for further development. These training days can be used
for any mandatory training, to go through the latest product briefs or even as an opportunity for staff
to use training tools such as ‘Just the Ticket’ (detailed below).
The information withheld from disclosure that is referenced in the above list is exempt from disclosure
under section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000. This exemption applies because there is
a risk that disclosure of this information, with the exception of the two promotional offer briefs, could
be used by someone to evade or compromise the revenue protection policies or practices of East
Coast. In the case of these two promotional briefs, although the same exemption applies, the reason
is that disclosure may negatively impact revenue received by East Coast.
The commercial interests are the ability of East Coast to provide commercial services in a competitive
environment and to receive revenue from the provision of these services. These interests would be
likely to be affected by disclosure of the requested information.
The prejudice that would be likely is that the ability of East Coast to maximise and protect the
revenue which it should receive for the provision of services will be compromised if it discloses this
information. Disclosure would be likely to lead to reduced revenue for East Coast, which would have
a detrimental effect on the commercial operation of East Coast. There is a significant risk that such
prejudice would occur and this could have a significant effect on East Coast and consequently on the
Department for Transport and the public.
East Coast has applied the public interest test. It has recognised that there is a public interest in
general in public authorities being as transparent as possible about their policies and procedures and
the management of their finance. However, it has also considered the need for public authorities to
safeguard the interests of taxpayers by ensuring that they maintain effective systems to protect their
revenue. East Coast has therefore decided that the public interest test in maintaining the exemption
outweighs the public interest in disclosing the information. This is because East Coast believes that
the commercial damage which could be caused could have a detrimental effect on the prices and
services it offers and so the public in general would be likely to suffer as a result. Therefore, taking
account of all the circumstances, East Coast believes that the public interest is served by applying the
exemption in section 43(2) of the Freedom of Information Act 2000 to the withheld information.
In addition to the above list of training documents, we also have is a section entitled ‘Useful Links’
within Retail Net that staff are trained to access. These are links to websites that ticket office staff
may find useful including links to websites hosting guides for some of the computer systems used
within our Ticket Offices. Although we are unable to disclose the contents of documents from these
third party sites we can confirm what these links are and their purpose:
•
Booking horizon – this is a link to a National Rail Enquiries (NRE) site that details, by individual
train operator, how far in advance tickets can be purchased;
•
Live Train Times – this is a link to the front page of our website www.eastcoast.co.uk where
there is a further link to obtain live train running information by individual station;
•
NLC Finder – this is a link to the section of the ATOC ‘Manual’ used to access detailed fares and
ticketing information;
•
NRE Live Departure Boards – this is a link to the section of the NRE website where real-time
train running information is displayed;
•
Rail Information Online – this link will shortly be removed as it details the same information as
NRE Knowledgebase (detailed below);
•
The Manual – this is a link to the section of the ATOC website where the ATOC fares manual is
stored. We no longer obtain this document as a hard copy;
•
Transport Direct – this is a link to the Transport Direct website. This website provides a
journey planning facility that can identify available routes, by transport type, between
destinations;
•
Tribute Support – this is a link to the Tribute website containing useful information and user
guides. The Tribute computer system is used for selling tickets or making reservations and is
used on the terminals in ticket offices as well as the ticket machines used by Train Guards on-
board our trains;
•
Walk it – this is a link to the ‘Walk-it’ website. Walk-it is an urban route planner used to
identify walking routes;
•
West Yorkshire Metro – this is a link to the West Yorkshire Metro website;
•
East Coast – this is a link to our website www.eastcoast.co.uk;
•
Fast ticket status – this is a link to a password protected computer system used to identify the
current performance of fast ticket machines;
•
National Rail – this is a link to the NRE website;
•
NRE Knowledgebase – this is a link to the industry database providing station facilities
information. This database is displayed on the NRE website;
•
NRS – this is a password protected computer system used to make train seat reservations;
•
South Yorkshire PTE – this is a link to the South Yorkshire Passenger Transport Executive
website;
•
Traintaxi – this is a link to a national website that acts as a guide to which taxis serve each
train, tram, metro and underground stations;
•
Transport for London – this is a link to the Transport for London website;
•
Tyne and Wear Metro – this is a link to the Tyne and Wear Metro website; and
•
‘Just the ticket’ – this is a link to an area of the ATOC website where the training resource ‘Just
the Ticket’ is stored. This resource is available to all members of ATOC and can be used to
improve the knowledge and understanding of all staff who sell train tickets. Although this
resource is not within the ‘Useful Links’ section, it is accessed through Retail Net.
Unfortunately we do not hold any training materials for the use of Fast Ticket Machines.
The Travel Centre Induction Log Book, Travel Centre Workbook and Trainer’s Notes have all been re-
branded by East Coast. The Travel Centre Procedures Manual, the Travel Centre Management
Procedures Manual and the Cash Regulations Manual are all new documents that were implemented
during the East Coast franchise. The Pricing and Ticketing Updates, Product Briefs and the Impartial
Retailing brief were all created and issued by East Coast.
If you are not satisfied with the response to this request, you have the right to ask for a review of this
response. If you wish to do so, you should contact me and request this. If you exercise that right and
are not satisfied with the outcome of the review, you have the right to complain to the Information
Commissioner by contacting:
The Information Commissioner's Office,
Wycliffe House,
Water Lane,
Wilmslow,
Cheshire,
SK9 5AF.
Telephone: 08456 30 60 60 or 01625 54 57 45
Website: www.ico.gov.uk
Yours sincerely,
For and on behalf of East Coast Main Line Company Limited