serco egtk

[vfrflyer]

Thankfully it now loooks like serco will be leaving oxford, and not by their own choice which is even better. They originally strolled in promoising the world. They proceeded to mess the place up, put an idiot in charge and sat back quietly collecting their management fee whilst leaving the staff to get on with what they had been doing for years. The only good thing they did was move the idiot back to cranfield.

Oh, and sally is going a little nutz. Shame!

[niknak]

I would imagine that Sally has an open, one way reservation on the all flights from London to Wellington.

First they lose Biggin, then Southend and now Oxford, to lose one is unfortunate, but three is down right careless! :p

It appears that there's no new ATC work in the UK for Serco, as airport owners are coming round to that fact that if you initially invest a relatively large sum in training your own staff, it will pay off in the future.
Why pay a contractor to do that for you, when you can do yourself at a significantly lower cost?
A senior source within Serco privately admitted, on a recent unit visit that they are at minimum staffing, and could not honestly guarantee to fully staff every existing or future contract all the time.

In addition to losing contracts, it appears that a certain airport in the East of England, previously heavily wooed by Serco, has decided they don't need them, and unsubstantiated rumour has it that, regardless of any recent contract negotiations, Scatsta, North Denes and Hawarden may be under review by the relavant airport owners.

Despite the obvious financial benefit of the return from the buildings and land, I'm still convinced that Serco shot themselves in the foot by closing Bailbrook College. Many of their ATC contracts were "seeded" by airports sending candidates there.

Still, they know what they are doing.... :suspect:

[83 3708]

They proceeded to mess the place up, put an idiot in charge and sat back quietly collecting their management fee

I think I know the idiot you are talking about, only I would have to disagree with him being an idiot. There is only so much that the resident 'man in charge' can do when you have Head Office pulling the strings.

I'm still convinced that Serco shot themselves in the foot by closing Bailbrook College

Definitely a bad move and all because they could make some quick cash by selling the place.

Another problem is that they are always moving Head Office staff around and 're-organising' the company structure. You never know who is in what seat at any particular time. Sally has hung on longer than most but it must be causing her grief by now.


Regards

(Ex Serco)

[srs what?]

Talking to someone the other day about Bailbrook and what other options there are now for ATC training I was led to believe the reason behind Serco closing their college was because they had their 'ticket' pulled by the CAA.

Purely what I was told, not fact and I'm not trying to start any nasty rumours.

[Chilli Monster]

Talking to someone the other day about Bailbrook and what other options there are now for ATC training I was led to believe the reason behind Serco closing their college was because they had their 'ticket' pulled by the CAA.

If that had been the case they wouldn't have been running courses right up until the college closed. In addition to this the current courses being run by another operator just down the road are all being done with a lot of the old Bailbrook infrastructure.

Sounds like you've been fed some nonsense by someone not in the know

[Legs11]

The 'idiot' in charge never had a chance in hell when serco went into Kidlington Bitchy Intl. The staff were kept in the dark by CSE and it was a done deal before they knew about it. Backs were up from the start, I'm sure you would agree vfrflyer. The original staff have never been happy and have made life difficult ever since. The Oxford owners also have never known what it is they actually want. I'll give it 6 months maybe a year at best before they've changed their minds again:rolleyes:

As for Hawarden niknak, I think you'll find that extensions of contract are already well under way with Airbus.

As for srs what's ridiculous Bailbrook thread :rolleyes: what planet do you hail from, Chilli beat me to it, but come on don't be ridiculous:=

[Minesapint]

Imagine if this bunch had got NATS - good grief! They can't even manage a small airport in the sticks!

[HEATHROW DIRECTOR]

I know this comment will appear well past it's use by date, by why on earth did Oxford see a need to employ Serco? When I worked there the ATC Unit was run very efficiently by the SATCO (one Phil Frogley of Hovercraft fame!) It was a compact unit running just tower and approach and in no way needed an outside "supplier". Bizarre.

[niknak]

Legs - thanks for the info'.

Just out of interest, what are revenue traffic levels at Oxford like now, I understand that the commercial flying training side of things went a bit quiet over the last 18 months, and it crossed my mind that the new owners might just have bought the airport as an asset stripping exercise.
Like most airfields in England, it would be worth far more as housing or industrial land than it is as an airport, are there any planning restrictions which would prevent this happening?

[Almost an ATCO]

It's a shame when a site designed for use by professionals descends into a slagging match. Reading with interest the Oxford issues, I may be able to assist with some of the queries.
Oxford is doing very nicely, thank you. Revenue traffic seems to be on the up and figures are much higher than predicted. Investment is afoot and the asset-stripping referred to took place prior to the present owners buying in. The Owners do know what they want, and none of the present Management team were in place when SERCo were invited to tender.

The Controllers are a happy bunch in general and one wonders where Leggs 11 is getting his information from. Could it be from an ATCO with only a couple of years time-served at TK and who's opinion is less than valid as he/she was not in place at the time of the handover? Perhaps a site visit would be appropriate for Leggs 11 - it's not far.

Leggs 11 is however accurate on another issue. The man-in-charge initially was handed a ticking bomb. Very unhappy and badly treated ATCO's are hard to win over, but with one noted exception who was his/her own worst enemy, he succeeded admirably. The decision to leave was his and his alone and as paperwork available to anyone in the know will testify, any difficulties he encountered came from much higher up the food-chain as he had the full support of ATC staff on site.

The very senior lady from Serco management referred to was, on last siting, in full control of her faculties - not wearing her underpants on her head or with pencils up her nostrils.

Perhaps people with personal issues against individuals would be best keeping them just that - personal. Or perhaps a dose of maturity would help.

And for the person who remembers Phil Frogley, he sadly passed away nearly five years ago. He retained his interest in ATC and his professionalism to the very end of his 90+ years. If only the same could be said for all in the trade

[vfrflyer]

There is only so much that the resident 'man in charge' can do when you have Head Office pulling the strings.

But he did nothing of any worth....


Backs were up from the start, I'm sure you would agree vfrflyer. The original staff have never been happy and have made life difficult ever since.
I agree backs were up. I don't agree they have made it difficult ever since. Whatever your source, it is inaccurate!


The man-in-charge initially was handed a ticking bomb. Very unhappy and badly treated ATCO's are hard to win over, but with one noted exception who was his/her own worst enemy, he succeeded admirably

No! he didn't succeed admirably, and once he was shipped off nobody had to pretend anymore. And the noted exception was for once doing what he was told by the man in-charge, so go figure that out

[Trick]

Also heavily rumoured that Llanbedr (Serco contract) is likely to close at end of October.

Serco must be very top heavy in their management structure !

[goddammit]

legs 11

I cant agree the chap had no chance, or that the staff have made it difficult ever since. He was given every opportunity to do the right thing but elected to dump on the staff rather than take any resposibility for the issues that needed sorted.

There are various grades of idiot. He may not have been in the same league as, say, an individual that downloads inappropriate material on to a company machine, but he was still an idiot.

[Legs11]

Hmm yes goddammit as you say, there are various levels of idiocy :ouch: and to stay with serco for as long as he has the 'idiot' can't really be all that stupid.

I still maintain that whilst he had faults and serco made things even more difficult by always surrendering to the customer's whims, he didn't always get full co-operation nor support from some.

I have no axe to grind and wish Oxford ATC well, just don't feel the guy fully deserves all the aggro being sent his way.



Perhaps people with personal issues against individuals would be best keeping them just that - personal.

[Fox3snapshot]

So when did we start to regularly use personal names in these forums????!!!

Regardless in what vain the name is being expressed a little discretion would probably be a little more "professional"!

:hmm:

[Legs11]

Sadly Fox2snapshot the anonymity provided by user names can be abused by those wishing to hide behind them.

[Gypsy Queen]

It strikes me that one or two smug individuals with a personal dislike for one or two other individuals have decided to stick the knife in now that they see the back of these individuals approaching.

Quite frankly, I think it's distasteful and not particularly professional.

[83 3708]

Ok lots of counter criticism going on here so lets have a show of hands.

How many of the contributors here are (or ex) SERCo employees and how many of them actually had to deal with 'Head Office' on a day to day basis?

How many of you were 'shop floor' workers who let their line manager deal directly with SERCo's internal audits, reporting procedures, internal investigation procedures and the whole myriad of forms and company policies that rained down from upon high?

:confused: