Plan B Forum

Over nearly three decades of dedicated service, he was always happy to go the extra mile for his rail passengers.

Stationmaster Ian Faletto even spent his own money on flowers, carpets and heaters as well as handing out free sweets and jigsaws to travellers.

Now, however, he has been sacked after pulling a shopping trolley dumped by vandals off the track.
The 49-year-old bachelor believed his prompt action prevented an accident at Lymington Pier, Hampshire.

But bosses at South West Trains saw it very differently – and dismissed him after a 27-year career for ‘a serious breach of safety’.

Mr Faletto said: ‘I can’t believe it after all I have done for them. What I did prevented an accident which could have derailed a train and injured passengers.

‘I saw the trolley on the line and managed to remove it before the first train arrived that morning. Health and safety rules have gone too far when you prevent an accident and get sacked for it. I just want my job back.’
As well as dipping into his pocket to add homely touches, he used to go in on days off to make sure Lymington Pier and the other three stations he ran were staffed.

Mr Faletto, from Southampton, also painted railings in his own time and had not taken a holiday in five years.

‘I’ve been a real ambassador for the company,’ he said. ‘I have spent thousands of pounds of my own money making the stations the best they can be.

The incident which cost Mr Faletto his job was on Sunday, March 6. After arriving at 8.30am and spotting the trolley, he contacted the signalman to request that the power be turned off and jumped on to the line in protective shoes to remove it.

A week later, a district manager saw the incident while looking through CCTV footage and it emerged that the power had not been switched off.

Mr Faletto was suspended and then sacked following a disciplinary hearing.

Passengers are also very unhappy at the decision to axe him.

They include the Reverend Alex Russell, 52, from St Mary’s Church, Pennington, who is organising a petition in a campaign backed by 200 people. ‘He always went the extra mile for passengers,’ she said.

‘No one has ever had a bad word to say about him.

‘People have been driving miles just to sign my petition. He has been sacked for breach of health and safety but there is an exception rule if it is an emergency.

‘I would have thought stopping an accident is an emergency.

‘His life is in ruins. He has worked for the railways for 27 years and has nothing else.’



Mr Faletto also ran Lymington Town, Ashurst and Beaulieu Road stations on a branch line from the main line to Lymington, a staging post for Isle of Wight ferries. The single-track line has two trains an hour in each direction. Mr Faletto, who is taking his former employers to a tribunal, worked at nearby Sway station for 15 years before moving to the Lymington line.

He has won 25 awards, including most improved station in the region and best kept station in the country for four years in a row.

Mr Faletto also won a rare award for ‘outstanding personal contribution’ to the railways.

He fears standards have slipped in his absence. ‘I’m so upset about this as well as angry,’ he said.

‘I went back to see the station and it’s a blooming mess now, full of rubbish. I tried to make it the best it could be

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