UK: colour-blind train driver sacked
Posted: 12 Feb 2010, 10:16
Train driver who drove nuclear trains for 36 years gets the sack because he's colour blind
Feb 10 2010 By Amy Devine
Daily Record
A TRAIN driver has lost his job - after 36 years in which he took freight to a nuclear site - because he was colour blind.
Robert Law, 55, once collected Tony Blair and Nelson Mandela from a high-powered meeting.
And he drove freight trains carrying hazardous goods to a nuclear plant.
All that time, he had trouble telling colours apart with potentially fatal consequences.
Finally, a routine test revealed he had problems telling green from black.
Yet Robert, from Wallyford, near Dalkeith, Midlothian, said: "I wish I had been told about this while I was young enough to get another job."
He says he struggled to pass the industry eye test when he started in 1974 because he couldn't always identify numbers on a chart of coloured dots.
He scraped through five medical exams to work with German-based freight company DB Schenker.
During that time, he transported hazardous chemicals and took equipment from his depot in Musselburgh to Torness nuclear power plant.
He was also chosen to drive a train carrying heads of state including Mandela and Blair during 1997's Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Edinburgh.
Robert says he had no idea he was colour blind but wondered why he mistook dark green suits for black.
He said he also noticed he was often slower than his colleagues to respond to yellow signals used to warn train drivers to slow down. Robert passed an eye test every five years from the age of 40.
He finally was sent to see a specialist at Glasgow Caledonian University after he failed his sixth test last year.
Robert claims the expert told him his problems were the result of a genetic flaw he had since birth.
Robert said: "I have always struggled with my eye tests. I could only see the correct numbers in about half of six examples. In the past, the doctors said that was enough to pass me.
"But in my last test, they referred me as I couldn't get every page right. The specialist said the problem would have been with me all my life and would have been passed down from my mother's father."
Robert was paid off from his £40,000-a-year post under the company's ill health and welfare scheme with two years wages.
He said: "These last weeks have been a nightmare. I have been lying awake at night worrying about losing my home.
"I've got another six years to pay my mortgage and my daughter Amanda is at university in Cardiff. I've never had a crash or been a danger."
A spokesman for DB Schenker said: "The standard for railway medicals is exceptionally high, particularly in safety critical roles such as train driving.
"During a routine medical, Mr Law's eyesight failed to meet the high standard required by the rail industry. Thisresult was independently assessed.
"As a result our medical advisers, BUPA, could not recommend him for safety related duties, such as train driving.
"We worked with Mr Law to find him alternative employment in the company but he opted to leave under the company's welfare scheme. He received a substantial cash payment, a contribution to his pension fund, and a deferred leaving date until 55 so he could get extra pension."
Feb 10 2010 By Amy Devine
Daily Record
A TRAIN driver has lost his job - after 36 years in which he took freight to a nuclear site - because he was colour blind.
Robert Law, 55, once collected Tony Blair and Nelson Mandela from a high-powered meeting.
And he drove freight trains carrying hazardous goods to a nuclear plant.
All that time, he had trouble telling colours apart with potentially fatal consequences.
Finally, a routine test revealed he had problems telling green from black.
Yet Robert, from Wallyford, near Dalkeith, Midlothian, said: "I wish I had been told about this while I was young enough to get another job."
He says he struggled to pass the industry eye test when he started in 1974 because he couldn't always identify numbers on a chart of coloured dots.
He scraped through five medical exams to work with German-based freight company DB Schenker.
During that time, he transported hazardous chemicals and took equipment from his depot in Musselburgh to Torness nuclear power plant.
He was also chosen to drive a train carrying heads of state including Mandela and Blair during 1997's Commonwealth heads of government meeting in Edinburgh.
Robert says he had no idea he was colour blind but wondered why he mistook dark green suits for black.
He said he also noticed he was often slower than his colleagues to respond to yellow signals used to warn train drivers to slow down. Robert passed an eye test every five years from the age of 40.
He finally was sent to see a specialist at Glasgow Caledonian University after he failed his sixth test last year.
Robert claims the expert told him his problems were the result of a genetic flaw he had since birth.
Robert said: "I have always struggled with my eye tests. I could only see the correct numbers in about half of six examples. In the past, the doctors said that was enough to pass me.
"But in my last test, they referred me as I couldn't get every page right. The specialist said the problem would have been with me all my life and would have been passed down from my mother's father."
Robert was paid off from his £40,000-a-year post under the company's ill health and welfare scheme with two years wages.
He said: "These last weeks have been a nightmare. I have been lying awake at night worrying about losing my home.
"I've got another six years to pay my mortgage and my daughter Amanda is at university in Cardiff. I've never had a crash or been a danger."
A spokesman for DB Schenker said: "The standard for railway medicals is exceptionally high, particularly in safety critical roles such as train driving.
"During a routine medical, Mr Law's eyesight failed to meet the high standard required by the rail industry. Thisresult was independently assessed.
"As a result our medical advisers, BUPA, could not recommend him for safety related duties, such as train driving.
"We worked with Mr Law to find him alternative employment in the company but he opted to leave under the company's welfare scheme. He received a substantial cash payment, a contribution to his pension fund, and a deferred leaving date until 55 so he could get extra pension."