@barbara_deane1, train drivers can retire at 52.
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I remember our UK family Doctor being thrilled for us… getting away to France… while we both had some life-expectancy… 
He explained that for him, the goalposts for retirement kept being moved… and, by the time he was allowed to retire he would probably only have a couple of years of life-expectancy… 
To become a doctor (especially a GP), you would accept it as your vocation, you are doing the job for the benefit of others and you tolerate the long hours, long years etc. A train driver is doing a job, for the sake of doing a job (I wanted to be a train driver when I was 4😁) by doing as little work as possible for the greatest amount of money and benefits you can get.
I know how your UK doctor felt when he said that to you.
But it is here and possibly everywhere…it is hard to retire, and not just for financial reasons.
There is a purpose to work which keeps body and soul in tune.
The vineyard owners work when they are eighty and over and it does not seem to harm them.
But, of course there needs to be a choice…a joint decision!
We simply stopped working (paid)… due to OH health… and flung ourselves into what we chose to do… what interested us. We did not have a pot of money, so we sold everything we had and took the gamble.
OH’s health was the spur that drove us to make the decision… to grab Life and give it our best shot… for however long that might be… 
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The electorate is extremely wary of Momentum. And from my point of view with good reason.
I find the ranting of Jacob Rees Mogg appalling and the fact that the Tories are held in thrall by his ilk so far from my old fashioned one nation Conservatism that I now vote Lib Dem.
I see the deserting of the Lib Dems by its supporters over tuition fees as leaving a vacuum in the centre which is now being filled by the extremists.
If you then take this back one step further, the creation of so many universities turning out students with degrees which bore very little relevance to the world of work and thereby needing higher contributions from students , it is all down to Tony Blair, yet again.
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we all must do what seems to be best for ourselves and we carry on punctuating life with some treats here and there. Not by train but by car.
Bit of a sweeping statement there Mark. How do you know that all train drivers are doing a job for the sake of doing a job? Might a few of them actually be train drivers because that’s what they wanted ?
A train driver in France must know every part of the line that he is ‘assigned’ to, where the safety switches are on that route etc; etc. That’s why sometimes a train is cancelled if a driver goes ill and the replacement doesn’t know the route.
Also having someone throw themselves under your train, seeing their face before the final impact is something that deeply affects a driver.
There are lots we don’t know, such as all train crews have to have basic medical training, the sort a St John’s crew go through ,as well as lots of safety training. There are various levels and grades that have to be passed. There have been a lot of attacks on train crew, including rape of female staff.
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Yes a train driver has a lot of responsibility.
A doctor holds your very life and well being in his hands…
without his skill…where would we be.
I came across some awful doctors in London.
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I think it’s unrealistic to compare the importance/value of a train driver to a doctor, although I am sure about which one I value most 
Agree but it’s crazy that a train driver has the option to retire at 52 whereas a GP has to wait until 65.
There is a shortage of doctors in rural areas but I bet the same cannot be said of train drivers.
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not exactly comparing but why should a train driver get treated better than a doctor?
Does not make sense to me…maybe it does to you.
but the point is do you want his to be a success or do you want him to fail. while I appreciate they do a good job the money and benefits needs to change.
Do you know an oxford bin Lorry driver get paid more than a NHS nurse in general and unlike nuses who work hard and work more hours bin drivers are across allot of the country on task and finish. and most used to get finished within 4 or 5 hours and still get paid the full days wages…
This was all scrapped but still the pay difference is there.
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I know about the “bin men” !
I ran a restaurant in London and I have the experience of being
a person who paid to have refuse taken away as a buisness and as
a resident.
The refuse collection here in our region is efficient.
But we did have the “rock n roll” doctors who got paid to work privately.
More stories here from my time in London. Most of my life.
Absolutely agree Tim, our last Doc was over 70 when he retired and couldn’d be replaced, we had to find one in another village and were lucky to get on his list.
No, it makes absolutely no sense to me Barbara, can’t think what gave you that impression 
We often go by coach… full of friends… it makes for a great fun time…
Like the Darby and Joan club outings with the sing songs on the way home.
I some times went on these adventures with my grand mother.
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And a great deal cheaper Stella 
The option to retire at 52 was introduced for the drivers of steam engines because their life expectancy was shorter and the option was never withdrawn when Diesel and Electric replaced the steam Engines, got to blame the SNCF management for not changing the rules.
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