BTPF History
The War Years
The outbreak of war in 1939 brought new problems and soon the Federation was making the first of its claims for war bonuses. These were in fact railway conditions and not those of the ordinary police. Capital was later to be made of this and they were accused of wanting the best of both worlds, while in fact they were actually getting the worst of both.
The Federation's main goal at that time was to gain the same rates of pay as the civil police and this long drawn out battle began with the submission of a claim in 1942. It was, of course, rejected by the railway companies and a protracted round of negotiations began.
It was not until 1947 that an important agreement was reached which resulted in railway constables and sergeants receiving the same basic pay as their civil police colleagues.
On 1st January 1945 the railways (including their docks), London Transport, the inland waterways and long distance freight road haulage, were taken over by tile state and tile British Transport Commission was founded to have general oversight, alt/rough each section was run by on executive.
At the time, police recruitment was low and wastage high so the Government established the Oaksey Committee to review rates of pay of the civil police, but the railway police were notincluded in the Committee's terms of reference. After Oaksey reported in 1949 the Railway Police Federation submitted a claim based on its recommendation. However, this was totally rejected and the railway police were given only a few fringe benefits such as rest days and extra pay for working on certain public holidays such as Christmas Day and Good Friday.
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