Pembroke: The right sort of training

As the rail strike drags on, commuters are not the only people getting hot under the collar. From the West Country comes news that senior BR staff are suffering too.

Charles Nicholls, a senior manager in BR's infrastructure department, was recently on the 18.03 from Paddington to Cheltenham when the train broke down at Slough.

The signalmen stopped the next train to pick up passengers. But after loading them on, the guard ordered them off, saying the carriages were too crowded. This was too much for Mr Nicholls. Drawing himself up to his full 6ft 5in, he engaged the guard in animated discussion before scribbling a note instructing him to take the train out.

Some passengers say he was a bit rough on the poor guard, although this is not the way BR tells it. 'He received a round of applause when he returned to his compartment,' it claims.

John Gunn, the former head of British & Commonwealth, has topped the bestseller list. Not for an airport blockbuster but for the DTI report on his company's demise. The DTI says it printed 500 copies of the inch-thick report but the lot have been snapped up. The last report to 'sell' so well was the 1988 document on the House of Fraser.

Yorkshire Water seems determined to keep Diana Scott off its board. Ms Scott is the outspoken former head of Ofwat's Yorkshire customer services committee whose appointment was not renewed earlier this year. Determined to keep up her campaigning role, she announced plans to stand for election to the main board at the September annual meeting.

Only Yorkshire Water doesn't seem keen. The ballot papers have been sent out this week with 'Not recommended by the board' printed next to Ms Scott's name. 'I'm disappointed but not surprised,' she says. 'It is typical of the way the company operates.'

John Hustler, the former senior partner of accountants KPMG Peat Marwick, has been a very busy bee. Only three weeks after setting up investor group Quester Venture Partners, he has joined Crowe Holdings, Lloyd's underwriting group, as a non-executive director. 'I don't have any Lloyd's experience but then that's really the point. I will provide a fresh mind on Lloyd's problems,' he says.

There is history in the air at Rathbone Brothers, the banking and asset management group where a William Rathbone is returning to the board after a gap of 96 years. The first William Rathbone founded the group as a merchant and shipbuilder back in 1742. There have been other remote family scions on the board but not a direct descendant like William the 10th. And William XI is already being lined up. The 20-year-old has done work experience at the company - not that it wants to pressure him.