The CTEB Website This site provides a taste of CTEB history, as well as a section of special pages on the great Waterloo Station itself. So wherever you may be in the world, you can get to grips with the essence of those long lost individuals of that former Infomation outfit, whilst checking out samples of London's premier Railway emporium.

Central Telephone Enquiry Bureau Waterloo Station, London, was the chosen venue to house the CTEB, the largest in the countrywide network of local train enquiry bureaus. These bureaus saw a flock of cackling enquiry clerks chattering a cacophony of train data to their beloved telephone struck passengers, but with the CTEB, new depths were spanned with this higher capacity service. Although its initial field of operations was the amazing Southern Region, it took on the Central role as a senior specialist in travel trauma troubleshooting. From anywhere in the globe you could access 24-hr British Railways information via the universally famous telephone number: 928-5100 Manned with a perma-staff of around 160 entities, it existed, in the dungeons, from 1986 to 1997. This fine working collective of diverse individuals developed into what proved to be a memorable melting pot of the worlds most marvellous characters and eccentrics, bring their own form of madness that built the mind blowing microcosm of the CTEB. Quotations, Nicknames, and a bizarre display of crazed behaviours kept the dialogue of Fares and Train Times flowing to our wonderful telephonic bound passengers. Quite a sight to behold. This was certainly British Rails finest hour Thousands of inmates would survive a spot of time in the Bureau, each bringing their own perculiar story, mannerism, or frightning idiotsyncracy, like a menagerie of mutations. Clerks, some there for the short term, maybe just passing through, or starting their BR career, and some, like myself, there for eternity: 'Lifers', content and happy to connect forever into that which was, most of the time, the best job in the world. PRIVATISATION The Phantom Menace Sadly, it would not last forever... The merciless ghoul of political change slothed its mass upon our humble hallowed home, devouring the defenceless. This was to be a ruthless demise over many long and desperate years... A managerial hate campaign of dense dimension. Terror and harassment in the Workplace. The ultimate bosses from hell. Clerks cowering under desks, hiding from persecution. Few were spared the brutality of the oppressive regime. That once proud Enquiry Bureau, now termed 'Call Centre', deteriorated into a corporate killing field. Management bullies sacked and victimised staff with impunity, their cowardly acts going unchecked by an impotent union. Battered protagonists fought bravely against constant intimidation. Others withdrew themselves into a downtrodden Epsilonic trance. It truly was a climate of fear perpetrated by a gaggle of sadistic scumbags, none of whom cared at all about the passengers and the flow of information. This was all in the name of privatisation, where employees find that they are nothing but a burden in a heartless business plan. The CTEB was shunted from owner to owner, finally ending up part of a multinational, whos first memo informed us of us of an imminent slaughter. And so it was all over, and the operation's remnants were dismantled and moved to Wales. The now redundant peasants, sidelined from serfdom, partook to party at a rather raunchy celebration in Vauxhall (hic!).

So there you have it.... A very sad and sorry state of affairs it was indeed, seeing many livelyhoods wrecked, seeing a passionately proffesional set-up ripped apart, just to supplement the greed of a few. However, in honour of all those poor lost souls, once on either end of the CTEB telephone line, This honourable commemorative site began its life in July 1999.

Cheerio! And thanks awfully for your visit. Email: uncledeathshead@yahoo.co.uk ©CTEB 2007 - All Wrongs Reserved

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