NOV 3RD ATTEMPT

[nozzacook]

Very much tongue in cheek Wouldn't a heart attack on live radio boost ratings.

[tubeguru]

I suspect he's been a bit naive here. He should have seen this coming and booked annual leave. The company wouldn't then be liable if he suffered an injury, because he did it in his own time.

Could he have got round it that way?

[tubeguru]

indeed, as someone has already said - if we all here took a fitness/health/blood-pressure test - how many of us would pass and be deemed fit !?

The company are simply worried that if he keels over and dies then they will be used big time - they're just covering their arses.

[Root]

You've hit the nail on the head there, Neil. Since when did you need a risk assessment to sit around on trains for the best part of a day with a little bit of running thrown in for good measure?

That's one way of describing the challenge. Here's another:

I'll be spending countless hours on hot, crowded trains, and (depending on my route) will run the equivalent of a marathon over the course of the day.

So is it "a little bit of running", or is it 42.195 kilometres?

I think it's perfectly understandable that someone doing it as part of a job is required to have insurance and pass a medical. As Geoff said, I'm sure a lot of us wouldn't pass a medical if we had to take one. I know I wouldn't - I'm nowhere near fit enough.

[Garion]

Same here, I'm no-where near fit enough to pass one. It just shows how much health and safety rules everything these days.

[tubeguru]

Root and Garion aren't "fit" enough to pass a medical? When was the last time either of you had a proper medical?

As part of my job I have to attend random medicals where they test the following:

Eyesight
Hearing
Urine sample
Heart rate
Blood pressure
BMI
ECG (heart monitor)

Now this is a professional medical carried out on someone who is "safety critical" in their job (that's me). I suspect that our Absolute Radio friend was sent for a medical more because they were worried that his physical state might cause him to keel over and die during a particularly strenuous run. They certainly didn't send him because they wanted to check his eyesight ...

[tubeguru]

And you don't need to be "fit" to pass a medical. We have a driver who is 20 stone, morbidly obese, eats McDonalds every day, and gets out of breath climbing in and out of a train cab. He passes his "medicals" every time, so I'd love to know what's in the medical that Mr. Absolute Radio was (would have been?) sent to!

[Garion]

As far as I know, I've never had a medical. Based on what you said, I should almost certainly pass! :p

[moley]

When I did tube relief, I weighed 18 stone, spent the whole day out of breath but still managed to visit every station the day.

'elf safety gone made.

[Root]

Neil, don't you think there are different medicals for different professions? I don't imagine a professional footballer would be given the same medical as a train driver, for example.

[tubeguru]

Neil, don't you think there are different medicals for different professions? I don't imagine a professional footballer would be given the same medical as a train driver, for example.

OK, so what's the medical for tube challenging?

[Root]

Eyesight: must be able to spot a small number at the front of a moving train, with only a couple of seconds to look at it.
Hearing: must be able to hear the driver telling people to mind the doors, and then ignore it.
Urine sample: must be able to piss into an empty Ribena bottle.

And so on. I don't really know.

[MylesHSG]

Ability to tube surf the entire length of the bakerloo line

[Going Underground]

Eyesight: must be able to spot a small number at the front of a moving train, with only a couple of seconds to look at it.
Hearing: must be able to hear the driver telling people to mind the doors, and then ignore it.
Urine sample: must be able to piss into an empty Ribena bottle.

And so on. I don't really know.

Writing, must be able to show neat and accurate working even on crowded and bumpy trains...
Agility/Fleibxle, must be able to squeeze into that already full direct MHE train that other commuters on the platform are letting go....

[Nigel]

That's a shame. I was really looking forward to giving him a bit of a race on Thursday.

James - I may have little spare time around lunchtime/early afternoon on Thursday. Would you welcome a visit, if I can find you? If so, do you plan providing updates on your progress?