I know that there are plenty of frustrating jobs out there; but I've think I found possibly the most frustrating. It's the Managing Director of Northern Rail.

 Her name is Heidi Mottram and I feel sorry for her.

 The reason is because her company is right at the bottom of the 'train chain'. Every other rail firm gets priority over hers. That means that if National Express, Cross Country and Transpennine Express are running late then Heidi's Northern Rail train has to wait ... even if hers are ready to go.

 I know this is the case because of the number of times I've been sat on an NR train at Leeds and at the allotted departure time we go ... nowhere. The signal stays defiantly on red and the guard just stands on the platform with his hands in his pockets. It happened again tonight. We were held because the Transpennine Express service to Scarborough was running behind schedule. OK, fair enough we were delayed by only five minutes - but this happens time and time again.

 It's ruddy annoying when you're a passenger, but it must be even more annoying when you're the person trying to run a decent service for the benefit of the people who've paid good money to use your trains to get to where they are going.

 I don't mind a slight delay on the way into work, but it serious hacks me off when my journey home is held up because I have no choice but to use the company which sits at the bottom of the 'train chain'.

 It's no wonder it's so difficult trying to persuade people out of their cars.