• Our new ticketing site is now live! Using either this or the original site (both powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

Minor things on trains which irritate you

Status
Not open for further replies.

richieb1971

Established Member
Joined
28 Jan 2013
Messages
2,047
See it, say it, sort it.. or however the slogan goes. Hearing that 50 times on my journey is grating.
Just putting a poster up in the train would suffice.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

HST274

Member
Joined
3 Mar 2020
Messages
716
Location
Worcestershire
See it, say it, sort it.. or however the slogan goes. Hearing that 50 times on my journey is grating.
Just putting a poster up in the train would suffice.
I always thought it was that, but I think it is see it, say it, sorted which I think has a worse ring to it
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
I always thought it was that, but I think it is see it, say it, sorted which I think has a worse ring to it

It is sorted, yes.

It is an irritating earworm, yes, but it has worked. Who doesn't now know 61016? That fact is likely to have reduced crime. I bet a poster would not have worked so well.
 
Last edited:

Mikey C

Established Member
Joined
11 Feb 2013
Messages
8,269
Tube-style (inward-facing) seating layout on London overground stock. I want to look out the window, not directly at other passengers.
Especially bad on the 378s with their door pockets taking up window space. The 710s and especially the S stock with their bigger windows allow a reasonable view out, even when sideways.
 

ic31420

Member
Joined
23 Aug 2017
Messages
399
Location
United Kingdom
Not one from me but was on a northern service yesterday.

A young lady got on at one of the shacks (no ticket barriers) a short time later a pleasant jovial conductor came down the train asking for tickets. Young lady was clearly put out at having to show her ticket cue much sighing and tutting. She showed the eticket and it scanned fine, she then got off at the next shack.

She was clearly annoyed and put out.

I mean what's the problem, she had a ticket anyway.

I was stunned to find the fare was about £4 for a 2-3 mile journey! I'd have walked!
 

AM9

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2014
Messages
16,038
Location
St Albans
I would more than happily take a day's annual leave to stand up and give evidence against anyone who considers this highly antisocial and easily avoidable practice acceptable.

Just use headphones. It is not in the slightest bit hard, and they are dirt-cheap.

But the reason I responded strongly to the OP was that he did it deliberately to annoy others in the hope they would move - and that is grossly antisocial and has no place in any public space of any kind. You ask nicely, and you accept refusal gracefully. And if it's that important and that train doesn't have any seats together, you take a different one.

FWIW my personal policy is that I will move if I am asked nicely, but I will not move if I am asked rudely or with any kind of self entitlement or complaint, provided the offered seat is acceptable (i.e. enough legroom for me to physically fit, and not a "window blank" seat). The exception is that I will not, unless instructed by staff, move from my reserved seat into a seat marked reserved because I could later lose it to the reserver (most trains don't show different reservations separately, so "reserved to Manchester Piccadilly" may mean several sets - I've been caught out by that before!)

Given the attitude shown in the OP's post, I suspect they didn't ask nicely, and so people didn't move.
Where it's been young people deliberately making excessive noise with their electroniic devices, I've used a dog whistle app on a mobile a couple of times. It can emit a continuous or pulsed tone at frequencies above my hearing limit but well within theirs. That's a bit like the 'mosquito' devices that some convenience stores use to deter groups from hanging around outside the premises making a nuisance of themselves. I doubt that one of them would have the gall to object to somebody else's unwanted noise. :)
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Where it's been young people deliberately making excessive noise with their electroniic devices, I've used a dog whistle app on a mobile a couple of times. It can emit a continuous or pulsed tone at frequencies above my hearing limit but well within theirs. That's a bit like the 'mosquito' devices that some convenience stores use to deter groups from hanging around outside the premises making a nuisance of themselves. I doubt that one of them would have the gall to object to somebody else's unwanted noise. :)

:D :D :D

Remember some adults (including me) can hear that, though. I find it quite unpleasant.
 

Mordac

Established Member
Joined
5 Mar 2016
Messages
2,386
Location
Birmingham
Not one from me but was on a northern service yesterday.

A young lady got on at one of the shacks (no ticket barriers) a short time later a pleasant jovial conductor came down the train asking for tickets. Young lady was clearly put out at having to show her ticket cue much sighing and tutting. She showed the eticket and it scanned fine, she then got off at the next shack.

She was clearly annoyed and put out.

I mean what's the problem, she had a ticket anyway.

I was stunned to find the fare was about £4 for a 2-3 mile journey! I'd have walked!
If you're on a line where you don't expect a ticket check, can be pretty annoying to have it dig it out and interrupt what you're doing. Especially because some apps make it a bit more of a faff than necessary to get to the etickets (*cough* LNER).
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
If you're on a line where you don't expect a ticket check, can be pretty annoying to have it dig it out and interrupt what you're doing. Especially because some apps make it a bit more of a faff than necessary to get to the etickets (*cough* LNER).

It'd help if more sites/apps supported Google Pay passes. It's simplicity itself on an iPhone.
 

AM9

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2014
Messages
16,038
Location
St Albans
:D :D :D

Remember some adults (including me) can hear that, though. I find it quite unpleasant.
I'm aware of that but they have been grateful for the removal of the original irritant.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==

If you're on a line where you don't expect a ticket check, can be pretty annoying to have it dig it out and interrupt what you're doing. Especially because some apps make it a bit more of a faff than necessary to get to the etickets (*cough* LNER).
That's all part of the wonderful new world of electronic tickets that some here seem to want.:rolleyes:
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
That's all part of the wonderful new world of electronic tickets that some here seem to want.:rolleyes:

With a ticket added to Wallet on my iPhone, it is less effort to pull up an e-ticket than it is to retrieve my wallet (which won't be out of my pocket already unlike my phone, on which I'll almost certainly be listening to music or podcasts, yes, using headphones), open it and get out a paper ticket, then present it and replace in my wallet.

Support for Google Pay passes seems very poor, which is odd as there are far more Android phones than iPhones. Though you can install one of the many third party apps and use Apple pkpass files instead, then it's the same as the iPhone. When I had an Android phone (I seem to bounce back and forth between the two depending on what is on offer when I change) I used such an app.

The one thing that doesn't work nicely is Railcards. When a Railcard can be held and presented as a pkpass, I'll switch to electronic. Flipping between two pkpasses in Wallet is super-quick.
 

CaptainHaddock

Established Member
Joined
10 Feb 2011
Messages
2,721
If you're on a line where you don't expect a ticket check, can be pretty annoying to have it dig it out and interrupt what you're doing. Especially because some apps make it a bit more of a faff than necessary to get to the etickets (*cough* LNER).

The thing that really gets my goat is conductors who wait until you're halfway through your journey before they decide to start inspecting tickets.

My journey is around an hour and during that time I normally like to snooze or listen to some ambient music, so the last thing I appreciate is being prodded awake when I'm halfway through some Tangerine Dream or Mike Oldfield epic!

On a journey from Leeds to Barnsley for example, it's not unusual for the conductor to wait till we're past Wakefield before doing a ticket check! Surely it would be better for all if he could check all tickets as soon as we've left Leeds then we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our journey without interruptions?
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
The thing that really gets my goat is conductors who wait until you're halfway through your journey before they decide to start inspecting tickets.

My journey is around an hour and during that time I normally like to snooze or listen to some ambient music, so the last thing I appreciate is being prodded awake when I'm halfway through some Tangerine Dream or Mike Oldfield epic!

On a journey from Leeds to Barnsley for example, it's not unusual for the conductor to wait till we're past Wakefield before doing a ticket check! Surely it would be better for all if he could check all tickets as soon as we've left Leeds then we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our journey without interruptions?

If travelling on a paper ticket, why not simply place it on the table towards the aisle and then it can be checked by the guard without you needing to do anything other than gesture to it? I suppose there's a small risk of theft but it's unlikely.

Interestingly Deutsche Bahn offers a service called "Komfort Check-In" (good bit of Denglisch there), which allows you, when travelling on an e-ticket bought on their app, to enter your train and seat number, which the guard can then verify on their handheld device without needing to talk to you. Perhaps UK TOCs should do something similar.
 

CaptainHaddock

Established Member
Joined
10 Feb 2011
Messages
2,721
If travelling on a paper ticket, why not simply place it on the table towards the aisle and then it can be checked by the guard without you needing to do anything other than gesture to it? I suppose there's a small risk of theft but it's unlikely.

Interestingly Deutsche Bahn offers a service called "Komfort Check-In" (good bit of Denglisch there), which allows you, when travelling on an e-ticket bought on their app, to enter your train and seat number, which the guard can then verify on their handheld device without needing to talk to you. Perhaps UK TOCs should do something similar.
It's a season ticket worth over £2,000! I'm hardly likely to leave that out on the table while I'm snoozing, am I?
 

D6130

Established Member
Joined
12 Jan 2021
Messages
9,085
Location
West Yorkshire/Tuscany
On a journey from Leeds to Barnsley for example, it's not unusual for the conductor to wait till we're past Wakefield before doing a ticket check! Surely it would be better for all if he could check all tickets as soon as we've left Leeds then we can all sit back, relax and enjoy our journey without interruptions?
Speaking as an ex-guard - albeit many years ago - if I were on the same job all week, I would check the tickets on a different section of the journey every day, sometimes starting at the front of the train and sometimes starting from the rear. In that way, the regular avoiders couldn't predict when they needed to hide in the toilet or pretend to be asleep. Surely it's no great inconvenience to show your season ticket quickly to the conductor, especially if you have it in a pocket from which it can easily be reached. Don't forget that it's people like that who serially avoid payment of fares that make your season ticket cost as much as it does! In the case of your Leeds-Barnsley service - presumably in the evening peak - there's not a great deal of point checking tickets before Wakefield, as the vast majority of passengers from Leeds will have passed through the gateline there and I suspect that few, if any, will join the train at Woodlesford. However a large number will join the train at Wakefield Kirkgate, which is a busy station with no barriers and a booking office which is frequently closed in the afternoon in my experience.
 

Purple Orange

On Moderation
Joined
26 Dec 2019
Messages
3,459
Location
The North
When I have my flexi season ticket pass scanned and the conductor questions the validity of the ticket, usually on the return journey. This ticket has been around for some months and is very useful, it means I can do the journey to/from origin and destination all day if I so wished, but surely its not hard to understand this particular type of ticket is it?
 

McRhu

Member
Joined
14 Oct 2015
Messages
667
Location
Lanark
Saucy young minxes who keep giving me the eye when all I want to do is tick off numbers in my combined volume. It's the bane of my commuting life; there ought to be a law against that sort of thing. I would complain to the ticket collector, but they're saucy young minxes too as often as not.
 

Bletchleyite

Veteran Member
Joined
20 Oct 2014
Messages
113,568
Location
"Marston Vale mafia"
Speaking as an ex-guard - albeit many years ago - if I were on the same job all week, I would check the tickets on a different section of the journey every day, sometimes starting at the front of the train and sometimes starting from the rear. In that way, the regular avoiders couldn't predict when they needed to hide in the toilet or pretend to be asleep. Surely it's no great inconvenience to show your season ticket quickly to the conductor, especially if you have it in a pocket from which it can easily be reached. Don't forget that it's people like that who serially avoid payment of fares that make your season ticket cost as much as it does! In the case of your Leeds-Barnsley service - presumably in the evening peak - there's not a great deal of point checking tickets before Wakefield, as the vast majority of passengers from Leeds will have passed through the gateline there and I suspect that few, if any, will join the train at Woodlesford. However a large number will join the train at Wakefield Kirkgate, which is a busy station with no barriers and a booking office which is frequently closed in the afternoon in my experience.

This isn't always possible, though, as some TOCs have policies preventing "unit hopping", i.e. the guard must be in the rearmost unit at all times. This silly and unnecessary policy, not in place at every TOC, costs them a fortune in revenue.
 

Parallel

Established Member
Joined
9 Dec 2013
Messages
4,528
Not one from me but was on a northern service yesterday.

A young lady got on at one of the shacks (no ticket barriers) a short time later a pleasant jovial conductor came down the train asking for tickets. Young lady was clearly put out at having to show her ticket cue much sighing and tutting. She showed the eticket and it scanned fine, she then got off at the next shack.

She was clearly annoyed and put out.

I mean what's the problem, she had a ticket anyway.

I was stunned to find the fare was about £4 for a 2-3 mile journey! I'd have walked!
Maybe she was hoping to refund it, which she was probably able to had it not been scanned.
 

AM9

Veteran Member
Joined
13 May 2014
Messages
16,038
Location
St Albans
Good thinking!

I'm guessing she was a regular as I think she was wearing a work uniform under her jacket.
Which if true, is all the justification for random ticket checks so that others don't freeload.
 

BayPaul

Established Member
Joined
11 Jul 2019
Messages
1,517
So many choices!

My main niggle is the lack of attention to detail put into so much on the railway. A great example is the "don't use the doors whilst the beeper is sounding" announcement on GWR turbos. By putting it at the start of the announcement, it is not only annoying and pointless (if you can hear it, you are probably close enough to the door that you are going to go straight through it), but it also reduces safety, as it means the vital bit of the announcement (where the train is going to) is put at the end, so you have to wait until the the beeper is going off to board the train if you're not sure whether its the right one!
 

BlueTrainLady

Member
Joined
7 Apr 2022
Messages
8
Location
Hampshire
People on GWR trains walking straight past the Huge luggage rack for suitcases that is completely empty and sitting in the wheelchair space with their suitcase and remaining seated as a wheelchair users ends up ‘parked’ up as luggage as they don’t feel they should have to move from the seat even though there are plenty of seats available to them and only one wheelchair accessible seat - really gets on my goat
 

ValleyLines142

Established Member
Joined
25 Jul 2011
Messages
7,035
Location
Gloucester
Not just Electrostars that do that - Desiros, 331s, 397s and 80xs all do it too. It makes a lot of people jump if they’re not used to it.
Definitely on the 331s. I was travelling between Stockport and Manchester on one a few weeks back and I thought something had dropped on the roof out of the sky!!
 

gmaguire

Member
Joined
29 Dec 2021
Messages
237
Location
London
People who repeatedly press the door open button, even though the doors haven’t been released.

There’s a man I often see on my commute, and he does this every time. You have to wait for the button to light up and the beeping sound. Surely it’s not hard to figure out.
 
Status
Not open for further replies.

Top