Has a Ticket Examiner ever been left behind?

[Peter0124]

Was just wondering if a Ticket Examiner on a DOO service (eg Glasgow suburban) has ever been left behind at a station when they were moving between coupled sets? What would happen in that instance?

 

[Discuss223]

Was just wondering if a Ticket Examiner on a DOO service (eg Glasgow suburban) has ever been left behind at a station when they were moving between coupled sets? What would happen in that instance?

As ticket examiners are not safety critical, they would simply call their control from the station mess room or mobile phone (if they have one) and negotiate another service to join.

 

[Bald Rick]

Guards have been left behind before now!

 

[43066]

Guards have been left behind before now!

As have drivers (on “pass” trains).

 

[Bald Rick]

As have drivers (on “pass” trains).

Rather less of an incident in that circumstance though!

 

[trainmania100]

I guess on board staff that ding the bell twice to let the driver know the train is ready to leave, wouldn't get left behind

Do they still do this or do they use a light now

 

[Bald Rick]

I guess on board staff that ding the bell twice to let the driver know the train is ready to leave, wouldn't get left behind

Do they still do this or do they use a light now

It’s happened! This is stil a recognised methid of dispatch, but the method will vary depending on the specific TOC and location.

 

[43066]

Rather less of an incident in that circumstance though!

True, although It can cause a fair bit of disruption.

No comment on whether a DI has ever been left behind by their trainee (not where I currently work, and years ago now lol).

 

[Spartacus]

I guess on board staff that ding the bell twice to let the driver know the train is ready to leave, wouldn't get left behind

Do they still do this or do they use a light now

What's happened sometimes, especially on curved platforms where the guard has to get out to check down the train, is that when the guard's out a passenger presses doors closed and presses two on the bell, and the guard sees their train depart without them.

 

[skyhigh]

No comment on whether a DI has ever been left behind by their trainee

Or the other way round.....

It's also not unknown for passenger assist staff to accidentally get carted off... York, next stop London has happened before!

 

[Class15]

Guards have been left behind before now!

Including in Thomas & Friends I seem to recall

 

[Jimini]

There was a 'runaway' DLR train a fair few years ago, when the PSA keyed out whilst still on the platform:

Runaway DLR

londonist.com

As many Londoners will know, DLR trains are entirely driven by computer. The DLR staff member on each train, known as the ‘Passenger Service Agent’ (a much less exciting title than ‘Train Captain’, which they used to be called), does not normally have any involvement in actually driving the train. Instead, their main functions seem to be to tell the train when to close the doors, to check passengers’ tickets, and to deal with problems if they arise (which they occasionally do). To quote the TfL website (which features a picture of a particularly hungover-looking DLR staff member):

Every DLR train has a Passenger Service Agent on it. They are there to help people, check tickets and make sure that the train is running properly.


Excellent. So the trains may be driven by computer, but at least every one of them carries a trained person who is able to deal with any problems, right?

So we would like to think. But imagine this Londonista’s surprise when, yesterday morning, he found himself travelling between DLR stations on a completely unmanned train. Several dozen passengers, but no Passenger Service Agent in sight!

Here’s what appeared to take place. A Bank-bound train at West India Quay station signalled that it was ready to depart, with its customary “Boinnng!” (DLR travellers will know what we mean). The normal operating procedure here seems to be for the Passenger Service Agent to tell the train to close the doors, after which the train will depart. And essentially, this is what happened at West India Quay station yesterday morning, except…

… on this occasion, the Passenger Service Agent managed to make the astonishing mistake of telling the train to close the doors whilst she was standing on the station platform. The train duly obeyed, effectively shutting the Passenger Service Agent out of the carriage. It then proceeded to depart, driving itself to the next station (Westferry) and leaving the hapless Passenger Service Agent behind.


At Westferry station, the train waited patiently to be told that it could depart again. Unfortunately, unknown to the train’s software, the Passenger Service Agent was now about half a mile away, and so currently unable to provide this information in a timely manner. And so the train waited. As did the passengers. For about ten minutes.

Eventually a slightly out-of-breath Passenger Service Agent arrived, having presumably just legged it from the previous station, and resumed control of the situation. The train was thus able to resume its journey to Bank, as if nothing untoward had happened.

 

[norbitonflyer]

There was a 'runaway' DLR train a fair few years ago, when the PSA keyed out whilst still on the platform:

I seem to recall it happened on the Victoria Line once - despite the absence of cab doors. As I understand it, the driver had pressed start, but one of he passenger doors had stuck and the train wouldn't move until he had freed it............

 

[ChiefPlanner]

In my universitydays we charterd an end of term special to London from Aberystwyth - a (heatless) 40 and 6 MK1's from Oxley.

All ran well - but the inwards ECS had the guard left behind apparently - but the enterprising station staff at Newtown I think rose to the occasion and chased the train by road and the guard was reunited with his train. The very first DOO train on the Cambrian ....(we ran early in passenger service - just a few minutes)

 

[styles]

What's happened sometimes, especially on curved platforms where the guard has to get out to check down the train, is that when the guard's out a passenger presses doors closed and presses two on the bell, and the guard sees their train depart without them.

Be interested to know what punishment this attracts. No doubt some bylaw offences but the punishments for those tend not to be too severe (level 3 on the standard scale if I recall). You'd think that there'd be a primary legislative offence for endangering the public in such a way.

 

[friendshipdo]

Be interested to know what punishment this attracts. No doubt some bylaw offences but the punishments for those tend not to be too severe (level 3 on the standard scale if I recall). You'd think that there'd be a primary legislative offence for endangering the public in such a way.

There is.

Section 34 of The Offences against the Person Act 1861.

Doing or omitting anything to endanger passengers by railway.​

Whosoever, by any unlawful act, or by any wilful omission or neglect, shall endanger or cause to be endangered the safety of any person conveyed or being in or upon a railway, or shall aid or assist therein, shall be guilty of a misdemeanor, and being convicted thereof shall be liable, at the discretion of the court, to be imprisoned for any term not exceeding two years

The offender could find themselves in prison for a term of up to two years.

Obviously, if something more severe were to result then there are other less obscure offenses that the passenger could be charged with...

 

[6Gman]

Guards have been left behind before now!

I do know of a Crewe guard who was left on the ballast at Mitre Bridge Junction watching his train depart, next stop Stafford. Not sure how it was resolved but it did his credibility no good whatsoever.

 

[noddingdonkey]

Isn't the usual scenario the one where the guard gives two on the buzzer, the driver can't take power so the guard goes to check the doors, he fixes the problem and the interlock is made so the driver takes power without realising that the Guard is on the platform? Or something involving the crew door on a 150 not being interlocked

 

[StoneRoad]

This was several decades ago --- Just before I "passed out" as a guard on a certain narrow gauge railway, I managed to leave my supervisor behind at an intermediate station. He had told me to work the train as if he wasn't there ... so I did !
Control, when informed, were mildly amused and I was sent back down the line to pick him up - he wasn't too pleased but got it in the neck for getting out of the train when he shouldn't have.
I was formally passed out the following day !

 

[SimplyLlama]

I seem to recall it happened on the Victoria Line once - despite the absence of cab doors. As I understand it, the driver had pressed start, but one of he passenger doors had stuck and the train wouldn't move until he had freed it............

I seem to remember hearing a similar story at an LTM depot open day a few years ago, something along the lines of some youths messing around and the driver having to get a taxi to the next station to continue the train‘s journey

 

[MadMac]

I was just reading yesterday about a rail tour many years ago that was supposed to go via East Putney but was stopped en route due to the guard being left behind at Waterloo. It did make the unusual move on the way back, though.

 

[Parallel]

I’ve seen a member of passenger assist staff help an elderly (and possibly disabled) passenger to their seat. But the doors then got closed and they got carried to the next stop.

 

[Bald Rick]

Isn't the usual scenario the one where the guard gives two on the buzzer, the driver can't take power so the guard goes to check the doors, he fixes the problem and the interlock is made so the driver takes power without realising that the Guard is on the platform? Or something involving the crew door on a 150 not being interlocked

Or the driver being given the RA by the platform staff when the guard isn’t on the train.

 

[Ianigsy]

I saw the opposite at Bristol TM some years ago - one of the train cleaning crew boarded a delayed arrival from Paddington, started work and found themselves being carried off to Bath as the train was turned around faster than they were expecting.

 

[scragend]

It's also not unknown for passenger assist staff to accidentally get carted off... York, next stop London has happened before!

I’ve seen a member of passenger assist staff help an elderly (and possibly disabled) passenger to their seat. But the doors then got closed and they got carried to the next stop.

I almost saw it happen at Doncaster when a platform staff member got on the train to open the bike wardrobe for me and then close it again (on the GWR IETs they seem to leave them open but LNER prefer to lock them). The door got stuck and while he was wrestling with it the buzzer went and the train doors closed. He made a rather panicked call on his walkie talkie to the effect that he was still on the train. Next stop would have been Peterborough.

 

[generalnerd]

I seem to recall it happened on the Victoria Line once - despite the absence of cab doors. As I understand it, the driver had pressed start, but one of he passenger doors had stuck and the train wouldn't move until he had freed it............

These stories are just waiting for a comedy film staring (insert popular comedians here)

 

[Gloster]

Guards have been left behind since the beginning of railways. One cause that often used to produce a spate of such incidents was the electrification of lines: the rapid acceleration that the new trains were capable of often caught guards out for a while.

 

[scragend]

Including in Thomas & Friends I seem to recall

I remember "Thomas Comes To Breakfast" where Thomas got a bit too big for his boots and thought he could run without a driver so he tried it and managed to set off, not realising it was only because a cleaner had touched his controls. He soon found out that he couldn't stop by himself and ended up crashing through the wall of the stationmaster's house.

 

[WirralLine]

Many a time the guards on class 507/8s have been left behind, guard closes passenger doors, driver hears doors close, imagines they've heard the bell and departed with the guard still on the platform. It was common at Hamilton Square where with the echos in the tunnel and cab windows open etc they've heard the bell on the train next to them and taken the as their own! Guards cab door wasn't on interlock on the 507/8.

They've been left behind too on class 777s where the driver has imagined they've heard the signal from the guards card to shut the doors, closed up and departed with the guard watching helplessly!

Also happened not too long ago on a TFW MK4 at Manchester Piccadilly where the dispatcher gave the "RA" before the guard had got onboard+

 

[cool110]

There was a case 2 years ago when after isolating the interlock the train set off with the guard on the platform and the doors still open.