unprofessional onboard announcements

[Pyewipecarshed]

Any 'case' would only be as strong as how gullible the management/HR team were to accept such a specious argument.

The issue is that such specious arguments have been accepted in the past, hence companies feel the need to put out announcements and/or posters to mitigate the risk of further litigation in the future.

 

[43066]

Indeed I do! In the same way that people have used the defence/excuse that there were no signs telling them not to slip on the wet floor/fall over the step/fall down the gap/cycle up the escalator/walk over the edge of the cliff etc etc.
A (now ex) colleague of mine was dismissed for taking explicit images on his work phone and circulating them (from the same work phone). His defence was that the user policy didn't specifically state you couldn't do such a thing.
I rest my case m'lud!

But you’ve also said he was dismissed - so clearly the argument wasn’t accepted!

 

[saismee]

But you’ve also said he was dismissed - so clearly the argument wasn’t accepted!

But if it was in the user policy then it wouldn't have been done in the first place. I don't think it really applies to abuse to staff because they're basic societal rules that are being ignored.

 

[Jimini]

Had an absolute belter earlier. On a northbound XC service I’d boarded at Reading, on approach to Oxford this bloke came over the tannoy, blathering all sorts of unnecessary tripe (now approaching the wonderful, mystical, magical, fabulous city of Oxford etc for at least two minutes). He finished off by saying that passengers alighting should be ready to do so promptly as the “good people of Oxford” will be keen to get on as quickly as possible, so to avoid a mystery tour with us to Newcastle, please be ready to alight as quickly as possible.

At least he finished with some pertinent information: where the train was actually going.

Except it wasn’t a Newcastle service.

We were en route to Manchester. Cue loads of confused / concerned faces across the carriage.

Moral of the tale: if you can’t get the essential information correct, then maybe don’t bother with the totally unnecessarily three minute soliloquy!

 

[GordonT]

Had an absolute belter earlier. On a northbound XC service

Ideally it shouldn't be such a lottery as to precisely what information is announced or not announced. Some XC guards give details of connecting departures and their platforms on approach to large stations such as Newcastle and York. Some do not. Seems to cry out for a staff "aide memoire" which stipulates what the priority announcements are and counsels against waffle.

 

[VItraveller]

I wouldn’t have a problem with it as long as it’s not mean-spirited and all the essential information is conveyed, I remember one time I rode on a London Northwestern service and as we passed through each station the announcer would provide an interesting and lesser known fact about the cities we were passing through.
no Doubt there will be a time in the not so distant future when those sorts of announcements won’t be made by people but by AI enabled chat bots and while that will be more efficient no doubt, I think something will be lost.

 

[Royston Vasey]

I will never forget the Northern Spirit guard in pre-Metro days on a Newcastle ro Sunderland 142, after a completely normal set of PA announcements beforehand, literally singing into the PA to the tune of Rawhide.

"Boldon Boldon Boldon!
Your next stop's East Boldon!
Boldon Boldon Boldon, next stoooop!"

He emerged from the cab with a completely straight face, did his platform and dispatch duties, and after giving the two buzzes, came back on with:

"Boldon Boldon Boldon
Weve just left East Boldon
Boldon Boldon.Boldon, goodbye!"

He finished the song as well, but the exact lyrics are lost in over a quarter century of mist!

 

[Deepgreen]

I don't know if it counts but I think it's unprofessional when the guard's p.a. announcements are inaudibly soft - I was on a GW Turbo yesterday which was scheduled to go to Gatwick but which was turned short at Redhill. The train arrived at Guildford showing Gatwick on the front (platform indicators had been showing Redhill for at least 15 minutes prior to arrival) and the internal displays and recorded announcements kept saying Gatwick. As we left Guildford I think the guard made an announcement but it was so quiet as to be completely inaudible and therefore useless. Other times the p.a. is deafening - is there a volume control on the mike/handset or is it purely down to voice volume?

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 16 Aug 2025 ==

"Alight here for connecting bus services to local destinations" is on ATW/TfW's 158 auto announcer at some stations.

Firstly: where and when do they go? No use telling me that there are buses that may as well be on a mystery tour.

Secondly: it's 2am! What buses?

Where on earth are you on a 158 at 0200?!

 

[Purple Train]

I will never forget the Northern Spirit guard in pre-Metro days on a Newcastle ro Sunderland 142, after a completely normal set of PA announcements beforehand, literally singing into the PA to the tune of Rawhide.

"Boldon Boldon Boldon!
Your next stop's East Boldon!
Boldon Boldon Boldon, next stoooop!"

He emerged from the cab with a completely straight face, did his platform and dispatch duties, and after giving the two buzzes, came back on with:

"Boldon Boldon Boldon
Weve just left East Boldon
Boldon Boldon.Boldon, goodbye!"

He finished the song as well, but the exact lyrics are lost in over a quarter century of mist!

This had me in stitches - brilliant!

 

[Krokodil]

I think the guard made an announcement but it was so quiet as to be completely inaudible and therefore useless. Other times the p.a. is deafening - is there a volume control on the mike/handset or is it purely down to voice volume?

If it's anything like our 158s the mic could just be duff.

Where on earth are you on a 158 at 0200?!

Bangor. On what was then the late night Birmingham to Holyhead via Stafford.

 

[Edsmith]

And then there are conductors who announce "please get your tickets ready, a full ticket inspect will now take place" and over an hour later at terminus no ticket inspection has taken place. ...

I've had that quite a few times, presumably done to stop fare dodgers getting too comfortable.

 

[Deepgreen]

Had an absolute belter earlier. On a northbound XC service I’d boarded at Reading, on approach to Oxford this bloke came over the tannoy, blathering all sorts of unnecessary tripe (now approaching the wonderful, mystical, magical, fabulous city of Oxford etc for at least two minutes). He finished off by saying that passengers alighting should be ready to do so promptly as the “good people of Oxford” will be keen to get on as quickly as possible, so to avoid a mystery tour with us to Newcastle, please be ready to alight as quickly as possible.

At least he finished with some pertinent information: where the train was actually going.

Except it wasn’t a Newcastle service.

We were en route to Manchester. Cue loads of confused / concerned faces across the carriage.

Moral of the tale: if you can’t get the essential information correct, then maybe don’t bother with the totally unnecessarily three minute soliloquy!

Utterly pathetic. Even if he got everything else right, that is completely unprofessional - imagine any foreign visitors (there are known to be a few at Oxford) trying to navigate that bilge, never mind anyone who has impaired hearing! Just make the annoucements concise - if you're so bored in your job, take it out on someone else! If I had been there and had had time I would have told him what I thought of his rubbish.

 

[styles]

Had an absolute belter earlier. On a northbound XC service I’d boarded at Reading, on approach to Oxford this bloke came over the tannoy, blathering all sorts of unnecessary tripe (now approaching the wonderful, mystical, magical, fabulous city of Oxford etc for at least two minutes). He finished off by saying that passengers alighting should be ready to do so promptly as the “good people of Oxford” will be keen to get on as quickly as possible, so to avoid a mystery tour with us to Newcastle, please be ready to alight as quickly as possible.

At least he finished with some pertinent information: where the train was actually going.

Except it wasn’t a Newcastle service.

We were en route to Manchester. Cue loads of confused / concerned faces across the carriage.

Moral of the tale: if you can’t get the essential information correct, then maybe don’t bother with the totally unnecessarily three minute soliloquy!

That sounds tragic. You don't need to sell Oxford to people taking the train to Oxford - they've already got their tickets. They'll get all that from whatever tour guide they've hired or university library they visit.

On a local calling service, much like a bus or something Tube lines, I wouldn't object to an, "Alight here for X", if there's a particularly popular tourist attraction. But keep it concise as that.

As for the locals wanting to get on - firstly they are well used to tourists, so don't worry about that; but secondly, rushing people to board and alight is arguably dangerous. A lot of tourists will have heavy suitcases, children, etc and they should do things at a normal pace, not be rushed because they think the locals will be miffed.

I suspect their desire to do some fancy announcement distracted them from the actual service destination.

 

[185]

"Boldon Boldon Boldon

I know who that was, certain Geordie guard. Perpetually in trouble at RRNE. And yeah, he was funny. Always wore the company hat, albeit usually sideways.

 

[sh24]

I will never forget the Northern Spirit guard in pre-Metro days on a Newcastle ro Sunderland 142, after a completely normal set of PA announcements beforehand, literally singing into the PA to the tune of Rawhide.

"Boldon Boldon Boldon!
Your next stop's East Boldon!
Boldon Boldon Boldon, next stoooop!"

He emerged from the cab with a completely straight face, did his platform and dispatch duties, and after giving the two buzzes, came back on with:

"Boldon Boldon Boldon
Weve just left East Boldon
Boldon Boldon.Boldon, goodbye!"

He finished the song as well, but the exact lyrics are lost in over a quarter century of mist!

Genuinely horrific.

 

[jamiearmley]

Nobody thinks it's permitted to be abusive. People who are abusive do it anyway. Do you really think anyone has ever used the defence "well there are no signs or announcements saying don't call the staff names"?

The announcements change no behaviour at all and have no purpose other than to remind decent people that there's a chance someone might kick off. It is such an unserious way to deal with anything.

Totally agree. All it does is add to the ever increasing barrage of crap coming over the speakers, ruining my day as onboard crew and disrupting the journeys of my passengers with constant noise.

 

[johntea]

I had an odd one on Transpenine Express the other day where the guard kept saying 'you'll be delighted to know this is the slow service calling at every station along the way...' as if they had a chip on their shoulder for being timetabled to work a non express route

 

[TheManBehind]

I had an odd one on Transpenine Express the other day where the guard kept saying 'you'll be delighted to know this is the slow service calling at every station along the way...' as if they had a chip on their shoulder for being timetabled to work a non express route

Clearly an ex-Top Link man disgruntled at the demotion...!

 

[Oxfordblues]

I find it unprofessional when the train manager announces timings in the 12-hour clock which British Rail retired in 1965 to avoid confusion between AM and PM. Sixty years later you still hear an arrival at, for example, 21:36 being described as "just gone twenty-five to ten" as if we're too stupid to understand the 24-hour clock!

 

[Vexed]

I find it unprofessional when the train manager announces timings in the 12-hour clock which British Rail retired in 1965 to avoid confusion between AM and PM. Sixty years later you still hear an arrival at, for example, 21:36 being described as "just gone twenty-five to ten" as if we're too stupid to understand the 24-hour clock!

I had a TM announce a time as "10 to 18" (meaning 18:50) a few weeks ago... Thought I misheard until they said another time in the same format later on.

 

[Pyewipecarshed]

I find it unprofessional when the train manager announces timings in the 12-hour clock which British Rail retired in 1965 to avoid confusion between AM and PM. Sixty years later you still hear an arrival at, for example, 21:36 being described as "just gone twenty-five to ten" as if we're too stupid to understand the 24-hour clock!

In fairness some people don't understand the 24-hour clock; it's surprisingly common to find train passengers who are confused by it.

 

[pokemonsuper9]

I had a TM announce a time as "10 to 18" (meaning 18:50) a few weeks ago... Thought I misheard until they said another time in the same format later on.

Surely 10 to 18 must mean 17:50? Or were they just wrong?

 

[Vexed]

Surely 10 to 18 must mean 17:50? Or were they just wrong?

Yes they meant 17:50. Managing to confuse myself here...

 

[Krokodil]

I find it unprofessional when the train manager announces timings in the 12-hour clock which British Rail retired in 1965 to avoid confusion between AM and PM. Sixty years later you still hear an arrival at, for example, 21:36 being described as "just gone twenty-five to ten" as if we're too stupid to understand the 24-hour clock!

You'd be really upset if you ever heard the automated announcements at various Welsh stations. You'll hear "chwarter i naw o'r gloch" (quarter to nine o'clock), "hanner wedi tri o'r gloch" (half past three o'clock), "bump o'r gloch" (five o'clock) or as per your example "dau ddeg pedwar munud i deg o'r gloch" (literally: two tens and four [24] minutes to ten o'clock).

For what it's worth, I consider the "o'r gloch" (literally: of the bell) to be superfluous when it's not actually on the hour so just use "chwarter wedi saith" (quarter past seven) when making manual announcements).

 

[Peakrider]

I'd rather have "vomit comet" than the soulless, shouty see it say it pre-recorded detritus, made by the voice artist industry's worst candidates who'd probably get turned down for the announcers job in a Tesco express. I reckon TFW & Northern are the UK's worst. Mister shouty angry Yorkshireman on TPE is equally miserable.

At one Avanti station, the latest H&S announcement is to warn people to "take care when changing platforms"... it starts so loud & abruptly, it's actually causing passengers to fall over.

If it's not Phil Sayer or Julie Berry, delete it and turn it off. Rest in peace Phil, but I reckon we could AI his missing announcements. As for manual announcements, they are a breath of fresh air from the usual junk.

Yes absolutely agree. There seems to be competition between operators to see who can produce the longest and most mindless announcements blasted in the most annoying voice available. Northern is unbearable, and Merseyrail have taken to supplementing our gentle Julie Berry announcements with annoying voices spouting drivel.
I’m just back from a blissful Interrail trip, devoid of endless pointless announcements, those made were limited to this train is for x next stop y. And on the DB ICE, useful connection information approaching main stations.
Made me realise just how awful British rail travel has become.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 18 Aug 2025 ==

I would say if it’s a train that is full of drunks, it does require careful management. If a fair few passengers have been hitting the sauce, keeping them onside and a pleasant atmosphere certainly helps. If it all kicks off then the guard is the one who has to go and intervene and fix it, alone. Therefore I’m not going to criticise anyone for their announcement.

I make it clear on late night trains that we won’t tolerate antisocial behaviour and that I won’t hesitate to have the train stopped at the next station and the perps removed. A passenger once asked if I thought it an appropriate thing to say, my response was ‘yes, that is why I said it’. I’m sure she’d be the last person to intervene when I’m getting beaten by some bloke who’s hit the bottomless brunch big time.

I have heard the ‘guy on the station told me to get on’ announcements. They’re not to my liking and so I don’t make them, but never accept the ‘guy on the station’ excuse when doing tickets.

Not sure that I agree. Merseyrail have taken to blasting out their robotic anti social behaviour announcement all day long. Frankly it makes me feel unsafe using their trains as it implies that anti social behaviour is rife.
Is it really relevant at 8am on a Sunday morning to be subjected to this drivel? Or worse, at 11pm on an empty Monday evening train?
It’s certainly succeeded in putting me off using their self proclaimed anti social trains.

 

[trainophile]

I took two Merseyrail trains today, Chester to Liverpool and Liverpool to Southport, and I'm almost sure I didn't hear "that" announcement once. I may have missed it, but to miss it on two trains would be surprising. Perhaps they read this forum.

Really lovely guard on the TfW Cardiff to Holyhead, he made several announcements but they were all useful stuff, like despite us running a few minutes late into Shrewsbury, so was the Aberystwyth & Pwllheli train, so don't worry as you will most likely still catch your connection (he included arrival and departure platforms and how to get between them), and at Chester explaining that the doors wouldn't open immediately as they had to detach two coaches at the back. No rubbish or "I like the sound of my own voice" nonsense, just what people needed to know.

 

[vjm1975]

I took two Merseyrail trains today, Chester to Liverpool and Liverpool to Southport, and I'm almost sure I didn't hear "that" announcement once. I may have missed it, but to miss it on two trains would be surprising. Perhaps they read this forum.

From my travels I usually it will play usually once between Chester and Liverpool for example.

 

[trainophile]

Just departed Southport and the initial announcement was about smoking, vaping and alcohol, also about CCTV. No “we will not tolerate abuse“… yet!

 

[BAFRA77]

Had a very pleasant journey from Worcester down to Oxford on Saturday on GWR - with a northern (possibly Mancunian) guard in charge - announcements were friendly, brief and to the point (especially with the parts about short platforms and which carriages you needed to be in) - as was his ticket checks.

 

[Oxfordblues]

Off-topic, but re the 24-hour clock: there's a convenience shop near me that advertises being open "from 09:00 til 06:00". Commendably long hours you might think, but they always close 12 hours early at 18:00!