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If all these announcements are important (sarcastic emoji) then they need to make everyone wearing earphones and headphones take them off! On a train I often wear them simply listening to white noise or the sound of crashing waves to avoid having to listen repeatedly to - everything.
It's the same process for shops playing "musak" - I note some shops now play adverts alongside their musak.
I bet my last tooth that at some point trains will be blasting vocal adverts at us soon.
I was on an EMR train going through Lincoln recently, with the most pointless apologies I've ever heard on the approach to every station.
"Ladies and gentleman please accept my apologies as we are now approching XXX 2 minutes early, this means unfortunately we will have to wait on the platform for 2 minutes as we cannot depart before the booked departure time. My apologies once again".
This was at 3 stations in a row, and one of them was even followed by a delay repay reminder!
I was on an EMR train going through Lincoln recently, with the most pointless apologies I've ever heard on the approach to every station.
"Ladies and gentleman please accept my apologies as we are now approching XXX 2 minutes early, this means unfortunately we will have to wait on the platform for 2 minutes as we cannot depart before the booked departure time. My apologies once again".
This was at 3 stations in a row, and one of them was even followed by a delay repay reminder!
Whilst this example is excessive, I have announced before where my train will have some significant standing time due to timetabling/running early, Hereford being the main culprit. 5 minutes tends to be my minimum though. Sometimes people can interpret a long wait as being delayed, and a lot of the time people are appreciative of the offer of a leg stretch. Two mins at consecutive stations though? That’s pushing it a bit!
I was on an EMR train going through Lincoln recently, with the most pointless apologies I've ever heard on the approach to every station.
"Ladies and gentleman please accept my apologies as we are now approching XXX 2 minutes early, this means unfortunately we will have to wait on the platform for 2 minutes as we cannot depart before the booked departure time. My apologies once again".
I was on an EMR train going through Lincoln recently, with the most pointless apologies I've ever heard on the approach to every station.
"Ladies and gentleman please accept my apologies as we are now approching XXX 2 minutes early, this means unfortunately we will have to wait on the platform for 2 minutes as we cannot depart before the booked departure time. My apologies once again".
This was at 3 stations in a row, and one of them was even followed by a delay repay reminder!
Ive been on a train with who I reckon mustve been that guard. He kept apologising for being 1 minute late at the various stops between Lincoln and Nottingham. He did my head in.
I noticed a safety announcement that was actively dangerous yesterday. On a GWR 150, the standard station announcement was something like "This is Bodmin Parkway. Do not attempt to board or leave the train whilst the doors are closing. This is a service to Penzance. The next station is Lostwithiel."
Unfortunately the announcement took so long that the doors started to close before the final word, which may have been crucial to a passenger deciding whether to board the train, and so would have meant they would have to pass through the moving door. The 'do not attempt to board or leave the train whilst the doors are closing' bit of the announcement was utterly pointless - if you were in a position to hear it, then you wouldn't be trapped by the doors, unless you were waiting to hear the full announcement!
If all these announcements are important (sarcastic emoji) then they need to make everyone wearing earphones and headphones take them off! On a train I often wear them simply listening to white noise or the sound of crashing waves to avoid having to listen repeatedly to - everything.
On a recent flight I tried some new headphones with the maximum noise cancelling and it was horrible. Sounded like the engines had stopped and ALL noise in the cabin, heck all noise full stop, had ended.
I switched to the setting that lets some noise in, which then means I can hear announcements or messages from the crew but not the ambient noise from the cabin/engines. People really should be doing that when out in public. I get you may not want to hear announcements, but in an emergency you really do want to hear what's going on. On a platform you want to hear about delays or platform changes. On a bike you want to hear traffic etc.
It's amazing to see those with headphones on that don't notice tens or hundreds of people moving when something changes on a platform, then getting irate when they get left behind and moan at staff for not being told. Well, where's everyone else that was with you?!
I noticed a safety announcement that was actively dangerous yesterday. On a GWR 150, the standard station announcement was something like "This is Bodmin Parkway. Do not attempt to board or leave the train whilst the doors are closing. This is a service to Penzance. The next station is Lostwithiel."
Unfortunately the announcement took so long that the doors started to close before the final word, which may have been crucial to a passenger deciding whether to board the train, and so would have meant they would have to pass through the moving door. The 'do not attempt to board or leave the train whilst the doors are closing' bit of the announcement was utterly pointless - if you were in a position to hear it, then you wouldn't be trapped by the doors, unless you were waiting to hear the full announcement!
GWR Turbos play that doors announcement at every single station. It's mind-numbing on services with frequent stops. Maybe it's why so many (though not all) GWR guards hide away in the back cab instead of checking tickets.
I know we complain about announcements on this forum but they genuinely are getting worse. At London Bridge station they’ve not got a verbose announcement on the escalators telling you to face forward and hold the handrail. Worse still at Maidenhead station, where an announcement plays constantly on the stairs, telling you how to walk up them and not to use your phone. Coupled with rock hard seats and ever brighter carriage interiors, Britain’s railways are becoming increasingly dystopian. Seriously though, who’s making these awful decisions?
So now we have announcements telling you:
Not to run
Not to board doors whilst they’re closing
Not to use your phone whilst walking up the stairs
To hold the handrail and face forward on the escalator
Not to abuse staff
See it say it sorted
Just heard one informing passengers that drinks purchased from the shop *MUST BE SERVED IN A BAG AND MUST REMAIN IN THE BAG UNTILL YOU REACH YOUR SEAT... OR ELSE!*
Edit... well to be fair, with the ride quality of this 807, that is sensible advice!
Just heard one informing passengers that drinks purchased from the shop *MUST BE SERVED IN A BAG AND MUST REMAIN IN THE BAG UNTILL YOU REACH YOUR SEAT... OR ELSE!*
It may not entirely be down to the staff making the announcement.
Once in Virgin days I was in the almost completely empty front set of a Voyager x 3 train. Unusually there was no at-seat in the First so I walked through deserted coaches to the buffet to have a take-away coffee. The stewards offered me a bag which seemed to be an unnecessary waste - even if I was clumsy on the way back no-one else could get hurt - so I tried to decline it. She insisted, silently gesturing at the overhead cctv camera which pointed down at the counter. I inferred that there was policing that the staff strictly conformed to laid-down policy.
On Friday I had an instance where, coming down the stairs from the footbridge at Clapham Junction, the person immediately in front of me stopped sharply half way down the second flight to look at her phone*, I can't say I'm surprised that there's now starting to be announcements about phones on stairs.
*How I managed to avoid a collision with her, I don't know.
Just heard one informing passengers that drinks purchased from the shop *MUST BE SERVED IN A BAG AND MUST REMAIN IN THE BAG UNTILL YOU REACH YOUR SEAT... OR ELSE!*
Edit... well to be fair, with the ride quality of this 807, that is sensible advice!
Last Wednesday, when travelling from Carlisle to Glasgow, the Pendolino did lurch as I was going from the shop to my seat. The coffee cup fell over in the brown bag, just as well I wasn't carrying it in my hand!
Just heard one informing passengers that drinks purchased from the shop *MUST BE SERVED IN A BAG AND MUST REMAIN IN THE BAG UNTILL YOU REACH YOUR SEAT... OR ELSE!*
Same on the pendo I was on, Friday.
Along with (what seemed) announcements after each stop that the on-board shop was either closing (don't come down) or open again (with full list of sundries and aforementioned safety message which does not in one bit affect anyone who does or does not wish to be availed of a hot beverage).
Utterly maddening.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
the person immediately in front of me stopped sharply half way down the second flight to look at her phone*, I can't say I'm surprised that there's now starting to be announcements about phones on stairs.
Yes, this too... going up mainly in my experience.
The sudden stop at the top of stairs to dig out and unlock phone.
The curse of the removal of buying tickets from a ticket office.
Phones are everywhere. For many more purposes than is strictly nessessary. Folk have no idea of their surroundings when glued to them.
== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: ==
Last Wednesday, when travelling from Carlisle to Glasgow, the Pendolino did lurch as I was going from the shop to my seat. The coffee cup fell over in the brown bag, just as well I wasn't carrying it in my hand!
Edit. Just seen your post here.
I'm not opposed to the practice, we just don't need to know about it on general broadcast.
The same happened to me on a coach on the motorway. Hot liquid down the aisle, luckily. It's probably more common than one thinks.... I've lost numerous bottles off of tables, so I'm sure the same could happen to hot stuff too.
Some people on your train might have been going downstairs to the low level to catch a connection or some might be coming back to the station later to catch a train home or whatever. It's just a standard part of the conductors announcement script. They'll fail a Squire audit if they don't mention it.
With the hot drinks surely it would make more sense for the member of staff to say to the customer as they were handing them the bag rather than broadcast it over the PA.
With the hot drinks surely it would make more sense for the member of staff to say to the customer as they were handing them the bag rather than broadcast it over the PA.
Some people on your train might have been going downstairs to the low level to catch a connection or some might be coming back to the station later to catch a train home or whatever. It's just a standard part of the conductors announcement script. They'll fail a Squire audit if they don't mention it.
Not a go at the conductor, it strikes me as another example of unnecessary information. If any of the 30 or so people on board want to wait until they're on their local train before cracking one open then that shouldn't be a matter for their previous train. Bit in bold captures the real problem.
Another pointless Avanti announcement stating the reservations are not working when they are, mine showing fine to Lancaster on the screen. Ill listen out for the hot drink one!
Unfortunately it's a side effect of the culture where everyone else is at fault but yourself, so every company has to make every effort to cover their own backs.
Whilst most people who spill coffee on themselves will realise they weren't holding it correctly/not taking care when walking on a moving train you'll get the few who will blame the TOC because the train was jolting.
A recent Avanti introduction is an announcement when you lock the toilet door on a Pendo A very worried-sounding woman says 'take care when using the toilet this train may start or move unexpectedly'.
As against the times when you expect it to start and it doesn't, not uncommon on Avanti
I know we complain about announcements on this forum but they genuinely are getting worse. At London Bridge station they’ve not got a verbose announcement on the escalators telling you to face forward and hold the handrail. Worse still at Maidenhead station, where an announcement plays constantly on the stairs, telling you how to walk up them and not to use your phone. Coupled with rock hard seats and ever brighter carriage interiors, Britain’s railways are becoming increasingly dystopian. Seriously though, who’s making these awful decisions?
So now we have announcements telling you:
Not to run
Not to board doors whilst they’re closing
Not to use your phone whilst walking up the stairs
To hold the handrail and face forward on the escalator
Not to abuse staff
See it say it sorted
London Bridge also has announcements for trains when they've been delayed by a couple of minutes, for example, "we're sorry to announce, the 16.15 to Dartford on platform 6 has been delayed by 2 minutes, wait for further announcements" is this really necessary when 2 minute delays are quite common.
A few weeks ago at Birmingham Snow Hill, we had announcements about using drones on the railway. Id never heard that one before and haven't heard it since.
A few weeks ago at Birmingham Snow Hill, we had announcements about using drones on the railway. Id never heard that one before and haven't heard it since.
I can see a Disputes thread brewing with the "Oyster cards are not valid (at zone 6 boundary)" announcement because it ends by stating "contactless cards are valid until a further announcement". What if that announcement doesn't happen? Does a PA announcement override other Ts & Cs?!!
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