Inspector Sands @ Euston

[142094]

Yes it is. Given the fact when I shop at Aldi, I take my own bags and then use them to carry my shopping (I don't fancy paying £1 for a trolley!), before unloading at the till and repacking, I'd be rather upset if I was jumped on and accused of shoplifting!

I hope you realise you get the £1 back *

* Unless this is another way of conning the public out of their money a la Ryanair?

 

[jon0844]

Yes, I do! - but it means taking the trolley back to the front of the building (no trolley stands in the car park) to get my money back and given I don't do big shops there, it seems like overkill to have a trolley for 3-4 items.

They don't do baskets, so my own carrier bag is the basket - and you have to pay for bags there anyway.

 

[Keele13]

I used to steward at football and rugby matches, and Mr Sands used to turn up there every now and again...presumably on his days off from keeping an eye on railway stations!

 

[jon0844]

Maybe that's why he is called for so long at stations, if he's away watching football.

 

[michael769]

I have heard numbered codes being used at Waverley.

 

[table38]

Wikipedia suggests that:

"Mr Sands" has long been used in theatres as a code for fire, where sand buckets were used to put out fires. The word "fire" backstage would cause alarm to either performers or audience

However, isn't there a finite possibility of there actually being someone called Inspector Sands on the station at the time?

On American Dad Hayley's brainwashing "trigger phrase" had to be something that no-one would ever say in real life, so it was "I'm getting fed up with this orgasm"

 

[michael769]

However, isn't there a finite possibility of there actually being someone called Inspector Sands on the station at the time?

Is "Inspector" an official job title on the railways? (I guess it is in BTP, but presumably requesting a specific BTP officer over PA would not be a not a normal thing to do).

 

[AlterEgo]

No - it's a BTP rank.

Unless you mean ticket inspectors...

 

[bluenoxid]

Signalmen are called bobby's for a reason.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

It would be perfectly clear whether the annoucement was for the fire alarm, or whether someone actually wanted Inspector Sands (however unlikely it would be!). For a start, one would be a recording by Phil Sayer, repeated many many times and played very loudly.

 

[AlexS]

'Inspector' was a railway grade that's largely been superseded, or if you will, renamed nowadays - things like Driver Manager and Local Operations Manager have generally overtaken it. Much like the idiocy of having 50 million names for a 'train guard' or a 'buffet steward' (retail service manager I ask you, what crap).

 

[Schnellzug]

Do they still have Traction Inspectors, who used to wear, I believe, Bowler hats, or at least did on the Isle of Sodor?

 

[scotsman]

Do they still have Traction Inspectors, who used to wear, I believe, Bowler hats, or at least did on the Isle of Sodor?

Yes, West Coast Railways have Traction Inspectors and I can tell you now that they, or at least he, doesn't wear a bowler hat!

 

[es373]

We have TI's as well.

 

[voyagerdude220]

"Please will Inspector Sands go to the beach, you are welcome to buy an Ice cream when you get there."..

 

[Eric]

There is one a member of family told me they use at Morrisons (at least locally) that indicates to staff that there is a shoplift taking place, though I can't remember what it is. I suspect quite a few of the announcements we hear are actually for something completely different

It's Mr Brown at the Five Lane End Morrisons near me.

 

[RailwayDan]

At Manchester Victoria, the message is 'Will the Reverend Peter Roberts and his party of four, please come to the upper mezzanine?' This is possibly a message from the MEN arena next door, but it was certainly heard inside the station.

About two years ago this could be heard going off repeatedly for nearly a week, whilst I was at college there.

 

[LondonJohn]

He was called for 10 minutes at Manchester Piccadilly around 2pm on Thursday afternoon.

 

[Mike395]

Just going off on a slight tangent - does the Inspector Sands announcement ever get 'tested' at a station - and if so, does a manual announcement saying as such usually precede it (giving away the automated nature of the announcement :P)?

 

[Schnellzug]

He was called for 10 minutes at Manchester Piccadilly around 2pm on Thursday afternoon.

Insp. Sanders or Rev. Roberts?


*** I've just had another thought, maybe 'Inspector Sanders' is code for the rails being slippery, so it's coded advice to drivers.

 

[jon0844]

King's Cross test it at either 10 or 11am. The thing is, if you couldn't already guess it was some sort of alarm, the loud tones that precede it should make it obvious to everyone!

 

[Smoggy]

Just going off on a slight tangent - does the Inspector Sands announcement ever get 'tested' at a station - and if so, does a manual announcement saying as such usually precede it (giving away the automated nature of the announcement :P)?

Waterloo definately test it every Wednesday at 11am. They seem to spend more time with pre-warning announcements before and after informing that its a test then the actual test announcement. Yet some members of public still look in shock when the evacuation message then plays!

 

[BestWestern]

In a similar vein, I often used to hear at Cardif Central "Would the Superintendant of the line please go to the carriage sheds", or something similar, preceeded by a loud siren. Not heard it for a while, can anybody decode that one?!

 

[Schnellzug]

In a similar vein, I often used to hear at Cardif Central "Would the Superintendant of the line please go to the carriage sheds", or something similar, preceeded by a loud siren. Not heard it for a while, can anybody decode that one?!

Superintendent of the Line. That's a splendid job title. Reminiscent of the days of Sir Felix Pole and gentlemen with top hats and moustaches.

 

[syorksdeano]

Not 100% sure if this is true what I was told but it may answer the question.

I was at Leeds sometime last year and this "Inspector Sands" bloke was been called. I was told that it was a fire alarm activation caused by a HST arriving into the station the wrong way and the exhaust fumes triggering the alarm sensor

 

[Schnellzug]

Not 100% sure if this is true what I was told but it may answer the question.

I was at Leeds sometime last year and this "Inspector Sands" bloke was been called. I was told that it was a fire alarm activation caused by a HST arriving into the station the wrong way and the exhaust fumes triggering the alarm sensor

I can imagine that might be possible with a Valenta, but I can't imagine that an MTU just passing by would be enough to do that. What about all the DMUs that come & go all the time?

 

[scotsman]

I can imagine that might be possible with a Valenta, but I can't imagine that an MTU just passing by would be enough to do that. What about all the DMUs that come & go all the time?

Anything dense enough to block a beam of light or prevent the air being ionised (a carbon-based emission would do that) will set off a smoke detector. Some smoke detectors are heat detectors, warm exhaust gas might do that...

DMUs, in general, throw out a lot less exhaust gas than most trains

 

[syorksdeano]

The HST in question was parked up at Platform 6. They tend to sit there for a while before going back to London

 

[The Colonel]

He was at Euston again yesterday morning - deaf &^%& as they kept asking for him

 

[HH]

Has been at Liverpool Street for years and was being called very loudly a few days ago. I walked very quickly to my train in case it was a real fire (safe procedure is to dispatch trains at platform rather than de-training everyone).