Passengers Missing Their Stops

[MidnightFlyer]

had the cheek to say we should look at the safety posters.

I doubt it would be cheek if you actually needed to use knowledge gained from them during your trip!

 

[BestWestern]

That reminds me of an eastern european couple on a leeds to manchester 155 who opened the drivers cab while looking for the toilet. They came flying out!

That always worries me; bl**dy cab doors on some of those Sprinters are a waste of time, might as well just invite people in :roll:

 

[150222]

I doubt it would be cheek if you actually needed to use knowledge gained from them during your trip!

I appreciate that he may have to do it but he just seemed oblivious to how utterly rammed the train was. Even if you needed info of those posters you wouldn't have been able to see them until smithy bridge!

 

[Michael.Y]

I appreciate that he may have to do it but he just seemed oblivious to how utterly rammed the train was. Even if you needed info of those posters you wouldn't have been able to see them until smithy bridge!

Sometimes guards ARE oblivious to how crammed the train is - especially if there's a quick turnaround / crew change -- until they poke their head out of the cab and look down the carriage (which, on 175s for example, only allows them to see one carriage of three), which may not be their first priority.

I'd wager the safety announcement was not the only thing in the announcement -- were there a list of stations as well?

 

[PR1Berske]

It's not the act itself of falling asleep, it's the absence, nay neglect, of responsibility on the person's part for their own affairs and their subsequent transference on such responsibility onto others in order to absolve themselves of any blame for the act.

For an alternative example : My previous employment was as a library assistant, and we used to get a lot of people bringing back their books late. Many would argue "Oh but you didn't let me know my book was overdue" - expecting us to phone/write them after a few days, rather than the standard 3 weeks. The date was, as always, stamped in the ticket at the front of the book, and the standard loan period is, and has always been the same. Yet somehow it wasn't their fault, it was ours? :roll:

Falling asleep is quite natural and it's nobody's fault if they do so on a journey.

There's also a duty of care element into all this. Who is responsible for the young woman who, waking up where she did not intend, struggles to find anywhere to go whilst waiting for some way home?

 

[Platform 1]

No-one is but unless someone is willing to help...

 

[BestWestern]

Falling asleep is quite natural and it's nobody's fault if they do so on a journey.

There's also a duty of care element into all this. Who is responsible for the young woman who, waking up where she did not intend, struggles to find anywhere to go whilst waiting for some way home?

Oh dear. You're not a regular sleeping passenger are you?! :roll: The 'Duty of Care' of railway employees does not extend to running around after those who have fallen asleep and missed their stop. If you do so, in most circumstances a goodwill gesture will be made to allow you a free journey back to the intended destination on another service, if one is available. If you've missed the last one of the night, I'll gladly call you a taxi on the work mobile, but then you're on your own I'm afraid. I do not take it upon myself to go through waking up every person who is sleeping - half the train on many late evening services - just on the off chance that somebody might want the next stop but has neglected to take reasonable precautions before falling asleep (something which the vast majority of people will be well aware they are likely to do).

If I happen to know that a particular person needs to get off in five minutes and I notice them dozing, then I will wake them up, but I don't make a mental note of where every passenger is heading. It is not at all unusual to have people ask where they are upon emptying my train at it's terminus, and they are met with the simple response that this is the end of the line, off you get, goodnight. I'm happy to point them in the direction of the taxi rank, but my duty of care ends there (unless they are elderly & infirm/disabled/a child, in which case I will leave them in the care of the station staff).

We do not offer an adult babysitting service on trains (yet...), and so I'm afraid to say that for the moment grown-ups are expected to act like grown-ups and take care of themselves.

 

[DaveNewcastle]

Falling asleep is quite natural and it's nobody's fault if they do so on a journey.

Quite correct. Its so natural in fact, that we all do it and we do it with such regularity that over the years, we have developed very effective strategies for dealing with it so that it doesn't create difficulties when we have responsibilities.

Personally, I use an alarm clock. Quaint and old-fashioned, isn't it?

You're not suggesting that our responsibilities end when we fall asleep, are you?

 

[michael769]

Personally, I use an alarm clock. Quaint and old-fashioned, isn't it?

Personally I advocate getting a good nights sleep!

 

[hairyhandedfool]

....does anyone have any experience of pax waking up on an ecs or in the depot?

Happened fairly regularly at City Thameslink with the Southeastern Networkers drawing straight into Smithfield Sidings to reverse there, with the drivers finding someone asleep or having been to the loo.

Personally I advocate getting a good nights sleep!

Which is fine if it's not been a long hard day at work and they are on the way to bed!

 

[bb21]

May I recommend a sticker if one is about to have a nap on the train?

 

[Trog]

If you think button operated doors confuse people. Watch an American or a German try and get out of a Mk3. The concept of having the door handle on the outside seems to really confuse them.

 

[chris89]

If you think button operated doors confuse people. Watch an American or a German try and get out of a Mk3. The concept of having the door handle on the outside seems to really confuse them.

It confuses many normal people on Preserved railways the fact having to close a door and most the time not even fully. As most the time they only close it so it goes to the secondary lock, what i wouldn't trust any form of weight on.

GWR stock confuses them even more, as have to also lock the door, as not spring loaded.

Chris

 

[222007]

Last person to do this on a train i worked i had to shake the guy to wake him up. When i did and he'd shown me his ticket it turns out he'd missed his stop by 2 stations the next one we stopped at being the 3rd. I authorised his ticket to return to where he wanted to be only to fin him still on the train after departing that station. Oh i decided to stay on how much to Birmingham - hmmmm guess the next course of action

 

[ChiefPlanner]

A few anecdotes .....

Someone who used to set an alarm for Hassocks , - tired after a weeks work , fell asleep - alarm goes off and he fumbles off MK1 stock at Redhill (train delayed when he was asleep through a points failure)

Someone who overshot Bletchley many years ago on a long distance train and woke up at Carstairs !

Quite frequent to see people at St Albans sheepishly asking for the next stopper to Elstree or similar , who got a fast at St Pancras without checking the calling pattern. Cue to remonstrating with a drunken "business" person about to pull the cord on a fast around Radlett Jct to arrange a stop for his personal convenience. BT police helpfull on this one !

 

[O L Leigh]

Had a few of these.

New Years Day a few years back. Relieved a night shift driver off a StanEx on the 'Up' at BIS who told me there was a "sleeper" just behind the country-end cab. Got to LST to change ends and sure enough there he was spread out across all four seats and the gangway. Set off towards SSD again but have decided I'm putting him off at HWN because he's already done at least one round trip and he's not doing another one with me. Just as I decide I'm going to have to get out and rouse him he comes staggering out onto the platform and proceeds to give me a tirade of foul-mouthed abuse.

Doing a "fiddle" with a Chingford night shift driver so he can get more kip when he arrives at HFE. I take his train which is the very last one going all shacks to BXB via SVS, then empties to BIS. Get to BXB and going back to check the train is empty and shut up the train and find a "sleeper". I wake him up and tell him he's got to get off the train.
"Where am I?"
"Broxbourne."
"WHAT....????????!!!!!!!!!!!!!"
"Why, where did you want to be?"
"Liverpool Street."
"So where did you get on the train?"
"Chingford."
"Well I'm very sorry but there are no trains back tonight. The taxi office is at the front of the station. Goodnight!!"

O L Leigh

 

[RichmondCommu]

At Horley on Friday, I saw something that made me laugh. Train pulls in, about half a dozen assorted passengers go to the vestibule ready to disembark, but they were all distracted, either chatting, texting, getting their bags together, not paying attention. Train stops, doors released, stands for 30 seconds, doors secured and then it pulls off, one of the passengers suddenly snaps back into consciousness and says 'oh, push the button!' but of course by then it's too late, they are on their way to Gatwick... (ps before you say it, I was at the other end of the carriage, so I'm not exactly going to bellow "push the button" at the top of my voice). At least its not far to go back...

Don't you think it was rather mean spirited of you to laugh at someone else's misfortune? Personally, rather than laughing I would have felt sorry for them but hey perhaps that’s just me.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

You would not believe (or you probably would), the number of people who jump onto one of the evening 'fast' FCC services to Peterborough, and don't bother checking where it stops.

The one I felt sorry for the other night was on one of the late evening services which was first stop Biggleswade, and the lady wanted Finsbury Park...

In all fairness though the vast majority of FCC trains do stop at Finsbury Park (in my experience anyway!).

 

[MidnightFlyer]

In all fairness though the vast majority of FCC trains do stop at Finsbury Park (in my experience anyway!).

Of the 2tph to PBO and the 3tph to CBG from Kings Cross, both Peterborough and two of the Cambridge trains call at Finsbury Park AFAIK.

 

[RichmondCommu]

It is a matter of changing times.

In days of yore, when the railway was a service, there was an expectation that the railway would do what it could to help a distressed passenger. On an understanding that the railway would not incur material extra expense by helping, that the passenger would not be unfairly enriched but merely (in a case like this) returned to the originally paid-for destination without extra charge, and if the railway was unable to help then the passenger was left to his or her own devices to make other arrangements (such as walk home or wait overnight on the platform).

Modernly the railway is not run as a public service but as a profit opportunity. Even minor infringements are seized upon to inflict disproportionate fine print penalties and disproportionate "walk up" fares and travellers are charged not on a basis of cost to provide service but on a basis of the absolute maximum that the market will bear. (Which may, exceptionally, only exceptionally, be less than the price on a basis of cost to provide service).

The only real solution is renationalisation and a return to a concept of a railway as a public service. Including providing low paid jobs even where there is no profit is so-doing because it provides the public with a valuable service and the minimum wage employees with a better alternative than the dole.

However, renationalisation will not occur in the modern political climate, the idea that government should serve the nation (instead of the inverse) is a curiosity found only in the history books.

I'm sure many would agree with your sentiments but the reality is that the state cannot afford to renationalise the railways and nor can it afford "jobs for all". My advice would be have Tesco got any vacancies?

 

[bAzTNM]

Saw a thing like this on a train today. Train stops at Cardonald, bunch of people try the doors, not working, so they all run and basically try to barge past each other to get to the doors along a bit. They manage to get there. I heard the examiner phoning up somebody to collect "Out of Use" stickers from Paisley.

 

[stut]

Of the 2tph to PBO and the 3tph to CBG from Kings Cross, both Peterborough and two of the Cambridge trains call at Finsbury Park AFAIK.

In regular service patterns, yes. However, the peak expresses (some to Peterborough, some to Royston) can run fast to Stevenage, Hitchin, Biggleswade or St Neots. There's quite a few of them now during the week: xx40 and xx10 from 1640 until 1910, then 2010, 2107, 2207, 2301. That's on top of the half-hourly Cambridge/Lynn fasts during that period too, and handful of Royston terminators.

 

[FGW_DID]

Passengers not paying attention to PA announcements or their general surroundings.

have had a few that obviously just saw the word 'Parkway' and alighted and it wasn't until the service had been dispatched and was disappearing into the distance that it dawned on them they were at Didcot and not Bristol!

 

[Flamingo]

Could have been worse, might have been Port Talbot Parkway!

 

[Michael.Y]

Could have been worse, might have been Port Talbot Parkway!

Or Bodmin....

 

[LE Greys]

In regular service patterns, yes. However, the peak expresses (some to Peterborough, some to Royston) can run fast to Stevenage, Hitchin, Biggleswade or St Neots. There's quite a few of them now during the week: xx40 and xx10 from 1640 until 1910, then 2010, 2107, 2207, 2301. That's on top of the half-hourly Cambridge/Lynn fasts during that period too, and handful of Royston terminators.

I've been caught out by them a few times as well, especially since they sometimes run within a few minutes of another service. It's not as bad as it was in the days of the old departures board, which sometimes got stuck showing "Stevenage" or "Hitchin" in the middle of one of the St Neots fasts (and memorably the 27:54 Hull Trains to Leeds via Doncaster Newcastle and Doncaster).
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

For an alternative example : My previous employment was as a library assistant, and we used to get a lot of people bringing back their books late. Many would argue "Oh but you didn't let me know my book was overdue" - expecting us to phone/write them after a few days, rather than the standard 3 weeks. The date was, as always, stamped in the ticket at the front of the book, and the standard loan period is, and has always been the same. Yet somehow it wasn't their fault, it was ours? :roll:

Of course, in this "advanced" electronic age, they don't stamp the date in the book any more, leaving the unfortunate reader to have to write it on a post-it and stick it to the flyleaf. Of course, it's the reader's fault if he or she gets it wrong. :roll:

 

[SS4]

Of course, in this "advanced" electronic age, they don't stamp the date in the book any more, leaving the unfortunate reader to have to write it on a post-it and stick it to the flyleaf. Of course, it's the reader's fault if he or she gets it wrong. :roll:

Birmingham Libraries still have a date stamp, I have mine until 3rd Jan

 

[Michael.Y]

Of course, in this "advanced" electronic age, they don't stamp the date in the book any more, leaving the unfortunate reader to have to write it on a post-it and stick it to the flyleaf. Of course, it's the reader's fault if he or she gets it wrong. :roll:

I can assure you categorically that Newport Libraries stamped books. I have the sore wrists to prove it.

 

[martin2345uk]

That reminds me of an eastern european couple on a leeds to manchester 155 who opened the drivers cab while looking for the toilet. They came flying out!

Sorry if this is a stupid question but are drivers' cabs openable from outside the cab? I always thought they weren't!

PS I'm a long time lurker, absolutely love this site

 

[ukrob]

Sorry if this is a stupid question but are drivers' cabs openable from outside the cab? I always thought they weren't!

PS I'm a long time lurker, absolutely love this site

Of course they are - how does the driver get in otherwise?

Welcome to the site.

 

[YorkshireBear]

Saw a thing like this on a train today. Train stops at Cardonald, bunch of people try the doors, not working, so they all run and basically try to barge past each other to get to the doors along a bit. They manage to get there. I heard the examiner phoning up somebody to collect "Out of Use" stickers from Paisley.

Once happened to us on a 142 on harrogate line. Told conductor, he said no there working fine, i said no there not we pressed the button, when it was lit after other doors had opened. He replied sure you didnt press close button?... I was like fine. He went and tried them... low and behold they didnt work :/