Someone throwing up on a train - what can be done?

[2Dogbox]

I always find it best to keep very large passengers away from "wafer thin mints" just to be on the safe side. And always have a mop and bucket on standby.

 

[BestWestern]

Was the train a stopper? He should have got (or been put) off at the first opportunity.

Unfortunately not an option really, unless at a location where staff are still on duty. Detraining somebody who is clearly unwell, even if they are suffering from nothing more serious than their own inability to regulate their alcohol intake, has the potential to land a Guard in very hot water.

 

[Skimble19]

This has possibly been covered elsewhere, but out of interest, what are the 8-car units going to do during the rush hour ?

Continue to be in service I assume, in the same way there are still some 4 car services in the peak. For example, at present there probably isn't much (any?) need for 12 car services from Peterborough to London during the evening peak, unlike the other way, where ideally most of them would be!

 

[ushawk]

Unfortunately not an option really, unless at a location where staff are still on duty. Detraining somebody who is clearly unwell, even if they are suffering from nothing more serious than their own inability to regulate their alcohol intake, has the potential to land a Guard in very hot water.

That and it was also one of the last trains of the night, remaining in/close to a toilet would have been better though.

With the new TL stock, a lot of the key stations would most probably have cleaning staff at (Brighton, Three Bridges, Gatwick, Croydon, St Pancras to name a few) so it could quickly be dealt with.

 

[HSTEd]

Drunk tank and strong fines would do the Country good - in general and not just on the railways.

Drunk tanks would inevitably lead to the police throwing people they "didn't like the look of" into cells for no reason other than because they can.

"I have no evidence that you have done anything dangerous or caused any damage to anything but because I think you are too drunk you are coming with me.... oh and we will have a DNA sample off you to"

 

[Greenback]

Drunk tanks would inevitably lead to the police throwing people they "didn't like the look of" into cells for no reason other than because they can.

"I have no evidence that you have done anything dangerous or caused any damage to anything but because I think you are too drunk you are coming with me.... oh and we will have a DNA sample off you to"

The police usually have enough to do sorting out real incidents of an evening, I doub tthey have either the time or the inclination to go looking for people who may be drunk enough to throw in a cell.

Officers can do this now, but it is usually when they have received a call about soemone's behaviour being a concern, or attended an incident, and they believe that the person concerned ar eunable to look afte rthemselves or get home.

Back on topic, I was once sick on a bus when I was young, and I hadn't been drinking at all. It came on quite suddenly and out of nowhere, I was fine afterwards and had no warning of it at all. To this day I don't know what caused it. At least it wasn't like the opening post!

 

[northwichcat]

If the food looked/tasted dodgy why scoff it down & what's the problem with a foreign restaurant!!

The food didn't look dodgy though and it was from the self-service restaurant in the Louvre - so not exactly a place you'd suspect of serving dodgy food.

I mentioned foreign because of the original post mentioning the person who was being sick not being able to speak much English.

 

[tsr]

The food didn't look dodgy though and it was from the self-service restaurant in the Louvre - so not exactly a place you'd suspect of serving dodgy food.

I appreciate this is off-topic, but I know those Louvre food outlets, both from my own and friends' experiences, and that is indeed unusual!

 

[DiscoStu]

Was he definitely drunk?

 

[user15681]

And what if the guy was suffering from "Winter Vomiting", norovirus(?). Or cluster migraine? Vomiting for two hours seems a tad extreme, even for a serious drunkard. Tell the guard (or the driver on a DOO) - it might be a serious incident.

As it happens, I did have norovirus (didn't know it at the time) when I was on a train. Rush hour peak, lots of commuters on the train. My face was covered in sweat, eyes rolling, whole body convulsing and I was slumped in the chair, feeling pretty sick and reaching every now and then, until I passed out...

I'd hope that the passenger might try to ask for help. People manage to ask strangers for assistance or push emergency alarms in the direst situations, including when ill. If I saw someone vomit continuously for that long, though, I'd activate PASCOM (DOO) or talk to the guard (non-DOO) and request medical support - the effects of dehydration alone may become severe after two hours of continuous vomiting.

...it all came on so quickly that I didn't have a chance to tell someone and not a single person bothered to help when I was passed out practically laying down. It wasn't until the next station, when the train joined another and sat there for 10 minutes, that a man finally raised the alarm and called an ambulance. You'd like to think people would help when others are visibly ill, but unfortunately, it doesn't always happen.

 

[Crossover]

The only time I have the misfortune of being on a train that someone was throwing up on was earlier in the year on a Northern 150 (I think) into Manchester Victoria. The person was pretty drunk (at about 5pm!) and was removed by the guard at one of the stations before Manchester. Didn't stop some dozey passenger walking straight through the middle of it on the floor!

As for bad smells, I have had that on a late night 444 working out of Waterloo, thanks to someone eating a McDonalds meal, the smell from which filled the entire carriage

 

[ChiefPlanner]

In my time , I have seen some heroic instances on trains - the best perhaps when a city gent on a late evening Waterloo - Epsom train politely asked for an Evening Standard , chunered into the open paper and calmly walked off at Clapham with a gross (leaking) parcel under his arm - in this case the Wimbledon mop and bucket came into use.At least he made an effort.

I got inter gangway door locks fitted on the NLR 313 sets - so we could lock out a car and stay in service - bar the intermediate car on DOO DC services (cant have rear car passengers isolated from driver on train) under local instructions which caused "spillage" cancellations to come down.

Public behaviour can be nauseating - but I wont go into detail.

 

[Chapeltom]

The only time I have the misfortune of being on a train that someone was throwing up on was earlier in the year on a Northern 150 (I think) into Manchester Victoria. The person was pretty drunk (at about 5pm!) and was removed by the guard at one of the stations before Manchester. Didn't stop some dozey passenger walking straight through the middle of it on the floor!

As for bad smells, I have had that on a late night 444 working out of Waterloo, thanks to someone eating a McDonalds meal, the smell from which filled the entire carriage

I have had a mate throw up on the last train once from Manchester Pic to Buxton. Rendered half a carriage out of use. This was 10 minutes before it was due to depart, he failed to response to, do it on the platform and not on the f**king seats.

And he was drunk, very drunk.

 

[12CSVT]

I always find it best to keep very large passengers away from "wafer thin mints" just to be on the safe side. And always have a mop and bucket on standby.

Except that Mr Creosote from the Monty Python film would be too big to get through the train doors.

 

[Blindtraveler]

I woant forget my 2nd ever hangover when I was celebrating the end of my final ever school exams with some mates and then traveling to Carlisle to meet my parents. This was at the roughly half way point ov Voyager introduction and0the
07:xx from EDB was diagrammed to run mainly with MK2s but threw out the odd voyager and on this day it was the voyager and to make it worse, a voyager with a pongy bog! i'd been keeping it togeather til then but that did it and I vanished into said smelly toilet and stayed there til just after Kirknewton Level Crossing. Have never forgotten it and am sure with the non smelly toilet and open windows of a MK2 I would have been hangover free by Carlisle.