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The Railway: First Great Western on Channel 5

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A-driver

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Funnily enough a few LU drivers told me some prefer to have it on coming into stations as they reckon someone's less likely to jump in front of a train when they can see the driver!

Interesting and thinking about it I would imagine there to be a fair bit of truth to that. Actually seeing another human being and knowing that your actions will have serious effect on him/ her may be enough to break that chain of thought and re-think. Similar to the yellow hatched lines and gates appearing on mainlines.
 
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38Cto15E

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Thanks for that Bluebird, I have just watched it fine now, I must say that Renee the customer host has a lovely smile.
Maybe I should book the Riviera sleeper , just waiting my delay repay refund from the Highland Sleeper
 

VauxhallandI

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As well as listing all the dodgers stories I see the RPI listed one of his own...."if all the unpaid fares were paid the price of tickets would come down".
 

DeRobeck

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Tonight's programme included a simulated train fire using a Mark 3 sleeper. At the end of the exercise they said that there had never been a real life carriage fire. They had obviously overlooked the fatal fire on the Penzance - London sleeper in 1978.
 

yorksrob

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If they hadn‘t been able to fix the the fridge, they should have offered the sandwiches out cheap rather than let them spoil.
 

Flamingo

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Don't think it is in the rule book to ignore the broken door like that

She didn't, or were you making a cup of tea while she was sorting it out?
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Above inflation price hikes every year for investment makes me think it would be put towards investment

But as it's being stolen every year, we don't have it for investment either...
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Jodie is nice :p

Jodie is lovely! :D
 

anthony263

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Sadly I missed tonights episode on the tv however I have just tried to watch it online and have come across a few technical problems.

Demand 5 seems to be having some streaming issue's (Very slow at times although the adverts run perfectly well and the sound is cutting out, nothing wrong with my pc or internet connection however) and Youtube is down.
 

trainophile

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Sadly I missed tonights episode on the tv however I have just tried to watch it online and have come across a few technical problems.

Demand 5 seems to be having some streaming issue's (Very slow at times although the adverts run perfectly well and the sound is cutting out, nothing wrong with my pc or internet connection however) and Youtube is down.

If you're quick you can catch the end of it on Freeview 5+1 (channel no. 44).
 

Darandio

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Currently watching it on Demand5 right now, without issue.

And Youtube is working fine too, it's not down.
 

Roverman

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Tonight's programme included a simulated train fire using a Mark 3 sleeper. At the end of the exercise they said that there had never been a real life carriage fire. They had obviously overlooked the fatal fire on the Penzance - London sleeper in 1978.

Either that or they were referring specifically to the Mk3 stock which has a very good safety record, being designed at the time of the fire and the designers implementing several safety features as a result of the fire.
 

anthony263

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Finally watching it on youtube which now seems to be working properly.
My pc must not like demand 5 (well I bought it over 7 years ago so its quiete old.)
 

David Goddard

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Another good show, with lots of variety, in the material as well as the continuity again (!)
Interesting to see some maintenance work in the form of the bogie change, would like to see more like this.
 

jon0844

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Not too impressed that they showed it being okay to let some people stay in first class, even if I accept the reasoning.

As usual, if you don't apply the same rules for everyone then you'll just create further problems down the line (sic).
 

bicbasher

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Finally watching it on youtube which now seems to be working properly.
My pc must not like demand 5 (well I bought it over 7 years ago so its quiete old.)

I had similar issues with an old Dell PC with XP. Got rid of it for a Windows 7 PC last year and no problems with Demand 5, although the advertising at the start is frustrating.
 

ModernRailways

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I had similar issues with an old Dell PC with XP. Got rid of it for a Windows 7 PC last year and no problems with Demand 5, although the advertising at the start is frustrating.

If you download Adblock then it removes those ads.

I have it so I download it before watching then after I remove it because other websites I visit have ads and I like to support those websites.
 

bicbasher

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If you download Adblock then it removes those ads.

I have it so I download it before watching then after I remove it because other websites I visit have ads and I like to support those websites.

I use Adblock on Chrome which removes the ads from YouTube, but not from Demand 5's website player.
 

bairy

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Wow I'd be seriously ****ed off if I'd paid for first class, sat in the quiet carriage and had a bunch of drunk lads playing up.

I know Jodie alone can't make them move but I'd certainly expect something to be done.

The fare evader did amuse me. "The machine only accepts cards not cash!" - pays fine with card.
 
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A-driver

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Wow I'd be seriously ****ed off if I'd paid for first class, sat in the quiet carriage and had a bunch of drunk lads playing up.

I know Jodie alone can't make them move but I'd certainly expect something to be done.

The fare evader did amuse me. "The machine only accepts cards not cash!" - pays fine with card.

It didn't seem like a busy train, only 2 others in that coach by the looks of it so perhaps they could have moved into another first class coach if it was that bad? Sounds like the main complaint was swearing from them but since some of them had first class ticket and since even first class passengers can get drunk and swear I can't see how they could do much. It didn't look like the drunks were intimidating or threatening other passengers.

If the guard had made them move to standard then it would inflame the situation and could end up with violence and lengthy delays, if the guard was assaulted then possibly cancelling the last train of the night aswell. What could she have done, if she asked them to move and they refused then what would you suggest? Stop the train at the next station and wait for the police which could result in delays of the best part if an hour at the very least? Just to move half a dozen people out of first class who have upset 2 other people by doing nothing more than swearing?

So the polite approach from the guard and using discretion was by far the best way of dealing with it. Most trains on a Saturday night will have drunks on them being noisey-in first or standard. The police already have far too much to deal with on a Saturday night with drunks and petty complaints/fights etc. Calling them out to every train with a drunk person swearing and throwing litter on the floor would be completely un practicle and just ensure that not only are police resources pushed too far but also cause lengthy delays to trains all over just so a police officer can get on and do exactly what the guard did by asking them to keep it down. I really didn't see the behaviour by those drunks shown as particularly bad, they just looked like they had had a good night and were a bit over excited.
 

bairy

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You are absolutely right in that there wasn't really a lot that could be done without risk. She's on her own, the police are busy and of course delays would be had. And she did in fact handle it very well.

And of course the only people that were actually to blame in this situation were the drunks themselves.

The principle stands though. Hey, free first class if you show up in a group and just a couple of you pay for the upgrade. Hey, be loud and annoying and swear all you like because it's impractical to get anyone to stop you. Meanwhile those who have paid for a valid first class ticket are essentially being told to put up with it or move.

So yes, there's not much she could realistically do except plea and hope for the best as she did, doesn't mean it wouldn't **** me off.
 

tony6499

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Of course now all the clever ones will have seen if you act up you can travel first class for free, I hope FGW will have some RPI presence out and about to combat this like the chap in the 1st class in another part of the programme found out
 

anthony263

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If there are other members of staff on the train who can help then I think they will make those passengers move out of 1st class if they have not got the correct ticket or are misbehaving. I have seen it happen on the 03:58 Swansea - London service on a saturday when i have used that service although these days there does seem to be far less drunks using it to get back to Bridgend from Swansea.

Also that passenger who bought tickets with a family railcard and didnt realise she had to have it with her when she traveled. Common sense would say to take it with you just in case and it does say when you apply for the railcard that you will be asked to show it by a member of staff.

They did get off lucky in my opinion.
 
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jon0844

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Acting up to get away with things isn't a new idea.. It works in most cases, and every now and then the people get a nasty surprise - and then go moaning to the press/social networks and talk about heavy handset staff.

Go further east in Europe and you'd see a no tolerance approach being applied by revenue staff (or police) that would be far more intimidating and probably quite happily halt the service and cause untold delays. Here, we'd moan and say it was disproportionate and it's never worth delaying a train (all the extra fees, delay repay claims etc).

The thing is; if you are known to have no tolerance policy, people will eventually realise and you - hopefully - see a drop in such incidents.

It also helps if the general public would actually support those in authority trying to do their job.

Unfortunately, I don't see TOCs changing their guidance to staff (nor would I expect them to) and the only solution would be to invest in a lot more BTP officers to patrol on trains, and that's just not going to happen. As I've said countless times before, you'd likely see a fall in crimes - but then accountants would argue that you don't need so many police...
 

Captain Chaos

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If we were able to deal with every single evader and first class hopper the Prosecutions board on here would go into meltdown! The FGW FB page would be swamped with trolls! Oh hang on, it already is isn't it! :lol:
 
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