Polarbear
Established Member
Travelling home this evening from Bootle Oriel Road, I was gobsmacked to watch a bloke walk to the edge of the platform, then calmly drop onto the tracks & walk across to the other side.
He sits on the edge of the northbound platform for a minute, the decides to come back the way he went over - making sure he stepped firmly on both of the 3rd rails as he went!
The final encore was to stand in the middle of the southbound track with arms held high, awaiting the next soutbound train. This duly came around the corner but the driver was already slowing for the station stop, saw the chap on the line (I did wave to the driver to slow down but I think he was already aware of the situation), & managed to stop the train well clear of the chap on the tracks.
The chap got back onto the southbound platform after a few more minutes, (when he realised the train wasn't going to move until he shifted) & was led away calmly.
Thankfully, this incident ended without any major incident. I hope the chap in question finds the help he appears to need.
Finally, I would add that this could have been much worse, had it not been for the professionalisim shown by the railway staff. Given the circumstances, we could have been at the station for quite a while, but no, we were on our way after only a 5 minute delay, with the minimum of fuss.
Over the years, I've travelled a lot on the UK rail network & have seen some strange goings on. Today's incident was by far the most bizarre that I've witnessed in many years & I hope not to have to do so again.
He sits on the edge of the northbound platform for a minute, the decides to come back the way he went over - making sure he stepped firmly on both of the 3rd rails as he went!
The final encore was to stand in the middle of the southbound track with arms held high, awaiting the next soutbound train. This duly came around the corner but the driver was already slowing for the station stop, saw the chap on the line (I did wave to the driver to slow down but I think he was already aware of the situation), & managed to stop the train well clear of the chap on the tracks.
The chap got back onto the southbound platform after a few more minutes, (when he realised the train wasn't going to move until he shifted) & was led away calmly.
Thankfully, this incident ended without any major incident. I hope the chap in question finds the help he appears to need.
Finally, I would add that this could have been much worse, had it not been for the professionalisim shown by the railway staff. Given the circumstances, we could have been at the station for quite a while, but no, we were on our way after only a 5 minute delay, with the minimum of fuss.
Over the years, I've travelled a lot on the UK rail network & have seen some strange goings on. Today's incident was by far the most bizarre that I've witnessed in many years & I hope not to have to do so again.
