Great Western Coffee Shop

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-35051174)

...............and how on Earth did he get access to the driver's cab?

Suspect the driver allowed this to happen to clear him off the rails. The driver wouldn't have continued if there was any kind of danger to crew/passengers? If the driver was under threat of harm, surely the report from the police would have ben different?

Through the door perhaps?  ;D ;)

Bit of a coincidence - couple of weeks ago on one of the turbos i was sitting up front by the cab. Someone came wandering through the train and started pulling at the cab door. He was dancing around like he needed the loo, and then got off when the train arrived at Reading. I am sure he thought it was the door to the toilet!

As it was a sleeper, it isn't possible to accidently wonder into the driving cab, so a deliberate attempt to enter the cab. Cant accidently confuse a 57 for a coach.

Someone exiting through the window does make me wonder whether drink or drugs were involved.

In the current climate of raised security and terrorist threats, I'm not sure I'd be treating this as matter for laughter, you will recall how terrorists got control of the planes on 9/11?

Why was the cab not secured? Presumably the driver can lock it?

Yep, they stabbed a few people and forced entry. Want to get into a locked train cab? Break a window, maybe stab/shoot/etc a member of staff and steal his/her keys.

I'm not sure if they can be locked from inside, but I doubt many drivers would bother - you often see trains with manual cab doors running about with a door open during the warmer months for some extra ventilation.

You may now have your sense of humour re-attached.

Whilst we do not know what happened, I have a strong suspicion that either the driver was in the cab and had not locked the cab door, or had briefly left the cab and had omitted to lock the door.

IME, drivers are careful to lock the cab door when in bad or potentially dodgy areas, but don't always bother in places, or at times of day that they judge to be low risk.

 This case appears to involve a lone person perhaps with mental health issues, or possibly affected by drink or drugs, and does not appear to have been any serious threat to the crew, passengers or train.
However in todays troubled world, there is always the chance that terrorists might seek to take over a train with most serious results.

I therefore urge that train drivers (and others with legitimated access to the driving cab) should be more vigilant than in the past. A terrorist attempting to take over a train would probably prefer an apparently low risk time and place.

I appreciate that driving a train is more complex than it may seem, and that various safety devices have to operated correctly or isolated. This should not give a false sense of security, remember that the membership of a large terrorist group might include an experienced train driver. They only need one.

My understanding is that the threat level for the UK has not changed, despite recent events, since 29th August 2014.

I think we've seen a clear change in the modus operandi of these groups, beginning with the Mumbai attacks. Previously mass transit appeared to be the preferred target (a particular favourite of the so called Al Qaeda). Now they seem to have moved on to large groups of people targeted by guns, suicide bombs and knives.

I seriously doubt the PAD-PNZ sleeper train is terribly interesting to these people! I think you'll find this incident was a p!ssed person simply being a complete and utter tool!

Yep, it's severe, meaning an attack is highly likely, so in other words, keep the bloody doors locked!

Broadgage you have got it absolutely right.

Locking the cab door whilst present in the driving cab of a train is downright dangerous to the driver. It's our only means of escape in the event of an emergency.

I did wonder what drivers would think of the suggestion. Thanks for clarifying a-driver.

I was a bit surprised how quickly this thread escalated to 'terrorist threat' when there was zero evidence. 

I for one never suggested that this episode was a terrorist incident or threat, indeed I stated that it appeared to be one person under the influence of drink or drugs, or with mental health issues.

However it is beyond doubt that an unauthorised person DID get access to the driving cab, and thoughts naturally turned to the potentially very serious consequences if a terrorist got access with the same apparent ease.

Presumably a terrorist trained to use a Class 57?

Yes I know about 9/11 and their training, but I'm unaware of any training schools where terrorists can get private train driving lessons suuficient for them to take control of a mainline train. Maybe a driving day on a heritage railway, but that's it.

For what reason should we be protecting train driving cabs? I think the threat is non-existent. A terrorist is far more likely to want to be in a passenger area.

I have heard today from a normally reliable internal source at GWR it was a mental health patient involved, still wearing the hospital tags.

Not at all surprising, it was either that or someone drunk/high on something rather than anything more sinister. As suggested earlier, I would imagine the driver probably coaxed them in in some way in order to remove them from the rather hazardous environment of the trackside rather than it being a forced entry of some sort.

From the BBC (http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-35065011)

A danger of unauthorised access to (or operation of) rail equipment:

Or 'faulty' maintenance by authorised person(s)

Well if they hadn't considered it before, any terrorists looking for targets now know they have another soft one to aim at.

Quite right.  When NR reopened a yard at March on part of the old Whitemoor marshalling yard,  the prison service objected on trains operating again on the (perhaps) reasonable ground that noise would disturb prisoners in MHP Whitemoor which had been build on part of the site and also on the rather stupid grounds that someone could hijack a train and drive it into the prison wall as part of an escape bid!

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3174107.stm (http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/cambridgeshire/3174107.stm)
IMHO, whilst a driver in a cab might want to take precautions about someone wanting to enter the cab to mess about or nick his/her bag, a terrorist is more likely to be able to do more damage with a truck or bus than a train.

Somewhat surprised they let them on the sleeper in the first place....

Access to the cab does vary from train to train.  Without going into details it's fair to say that newer trains are generally more difficult to access without keys than older ones.  Agreed with others that it's a very unlikely target for a terrorist, when compared to the ease of sitting on board with the passengers.  A terrorist would have to do an awful lot of training to be able to drive a train and cause an accident, and would, as a result, be in possession of all the relevant access keys as a result so it wouldn't matter if the door was locked or not anyway!
 
That's not to say that drivers shouldn't be vigilant, and most are, though locking the access door on, for example, a Turbo, is a little awkward and potentially dangerous for the driver to escape in an emergency - as 'a-driver' stated.

But if its someone who is discharged and not accompanied there are no checks when boarding as long as someone has a ticket.

Even with the hospital tags?

Why would a hospital tag mean anything to any train crew or station staff?

It would pique my interest sufficiently to maybe have a quiet word...peoke din't generally go around wearing these

Assuming you have had a hospital stay, have you ever tried removing these tags without a pair of scissors or even thought about it upon discharge?

In my very recent experience, hospitals won't let you out wearing them as they could be a security ridk. Yes, seriously.

Got one from my most recent hospital in patient stay. Wore it all the way home on public transport. Nobody batted an eyedlid.

My good lady wife even forgot she was wearing one earlier this year until she was getting ready for bed the night after being discharged at 9am.