Person killed by train in Hereford - police ask public 'not to film' scene

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Hereford Times:

Person killed after being involved in collision with train in Hereford - police ask public 'not to film' scene

Police confirmed they attended the scene a fatal incident just south of Hereford train station this afternoon.

It's understood a person died after being hit by a train.

A spokesman for Network Rail confirmed the incident, at 5.05pm on Saturday afternoon.

He said a person was involved in a collision with a train heading from Milford Haven to Manchester.

The line was closed for several hours while emergency services attended.

West Mercia Police officers issued a message on social media:

Police are dealing with a person who has died near HFD^» (Hereford - next trains) Train Station.
We ask people to NOT film what we are dealing with and show respect.

The subsequent 'comments' made on that news site make interesting reading. 

[TaplowGreen]

I struggle to understand the mentality of someone who would stand there with phone raised filming such an horrific scene.

[phile]

There was a recent incident at Telford (not rail related) when the police were traying to talk somebody down from a building who was threatening to jump.   At the same time there were scores of utterly disrespectful people filming this and also people shouting "Jump".   Have some people got no respect these days.

[grahame]

As an IT trainer, I get to learn a little bit about what goes on behind all sorts of scenes. I'm told there is a vast footage taken by professional war correspondents which is simply too shocking to be used / shown, and that what is made public on TV / (and now) online is only a tiny and carefully selected set of images, at the tamer end of the scale.  Other professional sources confirm to me that you can find just about anything online.

It is - I suspect - absolutely right to cover up / quickly recover scenes such as these, and certainly to discourage the taking and dissemination of photographs.  Not only are there matters such as respect for those involved, but also the very serious effect of the photographs on others - especially as / when / if they might be shown to others through amateur contributed media without checks and balances.   Yes - I am also very much aware that amateur contributes sites have a massive continual mop up operations going on - see here which I bookmarked yesterday, ironically, for later blog comment - but that's shutting the door after the horse has bolted to some extent.

Chris refers to the comments on the Hereford Times website - and there's the "usual" argument / discussion about why perfect information as to what was happening wasn't available from the minute the tragedy happened.  Perhaps such comments, and people taking pictures at the scene, are simply a naivety and lack of thinking it through in the heat of the moment.   There's a natural "information systems are messed up" reaction without thinking how things get put into the information systems in the first place - sources ... and there's a natural "I can get exclusive pictures here" reaction without thinking that no-one would want such an exclusive.  Just theorising to help understand ...

Please note - much more information an help on "Person hit by train" at http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/phbt . Please follow that link if you, dear reader, are looking for help or further guidance.

[bobm]

I remember on the 11th September 2001 just about every news organisation showed images of the aeroplanes hitting the twin towers for a couple of hours until one by one they seemed to realise they were showing scenes of mass murder and the images were not then shown again for some months.

Obviously a tragedy on a different scale to the events at Hereford, but still a personal moment for everyone involved and indeed disturbing scenes for those with no direct connection.  You don't need to see the evidence to know what is likely to have happened.

As grahame says those filming at Hereford in the hope of getting an exclusive are likely to be disappointed.  There are no shortage of would be photo journalists with the proliferation of camera phones, but that doesn't mean we have to abandon taste, respect and reason.

[IndustryInsider]

Another sad day for fatalities with two in the Worcester area, one this morning involving a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) train and one this afternoon involving a London Midland train.

Thoughts, as ever, for the friends, family, driver, other crew and passengers who were involved.

[broadgage]

My inclination at a scene of crime, disaster or accident would be to film or photograph the incident.
NOT with the intention of publication, as someone has already said, what about decency and respect.

Such a record could be most useful to the police or other investigating authorities, but should not normally be made public. It is a simple matter to delete the record after say 12 months if no appeal for information has been made.

[PhilWakely]

My inclination at a scene of crime, disaster or accident would be to film or photograph the incident.
NOT with the intention of publication, as someone has already said, what about decency and respect.

Presumably you refer to the incident itself and not the aftermath?  I would have thought that the emergency services are extremely unlikely to want film/pictures of the aftermath.

[broadgage]

Yes, I was thinking about the incident and the very immediate aftermath. Later events are as you suggest probably well recorded by the emergency services.

I once observed a fatal civil engineering accident, I had been watching the work and photographing it simply out of interest. When it all went terribly and fatally wrong I had some "good" pictures of the work just before the accident and of the immediate aftermath.
I would never publish such, it just seems wrong. But I did give the film to the police. I never even saw the pictures my self, I gave the undeveloped film to the police and suggested that it be placed into a sealed evidence bag, and then developed by an expert police photo lab.