Delays across the West, due to person hit by train at Twyford - 17 May 2015

[whole diary]

[Timmer]

Now that journalism has been reduced to monitoring Twitter feeds, we can expect more like this.

Sad but true.

[Godfrey Tables]

"First Great Western apologises for 'shocking' death announcement"
From:
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-devon-32857408

It appears that this particular announcement is a work of fiction.

Woops. I'm going to think twice before posting anything written by the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) again

[IndustryInsider]

I note that this incident made it onto the front page of the Sunday Telegraph yesterday along with an apology from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

If the 'made up' allegations prove to be true, I hope the Sunday Telegraph finds space on next Sunday's front page to report the story in its proper context, along with an article examining the twitter/facebook quote quick-and-easy journalism that seems to be so endemic within the industry that even the broadsheets are resorting to it.

[TaplowGreen]

I note that this incident made it onto the front page of the Sunday Telegraph yesterday along with an apology from FGW^▸ (First Great Western).

If the 'made up' allegations prove to be true, I hope the Sunday Telegraph finds space on next Sunday's front page to report the story in its proper context, along with an article examining the twitter/facebook quote quick-and-easy journalism that seems to be so endemic within the industry that even the broadsheets are resorting to it.

If it's true that it was "made up" I couldn't agree more, I take it that this revelation has been uncovered by FGW's own investigation?  They were quite swift to offer a fulsome apology at the time?

[JayMac]

If it is true that this was made up why haven't FGW^▸ (First Great Western) issued a press release?

Also none of the news outlets who reported it - BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page), ITV, SKY, Telegraph, Metro, Mirror, Mail, Independent, Plymouth Herald, Bath Chronicle, and many more - have issued clarifications or retractions.

And the news reports aren't just from the tweets. The detailed email sent to FGW has also been referenced and media outlets have spoken to the complainant before publishing.

[IndustryInsider]

Good question, BNM.  Perhaps they're just waiting for all of the facts to be established?  In other words, what the newspapers may not have done.

[TaplowGreen]

It appears that this particular announcement is a work of fiction. Apparently the company has not yet received any written complaints regarding this issue but, since the story made the news, it has received communications from other regular passengers on board who state that the announcement was never made or it wasn't heard.

The power of social media and one of the reasons that complaints are never dealt with over Twitter. It is alleged the passenger who tweeted the comment had earlier had an exchange of words about the level of overcrowding on the train and had demanded that the train manager finds her a seat or issues compensation.

...............maybe a-driver can enlighten us as to his source suggesting that the announcement was a "work of fiction"?

[TonyK]

Woops. I'm going to think twice before posting anything written by the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) again

No need to be ashamed - you were merely passing on something reported by the BBC. Who should have known better.

[broadgage]

Woops. I'm going to think twice before posting anything written by the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) again

No need to be ashamed - you were merely passing on something reported by the BBC. Who should have known better.

Agree, no harm in passing on something already reported by main stream news media, even if the reports are later found to be inaccurate.
I suspect that the BBC are a BIT better than the more excitable tabloid newspapers.

[grahame]

Agree, no harm in passing on something already reported by main stream news media, even if the reports are later found to be inaccurate.

   <- Wry smile, and a handful of points

a) It is very difficult for any news gathering organisation to know what's accurate and what isn't at the time something's going on / breaking news, so stuff that's wrong is probably reported rather more often than we think.   In just the same way that it can be difficult for TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) staff to know what's going to happen and how long passengers will have to wait when there's an incident.

b) There have been occasions on this forum where we have been asked to withdraw our quotes from mainstream media sources by the people actually involved - not [just] a request to withdraw comment, but to withdraw the original articles which have been quoted by members in good faith.   On one occasion, the original article was incorrect and highly damaging to the person named, and we withdrew the article with a friendly exchange of messages both ways; on the second occasion, I felt the article should have remained but with threats made against us which could have been backed up by someone putting in a lot of time and legal aid to support those threats, the thread was moved from public view.

c) Images and information provided to us by the police, with requests to publicise it ("we are interested in speaking to") have changed since we started so that their permission is withdrawn after 30 days, and indeed if someone comes forward and is eliminated from enquiries quickly, we can get quite short notice requests to withdraw things.  And if we don't, the police can get pretty upset about us failing to follow their new instruction where we had been doing our best to help them with their requests ... this explains why you don't see anything like the amount of help being provided here any more.

d) Dear members, please keep quoting mainstream media articles for review and criticism ... we can withstand the occasional incident like this, and we shouldn't let the fear of occasionally having to go back and review put us off keeping up with the news!

[TaplowGreen]

Folks forgive me if I've missed something.........where has it been demonstrated that the original BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) story was inaccurate or a "work of fiction"?

I know that a few posters on here have alleged/implied this but I haven't seen a retraction from the BBC or anyone else (as BNM pointed out), nor have FGW^▸ (First Great Western) rebutted it from what I can see?

[grahame]

Folks forgive me if I've missed something.........where has it been demonstrated that the original BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) story was inaccurate or a "work of fiction"?

It has been suggested but not demonstrated, and the suggestion is plausible.  This one is a definite "don't know".

[TonyK]

It has been suggested but not demonstrated, and the suggestion is plausible.  This one is a definite "don't know".

Maybe.

[TaplowGreen]

Folks forgive me if I've missed something.........where has it been demonstrated that the original BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page) story was inaccurate or a "work of fiction"?

It has been suggested but not demonstrated, and the suggestion is plausible.  This one is a definite "don't know".

Ah OK so the BBC/newspapers articles and the FGW^▸ (First Great Western) apology stand unretracted but others have speculated that it's a "work of fiction" or that the "announcement" may actually have been made by a passenger, but both of these suggestions are unsubstantiated?

[IndustryInsider]

Yes I think that's where we currently stand, and why my two posts on the subject have been worded in an 'if' and 'maybe' context.