Drunks on trains - ongoing discussion

[whole diary]

[Jez]

I was travelling on a XC^▸ (Cross Country Trains (franchise)) service from Birmingham to Cardiff and there were 2 young guys who were drunk. They were harmless really and werent violent or anything but some passengers seemed to find them very annoying. One wouldnt sit down and the Train Manager said that if they didnt behave they would be asked to leave at the next stop.

Sounds reasonable

Yes. Lucky the TM^‡(resolve) was reasonable some wouldnt be so patient.

[Branch Line Connor]

I have to admitt drunks on trains are very annoying. Travelling back from Gunnislake on some Saturday nights and some of the passangers on there a cleary under the influence of alchohol. Also in the summer of 2008, I remember some teenagers drinking cider causing a bit of trouble. But as always nothing was done about it!

[vacmanfan]

Is very easy to blame the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) for not doing anything, but remember - they are pretty much funded solely by the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  If the TOCs were that bothered then they would invest in more officers.  Like Vacman says, the more you report, the more are seen by the number crunchers at HO^▸ (Model Railway, 3.5mm to 1 foot scale). 

[Network SouthEast]

Is very easy to blame the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) for not doing anything, but remember - they are pretty much funded solely by the TOCs^▸ (Train Operating Company).  If the TOCs were that bothered then they would invest in more officers.  Like Vacman says, the more you report, the more are seen by the number crunchers at HO^▸ (Model Railway, 3.5mm to 1 foot scale). 

I have to agree.

The problem is that too many people assume someone else will do something about these kind of anti-social behaviour issues. Making a report of anti-social behaviour to the TOC concerned and BTP only takes a few minutes by phone - in BTP's case a free telephone number.

[swrural]

How did this thread suddenly get its life back?  The last post (two back) was in 2009.   

I suspect the responders did not notice the date.

[vacmanfan]

Just browsing through the old topics!

[LiskeardRich]

I would like to share an experience with you about drinking and driving. As you well know, some of us have been known to have had, um, brushes with the authorities on our way home from the odd social session over the years.

A couple of nights ago, I was out for a few drinks with some friends and had a few too many beers and some rather nice claret.
 
Knowing full well I may have been slightly over the limit, I did something I've never done before - I took a train home.

I arrived back safely and without incident, which was a real surprise since I had never driven a train before and am not sure where I got this one from....

A slight edit of something I was sent a month or so back by a friend.

***Edit I didnt see it was a resurrected old thread***

[JayMac]

***Edit I didnt see it was a resurrected old thread***

And perhaps you didn't see this post from Phil back in December:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11723.msg122240#msg122240

 

[swrural]

Groundhog day (or evening)!!  Also , don't forget TheTrout's (much-edited) brush with an inebriated passenger.

[broadgage]

How did this thread suddenly get its life back?  The last post (two back) was in 2009.   

I suspect the responders did not notice the date.

On some forums, a new post not only pushes the thread to the top of the list, but it remains there if the new post is subsequently found to be spam and is deleted by the moderators.

[thetrout]

How did this thread suddenly get its life back?  The last post (two back) was in 2009.   

I suspect the responders did not notice the date.

I knew this was an old thread the minute I saw it in "Most Recent" on the home page... I remember posting a thread in here agessssss ago! (Sorry, yes my memory is good for annoyingly useless bits of information such as this)

I was just about to come in and see how it have been resurrected... But you beat me to it. Point that out...

Relex109's typical "Bachalour" antics when an attractive member of the opposite gender is involved caused a similar thread resurrection some time ago... Until someone spotted it

[LiskeardRich]

***Edit I didnt see it was a resurrected old thread***

And perhaps you didn't see this post from Phil back in December:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=11723.msg122240#msg122240

 

I didnt see Phil's in December, was sent to me by a work colleague probably around December as well.

[thetrout]

Groundhog day (or evening)!!  Also , don't forget TheTrout's (much-edited) brush with an inebriated passenger.

I have many of those... some on film... 2 were sent to BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) (One were I heard a rumor the person involved was charged with endangering railway safety. But cannot confirm accuracy of that so don't quote me there) and 1 to Avon and Somerset Police.

However reporting to the BTP and actions taken depends on the nature of the offence (at least that is my understanding)

I am lead to believe that if Joe Bloggs reports antisocial intoxicated behavior, then if the OB do attend then it is most likely in the case of Alcohol Behavior they'll be arrested under Section 5 of Public Order Act. Unless there is something more sinister to the matter.

If a fight breaks out and it's called in, it's my understanding that this is then a grey area. If Joe Bloggs calls in the fight, I have it on good authority that the police don't take action unless any of the directly involved parties makes a complaint.

On New Years Eve there was a fight that broke out in a Subway Restaurant that I also filmed and then actually assisted in getting under control before someone got seriously hurt. Whilst I continue to have the footage, the police did not attend and AFAIK^▸ (as far as I know) no complaint from either party directly involved has been made to the OB. So therefore, despite I have the footage clearly showing a rather brutal scrap (one girl smashed the others head into the floor - the point where I decided to do something about it too...) Even if I did hand the footage to the police, unless a complaint is made by the directly involved persons. The OB AFAIK cannot do anything. I'm not sure if as a witness I could report it under a section 5 offence when taken into consideration I had to jump out of the way of a hot drink that went flying across the room. Said hot drink was mine!!!

Well annoyingly since that situation the other Gent imbecilic child who started to try and break things up and to be totally honest failed miserably has decided to start threatening me and the four others who also filmed the incident (Turns out one of the girls involved was his girlfriend). The idiot demanded I hand over my iPhone for him to look through in front of Frome Relative Trout who was working and just as mift as I was about it... Over my dead body mate. The laughable thing was he also wanted to go through my laptop... Yea... About that... I work in IT... if I were gonna hide something do you really think I'm going to:

A) Put it in My Documents with the original filename... e.g. IMG_1234.MOV
B) Hide it somewhere like: C:\WINDOWS etc etc and remain the file extension from .MOV to .123 so it wouldn't show up on a search

* waits for EBrown to come up with better answers/options *

The Even more ridiculous thing about it was that he completely backed down when I stood up with umpf so my chair fell over backwards and I offered him the oppertunity to take the "dispute" outside............ He Declined... Good Decision and Correct Answer...! I was in a very, very bad mood that day

I'm starting to adapt to the idiocies of late night behavour... Change of work hours me thinks...

[Network SouthEast]

That's not quite correct.

The scenario you describe above, isn't a breach of s5 Public Order Act, it is Affray!

Affray is two or more people fighting in a public place, to the distress of others. In this case neither victim needs to make a complaint for the police to proceed, the mere facts that a bystander was frightened is enough for a prosecution to take place.

[vacmanfan]

Remember that if it is on the railway then it is much easier to use the bylaws rather than say, the public order act.  Magistrates much prefer bylaws anyway as it easier for them to prosecute on.   I believe it is bylaw 6, unacceptable behaviours for most ASB.