'Outrage on the drugs train' - Worcester News (incident on 5/8/2010)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From Worcester News:

A Worcester mum travelling on a train home from London said she was horrified by festival-goers openly smoking cannabis in the carriage.

Kate Lovegrove said the 11.22pm train from Paddington on Thursday was packed ^like a tin of sardines^ with music lovers heading to Great Malvern station for the Big Chill at Eastnor Castle. The 37-year-old, of Norton, said the carriage was so full it was not possible for the conductor to get up and down the aisles.

She said: ^It started off with a herbal smell coming from the toilets but then they were openly smoking spliffs on the train. Staff couldn^t do anything about it because the train was so packed. They put a message on the tannoy to say it was a no-smoking train but that was it. It has really upset me. I felt sick because the carriage was full of ganja smoke. It wasn^t just one person, I saw at least 12 people smoking from where I was standing. I spoke to an elderly lady when I got off in Worcester and she said it was the same where she was.^

The mum-of-two, who was visiting her husband in the capital, said: ^I would have said something but I felt a bit threatened. The Big Chill is supposed to be a family festival but I feel sorry for the other people going to the festival who might get tarnished with the same brush.^

A spokesman for First Great Western, which operates the service, said: ^We were made aware about the incident and the train manager did everything he could. The train was busier than we expected. British Transport Police were called and were due to meet the train at Worcester but they didn^t show up. All of our trains are no-smoking and we do not condone this sort of behaviour.^

A spokesman for British Transport Police said: ^Train staff reported people on board were smoking what was believed to be cannabis. We were asked to meet the train at Worcester but were unable to do so. We met the train at Great Malvern but the guard was unable to give formal descriptions of the offenders. Without police dogs, formal IDs and due to the sheer number of festival goers coming of the train it was impossible to identify who was responsible. No arrests were made and the passengers were left to make their way to the festival.^

[willc]

The train was busier than we expected

Eh? No, it's not Glastonbury, but it has been running at Eastnor for seven years now and is licensed for 30,000-plus people. Yet they didn't expect the train to be busy...

Maybe they should consult the festival website, which urges people to use public transport (anyone familiar with the roads around Eastnor will know why) and has a pdf of train times from and back to Birmingham and London (and those are only the through trains, never mind the connections available at Worcester and through services from Bristol).

Are they expecting lots of passengers on the last couple of trains from Malvern to London and Oxford on Sunday evening and trains to London on Monday morning? Presumably not. The 8.58 and 9.54 will be horrendous.

And you do have to wonder why on earth BTP^▸ (British Transport Police) didn't have people available in the Worcester/Malvern area anyway, given that this event was/is on.

[Worcester_Passenger]

From Worcester News:

A Worcester mum travelling on a train home from London said she was horrified by festival-goers openly smoking cannabis in the carriage.

Kate Lovegrove said the 11.22pm train from Paddington on Thursday was packed ^like a tin of sardines^ with music lovers heading to Great Malvern station for the Big Chill at Eastnor Castle.

11:22pm? I hadn't realised that FGW^▸ (First Great Western) had a second sleeper service.

[JayMac]

I'm sure there are those along the route who would welcome such a service. Not sure how you go about converting a turbo to a sleeper though. 

[Trowres]

Not sure how you go about converting a turbo to a sleeper though. 

Well there should be enough plastic in a turbo for this:
http://www.i-plas.co.uk/press-coverage/full-steam-ahead-for-recycled-plastic-railway-sleepers.php