No ticket.....

[Ian Price]

I think this guy was dealt with quite appropriately:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-bvnOgxd6wo

[Dmoney]

I disagree.
They should have just carried on and called ahead to the cops or BTP. He allegedly had some mix up with his tickets and dealt with it like an arse because he was drunk. But I feel like the whole thing could have been dealt with better. There were kids right next to that guy. It doesn't take much for things to get out of hand. Best to let people who get paid to deal with that stuff deal with it. The kid wasn't causing immediate danger to anyone and I think that means the train guard had some options. He could have been taken off at the next stop and fined. Whatever.

EDIT: its also claimed the kid was diabetic and his medication along with his money and other belongings got left on the train when he got ejected. Regardless of whether that is true, it just highlights the potential danger of dealing with this situation in this way and why it should be left to police or similar.

[Ian Price]

Sure - and actually on a second viewing and reading your comments I think maybe my initial reaction was too quick. It could so easily have been a manslaughter case against the big guy - he does throw him off the train with a bit too much force.

My initial reaction is due to me being a rail user. I've seen so many people obviously not paying and getting away with it that it just absolutely p!sses me off. I even saw one non payer happily empty a whole can of coke into a drinks holder and then when challenged by a fellow passenger his response was "what are you going to do about it".

Perhaps the train conductor didn't deal with it appropriately and I guess he could be in trouble for agreeing to let one of his passengers take control of the situation. Perhaps he only got involved as he too was getting frustrated and didn't have any confidence in the police or BTP.

[Dmoney]

Yeah, I imagine that's true. I bet being a train guard is frustrating. That said, I've seen ticket inspectors on london buses intimidate people into accepting fines when then didn't need to (I complain to TFL or whoever about it, explained what happened and confirmed my suspicion)... also in London, its rare to see ticket inspectors on trains into the city, but they all wait at the ticket barriers and fine people who walk over to the platform ticket booth to buy a ticket.

I ran onto the train once cos i was late for work, realised my oyster travel card was out of date by one day once I got to london bridge (the station i got on at didn't have barriers at the time) and I went straight over to the ticket place to get a ticket, totally willing to pay to get through the barrier, i got harassed by a team of ticket inspectors handing out fines to people legitimately wanting to buy tickets to get out the station. That's all they do. It's probably effective at bringing in money to the train company, but useless for keeping fare dodgers off trains.

I know a guy who was walking down a train and a guy had his legs over the isle and forced him to step over them... as he stepped over the legs the guy called him a pussy. This dude i know sat in another carriage getting worked up about it, then at his stop, walked back over to the 'legs' guy, grabbed a bottle and smashed it in the guys face and said "who is the pussy now?" before getting off the train. so people don't always get away with things but there is a right way and a wrong way to deal with stuff.

[mikeluke]

Personally I think that he should have been taken outside and shot.

Yours

J Clarkson

[Lezard]

"who is the pussy now?"

The guy who felt the need to smash a bottle in someone's face over a relatively minor altercation, I'd say.
But I can see where he's commin from alright.

[Dmoney]

"who is the pussy now?"

The guy who felt the need to smash a bottle in someone's face over a relatively minor altercation, I'd say.
But I can see where he's commin from alright.

It is over top... granted, but he was dealing with an anti-social youth so clearly he's a hero.

[FELINEGUITARS]

Something like this happened on a train I was on a few weeks ago on a sunday early evening

Drunk gets on train and barges into the guard
words are exchanged & gets heated between drunk (in his 50s i should point out) and guard

train is delayed whilst Transport police are called
Drunk is evicted from train
But then guard refuses to get back on train deciding that he has been the victim of passenger abuse
Train sits for ages at station, whilst driver, station manager and I think union rep all  try to persuade guard to continue journey.

In the end the train is cancelled and we all have to pile off into the cold and wait however long for the next scheduled service.

Also passengers waiting for the train's return journey going the other way would find their train cancelled, and maybe be unable to get to their concerts, show or events on time.

[Roobubba]

I'd like to add 'Trains in the UK' to my list of hates.

Not as high as traffic wardens, the beatw@ts and telecasters, but still, up there with maybe mashed potato and people who queue jump at the bus stop.

[Ian Price]

I'd like to add 'Trains in the UK' to my list of hates.

Not as high as traffic wardens, the beatw@ts and telecasters, but still, up there with maybe mashed potato and people who queue jump at the bus stop.

Mashed potato is great. Particularly with some grated cheddar sprinkled ever so carefully over the top of it.

I had no idea that you hated such a wonderful thing.

[juansolo]

This would be one of the reasons I don't use public transport...

[plastercaster]

I'd like to add 'Trains in the UK' to my list of hates.

Not as high as traffic wardens, the beatw@ts and telecasters, but still, up there with maybe mashed potato and people who queue jump at the bus stop.

Mashed potato is great. Particularly with some grated cheddar sprinkled ever so carefully over the top of it.

I had no idea that you hated such a wonderful thing.

Roo must spend much of his time in a blind rage, what with the general prevalence of mashed potato and the beatles.

No wonder he had to join a hardcore band.

[FernandoDuarte]

EDIT: its also claimed the kid was diabetic and his medication along with his money and other belongings got left on the train when he got ejected. Regardless of whether that is true, it just highlights the potential danger of dealing with this situation in this way and why it should be left to police or similar.

Don't know how cops works up above, but here down south the idea to solve it fast is exactly what the big guy did...

He lost his medication? If he had get off the train as was solicited he wouldn't lose it... Is he diabetic? And drinking??? So, the medication is the smaller problem of the guy...

And I only didn't do it a few times here for some reasons because in the end I was going to be pointed as the wrong, but if you try to solve the problems the right way, well it ain't solve nothing...

[FELINEGUITARS]

I think that what must be restored in this country is a universal idea that actions can have consequences

It was one thing the young fella not paying for his fare , but when caught and challenged about it he had no fear  and felt that he could just sit there and mess up things for everyone else on the train.

Some of them may have just been going home  after a long day, others may have had important connections to make - either transport - wise or to collect children etc etc
It was one thing for the ticket inspector to take the "I can wait all evening - I'm getting paid" stance , but others relying on that service to get them home or somewhere on time could not afford that luxury.

If the train were to be delayed more than say 20 minutes the train operating company would normally choose to cancel the service to stop them from having chaos on the line in terms of trains holding other services up or having rolling stock in the wrong places. (Or if you are cynical like me - they cancel them rather than risk spoiling a punctuality record by having a late running train).
But that would mean turfing all the passengers off the train - maybe leaving them no way of getting home other than mega expensive taxis - I don't fancy the young man's life expectancy if that happened.

The big fella did act a bit too forcefully, but I think he was sick of twerps like that spoiling things for others.
But in a way other passengers getting pissed off with the situation and collectively taking action would make the lad feel consequences for his behaviour.

It will be sad if he gets prosecuted and the lad gets damages....but sadly that is what seems to happen in this country.

It makes me almost as angry as the theft of copper wire from train signals causing cancelled services

[Philly Q]

I don't know quite what I think of this.  I'm not really comfortable with the idea of members of the public taking action in these situations, but to be fair the "big man" seems to behave quite reasonably and use a minimum of force (just about).  No one wants public transport to be held up just because of one idiot.  I've been on buses where the driver has refused to continue and everyone has had to get off just because one tw@t refused to pay.

A friend of mine suffers from a medical condition which - she says - makes it uncomfortable for her to travel on trains and she - allegedly - needs someone to help her on and off at stations.  Recently she was getting off a train and none of the platform staff would help her.... they said she should have booked assistance in advance!  She stood in the door, holding up the train, and in the end some guy pushed her out!

Of course she was outraged.  I can see why, in theory, but I can also understand the reaction of the other passenger.  I think the platform staff come out of it most badly - it would've been so simple for one of them to just make a token effort at helping her.