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Stupid photters

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Jamesb1974

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20 Mar 2006
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596
Evening.

I am a trainee driver for DB Schenker. I love my job, getting out there and watching the countryside rolling by. I also enjoy the fact that others take pleasure from watching the trains go by.

It has become something of a ritual for me, that if I know I've been photographed I search Flickr to see if the picture has been posted. Sometimes I can see its me, other times not. When the picture is clear enough, my kids love seeing Daddy at work.

But, why do some photographers think that safety and railway trespass laws not apply to them? I am speaking specifically about the bloke (and it was a bloke, not a kid) in the red t-shirt and blue shorts, stood about 10 feet off the end of the platform at Oakengates station this morning.

You were in a group of three men, your two companions having the sense to stay on the platform. You were standing in the cess with your back to oncoming traffic, clearly focused entirely on the train I was driving.

The single car 153 unit had just passed through the station in the direction you were facing, so clearly you thought it was ok to trespass. What if another, unplanned service was heading your way? You had your back to traffic and were totally engrossed in my train.

Hence, I gave you a long blast on the horn and the arm movements that I hope you saw, indicated for you to get back on the platform.

Why risk your life for a photograph? You're getting your fellow hobbyists a bad name and more importantly, you clearly think the rules don't apply to you.
 
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455driver

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If you think that is bad wait till there is a steamer due through, the kettle veg will be all over the formation, up signal posts etc coz that is the way it used to be!
 

Jamesb1974

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Oh great. I'll look forward to that then. I can see my GSMR set working overtime to report them all.
 

Alistair G.

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There's a clip on YouTube somewhere (I'm sure someone will post the link!) of an old bloke being dragged by the shoulders by a fellow enthusiast as a class 170 (I think it was) hurtles towards him. The spotter was clearly in a trespass area and had no idea what was approaching behind him. Easily could have just been another statistic!

What really annoys me though is like you have mentioned, it's grown men, most certainly older enough to know better and all the delay they must be causing but they just don't give a damn. How would they feel if it was their journeys being delayed, or worse still, how would their families feel if they had to be informed that their relative had been killed for the sake of a photograph!. It's the drivers I really feel sorry for though, must send hearts racing and I'm sure a good few sleepless nights to follow.... What if I had done this, what could I have done different etc..... No consideration from people who should quite frankly know a lot better!!

One a slightly different note.... Please do keep blowing the horn for us enthusiasts who do stay within limits!, always good wen a driver "participates"! :)
 

Strathclyder

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There's a clip on YouTube somewhere (I'm sure someone will post the link!) of an old bloke being dragged by the shoulders by a fellow enthusiast as a class 170 (I think it was) hurtles towards him. The spotter was clearly in a trespass area and had no idea what was approaching behind him. Easily could have just been another statistic!
This is the video you speak of:
[youtube]?v=D8fasGcAi6Q[/youtube]
Just a few inches closer and he would've been another statistic.
 

james60059

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Hinckley
***NOT MY PHOTO*** There's an image on Facebook doing the rounds of trespassers on the line at Tamworth on Saturday just gone when Duchess of Sutherland stopped. (Photo copyright Ben Sweeney)
 

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ac6000cw

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Although it's from across the pond, watch antics of the person in the black jacket....they seem quite determined to get themselves killed/seriously injured !

[youtube]FwO-IWorGv4[/youtube]
 
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Tim R-T-C

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Although it's from across the pond, watch antics of the person in the black jacket....they seem quite determined to get themselves killed/seriously injured !

Pretty sure there must be some sort of serious mental disability going on there (or at least I hope so) given that they don't react to being physically lifted several feet and continues filming on their phone despite the view being entirely blocked by a freighter.

Unlike the idiots in the British pictures who are obviously old enough to know better and fully aware of the position they are putting themselves in.
 

ac6000cw

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Pretty sure there must be some sort of serious mental disability going on there (or at least I hope so) given that they don't react to being physically lifted several feet and continues filming on their phone despite the view being entirely blocked by a freighter.

I wondered that too, but even so everyone there is clearly trespassing on the railroad and the adults certainly aren't setting a good example....
 

starrymarkb

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This one does take the biscuit

[youtube]ko4wYN-1SVU[/youtube]

I do hope he'd tied himself down as the wind/turbulance at that speed wouldn't end well!
 

LeeLivery

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This one does take the biscuit

[youtube]ko4wYN-1SVU[/youtube]

I do hope he'd tied himself down as the wind/turbulance at that speed wouldn't end well!

Flipping hell what were they thinking!? One thing I've never been tempted to do is go beyond the legal points and I'm probably less than half of some of these men pictured age!
 

trentside

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I've been verbally abused before when at work for telling people to move back from behind a 'No Access' sign and basically told there was nothing I could do as they'd been there all day. BTP later disagreed, resulting in several people being removed from the station and one physically dragged away by the BTP - nearly resulting in arrest... all over a photograph. You won't be surprised to hear they were waiting for a steam special.

As an enthusiast and a railway employee, this sort of behaviour really upsets me as it results in colleagues tarring all enthusiasts with the same brush and makes it more difficult for those of us who don't do stupid things to enjoy our hobby!
 

GatwickDepress

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As usual a few numpties ruin it for the rest of us. It's very disappointing some people aren't mature enough to follow the byelaws and instructions from staff, and even get abusive when they intervene. Frontline staff have my greatest respect for dealing with those self-entitled berks.

I have seen someone apprehended by staff using a "but it's what we did in the old days, H&S gone mad" etc defence. Obviously it didn't work.
 

Bevan Price

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As usual a few numpties ruin it for the rest of us. It's very disappointing some people aren't mature enough to follow the byelaws and instructions from staff, and even get abusive when they intervene. Frontline staff have my greatest respect for dealing with those self-entitled berks.

I have seen someone apprehended by staff using a "but it's what we did in the old days, H&S gone mad" etc defence. Obviously it didn't work.

Yes - photographers on the track -- it did happen in the past - on railtours - but only after the inspector in charge had checked with the signalbox to ensure that no other trains could enter the section.
 

fishquinn

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Yes, some photographers can be real pains. One thing that annoys me at stations is that they say stand back from the platform edge the next train on platform 3 does not stop here which just compels spotters to look over the yellow line to see what is coming.

An example is at Crewe on the day of Gresty Bridge open day, at Crewe station the tannoy said the next train on platform 5 does not stop here and all of the spotter s went to see what is coming and got yelled at. Furthermore the so called non stop was a Virgin service to Liverpool that stopped.
 

antharro

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20 Dec 2006
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Agree with pretty much everything that's been said. While I haven't done many mainline tours, I have done a lot of the London Underground tours, and the same sort of idiocy is seen there.

Last A-stock to Shoreditch - idiots going past the platform end barriers at Whitechapel and down almost onto the side of the track. I distinctly remember one man (I won't use the term 'Gent') who was definitely on the far side of middle aged who damn well should have known better. All, of course, ignoring the tannoy announcements.

Last A-stock in public service - both young and old idiots alike on this one. Climbing on the platform furniture, past the platform end barriers, ignoring platform staff and repeated tannoy announcements to behave themselves.

Last C-stock tour - young idiots on this one yelling and shouting for most of the journey, hassling the train staff for "free stuff", tearing off (and therefore destroying any value of) the on-board posters, some ignoring a PA announcement to stop. Finally at Hammersmith, a small group who were trying to rip out a seat until I got back on the train and gave them a piece of my mind. Then the usual scrum at the end of the platform as the train pulled out.

These people need to learn that if they keep up this kind of behaviour, the rail tours will become rarer at the least. If there was a serious injury or fatality, I would imagine the insurance costs of these events would become so high that it wouldn't be financially feasible to run them.

I have a strong dislike of the "H&S gone mad, was never like this in the old days" argument. It might not have been like this in the "old days", but we are not in the "old days", so the comparison is pointless and irrelevant. This is the here and now, the rules have changed. What these people think of the rules is utterly irrelevant; the choice is either comply, or risk an end to these events.
 
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12CSVT

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***NOT MY PHOTO*** There's an image on Facebook doing the rounds of trespassers on the line at Tamworth on Saturday just gone when Duchess of Sutherland stopped. (Photo copyright Ben Sweeney)

I hope this has been forewarded to the BTP. What idiots !
 

starrymarkb

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Yes - photographers on the track -- it did happen in the past - on railtours - but only after the inspector in charge had checked with the signalbox to ensure that no other trains could enter the section.

The service wasn't as intense as these days though?
 

trentside

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Wow. Clearly an unstable individual.

I didn't really see what the man with the walking stick did wrong?

Comments section indicates that this assault has been reported to the BTP.
 

Tracky

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18 Jul 2011
Messages
483
Two things. The aggressor wasn't the full picnic. Secondly, I assume one of the platform Enders was sensible and reasonable. One of them should not have stepped in. I would have done.
 

hassaanhc

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5 Jan 2014
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Southall
Agree with pretty much everything that's been said. While I haven't done many mainline tours, I have done a lot of the London Underground tours, and the same sort of idiocy is seen there.

Last A-stock to Shoreditch - idiots going past the platform end barriers at Whitechapel and down almost onto the side of the track. I distinctly remember one man (I won't use the term 'Gent') who was definitely on the far side of middle aged who damn well should have known better. All, of course, ignoring the tannoy announcements.

Last A-stock in public service - both young and old idiots alike on this one. Climbing on the platform furniture, past the platform end barriers, ignoring platform staff and repeated tannoy announcements to behave themselves.

Last C-stock tour - young idiots on this one yelling and shouting for most of the journey, hassling the train staff for "free stuff", tearing off (and therefore destroying any value of) the on-board posters, some ignoring a PA announcement to stop. Finally at Hammersmith, a small group who were trying to rip out a seat until I got back on the train and gave them a piece of my mind. Then the usual scrum at the end of the platform as the train pulled out.

These people need to learn that if they keep up this kind of behaviour, the rail tours will become rarer at the least. If there was a serious injury or fatality, I would imagine the insurance costs of these events would become so high that it wouldn't be financially feasible to run them.

I have a strong dislike of the "H&S gone mad, was never like this in the old days" argument. It might not have been like this in the "old days", but we are not in the "old days", so the comparison is pointless and irrelevant. This is the here and now, the rules have changed. What these people think of the rules is utterly irrelevant; the choice is either comply, or risk an end to these events.

The C Stock one, I had some people on Facebook who, before the event, said Coach F was going to be full of banter (etc). One of them had days before posted a photo of a map they'd peeled off from a Waterloo & City Line train :roll:. Was extremely tempted to take a screenshot and send it to BTP as that is blatant vandalism, but didn't in the end :( really think I should have done that one.
 
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