Virgin Trains Banning under 18`s from there stations and Gaurds threating customers?

[anthony263]

it will be very hard to get out through the door window on a mark 2 or mark 3 coach especially if they dont open all the way down.

anyone know the date when the virgin loco hauled trains is to be withdrawn as i am due to finish university in 4 weeks before having at least 20 weeks off to do nothing over the summer

 

[fgwrich]

it will be very hard to get out through the door window on a mark 2 or mark 3 coach especially if they dont open all the way down.

anyone know the date when the virgin loco hauled trains is to be withdrawn as i am due to finish university in 4 weeks before having at least 20 weeks off to do nothing over the summer

Itll certainly be a while yet, with one pendilino written off from Grayrigg, and the another from Stonebridge Park for 12 weeks...

If anything, Think Virgin may be looking for another Mk3 set...Lucky then that we have people Like Cargo D then who saved the Mk3s!

 

[bluenoxid]

THIS IS EFFECTIVE COMMUNICATION

The other worry is you being next to a structurally weak point of the train. The doors are only held by two hinges, a latch and a lock, which is something that really doesn't want to be leant on.

It is also the temptation to push your luck. Too many people think that they should put their head out of the window and then it is part of the body and shouted abuse. Lovely. Just the kind of stuff we want.

 

[Pumbaa]

with one pendilino written off from Grayrigg

The current TT doesn't take that into account though. It requires 47 of 52 Bendydildos to be available. The result of an extra one out would mean that a 390 booked for deep cleaning, repair and maintenance would be run instead, not a wise idea. The fleet would soon suffer.

 

[bluenoxid]

47 of 52

 

[Pumbaa]

Danke!

 

[Bittern]

This is why I never plan to film down in England.

 

[bluenoxid]

Original post was not funny considering

 

[Bittern]

The First ScotRail staff have never given me any problems anywhere on the network. They seem pretty cool about it.

 

[Mojo]

It is a load of rubbish, I know under 18s working on a station!

 

[AlexS]

Don't think you can complain at being told to get your head in from the window.

Under 18s is a load of rubbish though. You can be employed by the railway at 16 in certain positions.

 

[eos]

Having watched some of the videos on Victorialine67's site, and claims on Bebo etc, I don't think its got anything to do with you being under 18, other than some of the behaviour is more like a 3 year old.....Grow up and stop being a PITA to everyone else around.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

On the railway, you seem to be classed as an adult at 16 (for fares etc) Surely if you have to buy an adult ticket, you're allowed to use "adult" facilities just like everyone else?

 

[ukrob]

On the railway, you seem to be classed as an adult at 16 (for fares etc) Surely if you have to buy an adult ticket, you're allowed to use "adult" facilities just like everyone else?

It doesn't really work like that though - a 75 year old could be asked to leave a first class lounge too, with no reason given, much the same that a retailer can ban you without reason.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

It doesn't really work like that though - a 75 year old could be asked to leave a first class lounge too, with no reason given, much the same that a retailer can ban you without reason.

What a fantastic country we live in

 

[ukrob]

What a fantastic country we live in

Why do you have a problem with that?

You have every right to ask me to leave your house if I was a guest and you no longer wanted me there. Are you saying otherwise? It is no different, private property is private property. Are you saying a retailer should not be allowed to ask someone to leave?

 

[yorkie]

Hi everyone
last Thursday (16/4/09) me and a friend decided to bash 90036 to Coventry and back and we decided we`d do a bit of filming while we were there.

Were you there the previous week? we saw people videoing our train (WSMR) at Coventry early afternoon, and they were probably about 16. That was also a Thursday.

Security guards can't really do anything. Just ask if you are breaking the law. If they say "yes" and you are sure you are not, then ask them to call the police. Chances are they won't, but if they do they could get done for wasting police time.
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Don't think you can complain at being told to get your head in from the window..

He says his head wasn't out of it, in which case he has a point, but I wouldn't go writing to Virgin about that.

 

[Flyboy]

Why do you have a problem with that?

You have every right to ask me to leave your house if I was a guest and you no longer wanted me there. Are you saying otherwise? It is no different, private property is private property. Are you saying a retailer should not be allowed to ask someone to leave?

Hold on a second there ukrob, the lad and his friend had purchased 1st Class tickets and were therefore not 'guests' but paying Customers. They were therefore paying for the privilege of using the station's facilities, including the 1st Class lounge.

If their behaviour was unacceptable whilst using said facilities then that's another story, paying Customers or not; but that doesn't appear to be the case from his original post.

On a wider scale, it would appear that the disease that is incompetent security, which has blighted our lives as flightcrew for several years, is now spreading to the rail industry - oh dear!

 

[ukrob]

Hold on a second there ukrob, the lad and his friend had purchased a 1st Class ticket and was therefore not a 'guest' but a paying Customer. He was therefore paying for the privilege of using the station's facilities, including the 1st Class lounge.

I can be a paying customer in a shop and be asked to leave and never return without reason, there is no difference. I'm not defending the staff (who were in my opinion wrong), I'm responding to an earlier point .

 

[bengolding]

I've used Cov station several times and always found the staff to be the most approachable of any rail station - definitely the 'friendliest' Virgin station around. The staff in the customer service office on platform 1 are graet, especially the Manager, a Mr Joshi.

The fact you had to leave the FC Lounge when you had valid tickets is out of order. Thre is no policy written on the exterior that those under 18 must be accompanied by an adult. This is outrageous and you should follow this up directly with Crhis Gibb at Virgin Trains - going through the Customer Relations route is useless. Write to him at: [email protected]. For good measure, say that you have contacted local press.

 

[Flyboy]

ukrob - I suppose we could go on debating that for a long time, so I'll bow out gracefully sooner rather than later.

bengolding - very useful information for which I'm sure Victorialine67 will thank you.

 

[323235]

I can be a paying customer in a shop and be asked to leave and never return without reason, there is no difference. I'm not defending the staff (who were in my opinion wrong), I'm responding to an earlier point .

Why would you be asked to leave a shop if you had done nothing wrong???

 

[ukrob]

Why would you be asked to leave a shop if you had done nothing wrong???

How about:

Mistaken for someone who is barred
Informed by another shop you are a troublemaker
Look like you will cause trouble
Staff interpret something you do as threatening

There are dozens of reasons.

I will say again I am NOT defending the staff mentioned in this thread, I was responding to an earlier point

 

[asylumxl]

Make as much noise as you can about it. If you make enough noise, you're sure to get something out of it.

 

[alex57601]

Out of interest, if you werent on a Child ticket, how did they say you were <18?

Don't forget, Child tickets are not valid to those aged 16 or over. Aged 16 or 17 you have to buy an adult-fare ticket, unless you get a 16-25 railcard.

With the case in hand, this all seems rather odd. Some things don't add up at all. I'd definitely complain and see what comes out of it, although don't go shooting yourselves in the foot.

Out of interest, did you get permission from the Team Leader at Cov to take photos/do filming in the first place? If not, then your case might be flawed slightly on that part. As for the "guard at Euston", I think he may have worked that service before since it reverted to locos + stock or worked on 1R90/1G21/1B05 in the past when it was 87s then 90s after the Lambrigg accident, and must've had grief from cranks bellowing etc and/or being a general nuisance by the droplight. Not all rail staff are cranks and without being a jobsworth he may have just been laying down the rules or, as suggested, advising you for your own benefit. On the spot, you're better off listening to what they say and respect that decision, although I accept that it was probably the last thing you wanted to hear after the grief at Cov.

 

[37401]

Having watched some of the videos on Victorialine67's site, and claims on Bebo etc, I don't think its got anything to do with you being under 18, other than some of the behaviour is more like a 3 year old.....Grow up and stop being a PITA to everyone else around.

Hi glad you have seen some of my ideos but whats with the 3yr old thing? if you mean the "Writing horn on my stomach and the WMDR vid then that was all a One off thing we did for a laugh note theword ONE OFF.

we were just filming as we always do and the under 18 bull crap was the excuse

Also what do you mean by the bebo thing

lastly whats your Youtube name?
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Thank you for all your help and support i thank you all exept maybe eos for his usless and unrelated comment

 

[glynn80]

Hold on a second there ukrob, the lad and his friend had purchased 1st Class tickets and were therefore not 'guests' but paying Customers. They were therefore paying for the privilege of using the station's facilities, including the 1st Class lounge.

You cannot purchase a 1st Class Single/Return to a station a short distance away and then sit in the lounge all day. The entry policy on the VT website states "Each First Class lounge is funded by Virgin Trains for the benefit of customers who use its train services.".

In this circumstance it seems to me what happened is that they entered the lounge with the ticket but then stayed for a length of time (45 minutes) that made it pretty obvious they were not intending to travel on any train service that day. It was likely that a VT service both north and south had passed in this time. Coventry as an unmanned lounge would not have an attendant to ask to lads to leave and the member of staff who buzzed the lads most likely contacted security to help eject them.

However their excuses were pretty feeble at best and they should have tackled the issue head on rather than making up reasons to remove them. It also does not give them the right to discriminate against under 18s either but the point was the lads were abusing the lounge system and the security did have the right to ask them to leave.

 

[GB]

I can be a paying customer in a shop and be asked to leave and never return without reason, there is no difference. I'm not defending the staff (who were in my opinion wrong), I'm responding to an earlier point .

The difference is in a shop you have not paid for any items untill you have been through the checkout, thus items are still the property of the shop. You are also not a "paying customer" untill you have completed that process/transaction.

 

[eos]

Victorialine67 said ( in the first post):-

I can understand why they dont want us to have our heads out but

A. we didnt have our heads out

How did you manage to shoot the youtube video of your day then?:-
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbnvlXlMUD0

Did anyone witness any of your claims, as in being thrown out of the 1st class lounge, and not having your head out of the window on a moving train. What the video does show as well is that weather was diabolical, and with you keep opening the door intro the carriage ( Ok it was an air operated door) , with the outer door window open both sides, did it not occur that your shouting and general behaviour was causing problems with those First Class passengers who had paid a lot of dosh to be allowed to work en-route.

I've always found the staff on Coventry extremely helpful, so I took a trip there on Wednesday last. I spent five hours fotting off the ends of platforms, without a single problem, I shot thru the signals, the station itself, I went into the customer place on platform 1 with the camera and huge lens around my neck, and asked lots of crank questions about 5Z27 , all were answered by extremely obliging staff, without any hassle at all. I also spoke to the other spotters on the platform, 'the regulars' , if they knew of what had happened. NOT ONE was happy with your behaviour , and it was expressed that you were not 'giving the hobby a good image'- their words. One said you should have been 'chucked off'. No one said that it was the fault of platform staff, or 'security staff'.
Hence the reason I took the time to view each of the links in your posts and on your sites, and why I posted the previous post.
There was a big difference with what you posted , and what others said- without exception.

 

[ukrob]

The difference is in a shop you have not paid for any items untill you have been through the checkout, thus items are still the property of the shop. You are also not a "paying customer" untill you have completed that process/transaction.

I can buy something and then go and buy something else in a different transaction at a different till. For the purposes of *this thread* I won't be backing down over that point (which is now off topic).