Video Shows SouthEastern Ticket Office Staff Assaulting Person

[LOL The Irony]

CAUTION - contains strong language.
This quite heated clip comes from Facebook and comes with some information (bare in mind, it could be one sided). The video cuts off after the staff member rushes at the man and tells him to "Get out of this f**king station now"
https://www.facebook.com/tibor.mora...Gt0gzxsmkNXNKfXMAqU5tVgjG9lni_0ojo&__tn__=C-R

Today at High Brooms station..
12 Jun around 3.45-4pm I have been attacked by a member of Southeastern railway at High Brooms station.
I fell downhill from a bicycle going to the station.
I was bleeding, therefore I ask tickets selling a member of stuff:
Please, could I have a first aid kit?
He: We haven't a first aid kit.
Me: Are you sure? I would expect it in a public place as a station...
He: It's not our company problem. Go to the hospital. Why should I help you?
Me: Because you are a human being?
He: F*** off!
Our conversation carries on like this. Where he called me names as 'an idiot' 'motherf*****' and 'a d***head'...
Then he asks me to leave because he doesn't want to see me bleeding around anymore..
When I refused to leave because I had a valid ticket, he attacked me.

https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/southeastern-worker-tells-commuter-get-2974940

The staff member can then be seen quickly coming out of the door and appearing to lose his temper.

The counter assistant can be heard saying: "Get out of this f****** station now."

As the video above shows, Tibi is standing calmly - but bleeding - at the counter before the staff member appears to lose his temper.

The footage shows a bespectacled man waving his arms and hurriedly rushing over towards Tibi, while shouting.

The dad-of-one said: "I called 999 and the British Transport Police came about 20 minutes later.

"The police were nice, they gave me first aid and asked what happened. They were really professional.

"One officer helped me and the other spoke with him and watched the station's CCTV."

Thankfully, Tibi didn't suffer any serious injuries from his bike accident but says he is so saddened by what happened...

 

[Antman]

You beat me too it, my daughter lives just around the corner from the station and said she has always found that man to be polite and friendly. I suspect that there may be a bit more to this but I have to say it doesn't look good.

 

[route:oxford]

You beat me too it, my daughter lives just around the corner from the station and said she has always found that man to be polite and friendly. I suspect that there may be a bit more to this but I have to say it doesn't look good.

Pestering someone for 20-30 minutes does seem a touch excessive.

 

[trebor79]

There has to be more to it than that. Why would you start filming something like that in the first place?
I call b******t.

 

[Tetchytyke]

Very odd. I'm always sceptical of videos which end with the money shot and don't show any context.

 

[king_walnut]

I'm sure there is a hell of a lot more to this story than has been told, or what is shown in this video, but either way it doesn't look good for the member of staff.

I used to be a Revenue Inspector on the railway, and believe me there were times where I would have enjoyed getting violent with some people, but I always remained professional. The alternative is the dole queue. There is no excuse for behaving like that in the company's eyes I'm afraid.

 

[LOL The Irony]

I'm sure there is a hell of a lot more to this story than has been told, or what is shown in this video, but either way it doesn't look good for the member of staff.

This perfectly hits the nail on the head.

 

[Harbornite]

Good to see the boot on the other foot for a change.

 

[AlterEgo]

Very odd. I'm always sceptical of videos which end with the money shot and don't show any context.

Yeah, regardless of the rights and wrongs I'm sure there was a reason the cameraman was told to get off the f**king station.

 

[6Gman]

The alleged victim describes himself as a martial arts instructor.

 

[trebor79]

I think the victim here may be the staff member. He's obviously been severely goaded to have behaved the way he did, in my view. I can't see it ending well for him though.

Some strange people in the world.

 

[LOL The Irony]

The alleged victim describes himself as a martial arts instructor.

There is definitely more than meets the eye here.

 

[PeterC]

I am always suspicious of this sort of video, there are some obvious Youtubers who deliberately provoke arguements to show how they are "put upon".

 

[sheff1]

Yeah, regardless of the rights and wrongs I'm sure there was a reason the cameraman was told to get off the f**king station.

The may well be a good reason for the cameraman to be told to leave and even to be forcibly evicted. I can think of no valid reason for an on duty employee swearing at a member of the public, no matter how disruptive.

 

[Hadders]

Hopefully there will be CCTV from the station which will give more context.

 

[BJames]

This is difficult because I certainly agree that there must be more to the incident than is reported. That said, no matter how much you are goaded, when in a customer facing role, swearing is one of the worst things you can do. Speculatively, if the staff member really was being antagonised, he should have called the police to get the person off the station.

 

[Samuel88]

CAUTION - contains strong language.
This quite heated clip comes from Facebook and comes with some information (bare in mind, it could be one sided). The video cuts off after the staff member rushes at the man and tells him to "Get out of this f**king station now"
https://www.facebook.com/tibor.mora...Gt0gzxsmkNXNKfXMAqU5tVgjG9lni_0ojo&__tn__=C-R

I don't think it's appropriate to post such matters on a public forum, especially as we only have a Facebook post to go on, with nothing official from either Southeastern nor the police.

 

[yorkie]

There may be 'more to it' but if I had done that to a customer, I'd soon be out of a job, regardless of what had been said or done earlier. I've seen passengers wind up staff but you cannot represent any company and act that way. Never.

And if a member of staff had wound up a passenger (which I have seen happen), so they reacted like that, the passenger would still be considered to be acting completely unacceptably.
I wouldn't expect people to suggest it was ok if a member of the public had reacted that way.

I have sympathy for people who react to being wound up, but you just can't do that.

I don't think it's appropriate to post such matters on a public forum, especially as we only have a Facebook post to go on, with nothing official from either Southeastern nor the police.

If anyone thinks any content is inappropriate, do not reply to it and instead use the report button.

 

[sheff1]

I don't think it's appropriate to post such matters on a public forum, especially as we only have a Facebook post to go on

Facebook is public. Seems perfectly reasonable to post a link to a railway-related item on a railway forum .... unless you are suggesting the footage is fake, in which case the Facebook poster has produced a most genuine looking work.

 

[Antman]

I don't think it's appropriate to post such matters on a public forum, especially as we only have a Facebook post to go on, with nothing official from either Southeastern nor the police.

Facebook is public. Seems perfectly reasonable to post a link to a railway-related item on a railway forum .... unless you are suggesting the footage is fake, in which case the Facebook poster has produced a most genuine looking work.

Absolutely it's on social media so why should it not be discussed on a rail forum?

 

[Bletchleyite]

There may be 'more to it' but if I had done that to a customer, I'd soon be out of a job, regardless of what had been said or done earlier. I've seen passengers wind up staff but you cannot represent any company and act that way. Never.

And if a member of staff had wound up a passenger (which I have seen happen), so they reacted like that, the passenger would still be considered to be acting completely unacceptably.
I wouldn't expect people to suggest it was ok if a member of the public had reacted that way.

I have sympathy for people who react to being wound up, but you just can't do that.

I would be inclined to agree. The member of staff should have pulled his shutter down if he felt threatened, and called for BTP assistance (or even local plod, as it's not really anything railway specific in terms of the need).

 

[Bletchleyite]

I am always suspicious of this sort of video, there are some obvious Youtubers who deliberately provoke arguements to show how they are "put upon".

However much he provoked the member of staff or otherwise, it is not acceptable for a member of staff to swear at nor to assault any member of the public for any reason whatsoever. The only time it would be to me acceptable to use physical force against a passenger would be to defend themselves or possibly a vulnerable passenger against a physical assault (or to pull back someone attempting suicide or putting themselves at risk to a safe location), and in that case no more than reasonable force should be used. But as he was safe inside the ticket office, there was really no level of force that was reasonable.

He's safe inside his ticket office behind the thick glass, he should just have closed the window and called for assistance if he felt threatened.

 

[bramling]

CAUTION - contains strong language.
This quite heated clip comes from Facebook and comes with some information (bare in mind, it could be one sided). The video cuts off after the staff member rushes at the man and tells him to "Get out of this f**king station now"
https://www.facebook.com/tibor.mora...Gt0gzxsmkNXNKfXMAqU5tVgjG9lni_0ojo&__tn__=C-R


https://www.kentlive.news/news/kent-news/southeastern-worker-tells-commuter-get-2974940

Oh dear. As usual, we haven’t seen what came before so it’s very hard to form a conclusion. However it doesn’t really look good for the member of staff - whatever was going on there was no need for him to come storming out of the booking office like that. Those days ended with CCTV, and unfortunately the member of staff will quite probably be in hot water.

Have to say I’m rather curious to know what happened prior to the recording.

 

[Metal_gee_man]

It's safe to assume SE will investigate this incident, they will take a look at this footage along with CCTV images to put some context to the story, I hope for the colleagues sake the CCTV captures sound and helps narrate the story!
BTP and ambulance should have been his go to options to help/remove the passenger sadly acting the way he did and the evidence available in the public forum will bring SE to believe he's brought the company into disrepute and will very likely discipline him for his actions, the likelyhood of any dismissal is all based on the narrative the CCTV puts upon it. Whether the injured man has given a statement to SE regarding the event etc etc etc...

On another note, keep an eye open on www.southeasternrailwaycareers.co.uk
For future updates...

 

[Antman]

The incident is on the Daily Mirror website, basically the same as what was reported on here previously about the man seeking assistance after a cycling accident. The cyclist, named as 45 year old Tibi Moracvik, subsequently called police and BTP arrived about 20 minutes later. Now I appreciate we're only getting one side of the story here but whatever happened it's hard to see any justification for a member of staff behaving like this. I've seen Southeastern staff getting all sorts of flack from irate passengers but they've always stayed calm and professional.

 

[Geogregor]

I hope for the colleagues sake the CCTV captures sound and helps narrate the story!

CCTV doesn't record sound. In fact even images are often of bad quality...

 

[Bletchleyite]

CCTV doesn't record sound. In fact even images are often of bad quality...

I'm not sure it's needed. CCTV will confirm it's genuine, but there was no possible cause for the member of staff to have left the ticket office which was their place of safety.

 

[Stigy]

I agree with what’s been said so far. Clearly more to this. However, staff are frankly silly to swear at customers whilst being filmed. Which I suppose is all the more reason to believe there’s far more to this. It takes a lot (usually) for members of staff in any customer facing role to act like this. May even be some more history to this outside what happened in this particular incident? Either way, it’s not acceptable to act like that when representing any organisation.

 

[WelshBluebird]

Yes there may be more to it and I agree the guy seems like a bit of an idiot to say the least (and I am being polite there).

However, regardless of whatever happened, the member of staff is 100% in the wrong to physically touch any customer or swear at them (if you cannot control yourself even when provoked then you shouldn't be working in a customer facing job) and I am pretty sure if a ticket office doesn't have a first aid kit then that is a breach of H&S regulations (I am a first aider in my office, and the rules say you must to deal with incidents that need first aid at the workplace, and the H&S executive say a first aid kit is needed for even low risk workplaces). Infact I would say the lack of a first aid kit is a worse incident than what followed.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I don't think there wasn't one, he just didn't want to provide it to the passenger for some reason.