Gangs of drinkers blighting York and trains from York

SGS said:

On my occasional trips, I'd noticed, over time, that York station on a Saturday afternoon/evening seemed to be becoming more and more, well, lively.

More and more tipsy people, more and more stag and hen parties, more of that ear-splitting whooping laugh that only middle-aged women seem to make. Presumably York's become a popular party venue.

Now it's seems clear that it's not just me that's noticed. There are posters around stating that trains from York to Middlesbrough on Saturday evenings have alcohol prohibition. Tonight, there was a ticket block on at the station entrance, security types wandering around (especially on patforms 10 and 11). The northbound Grand Central I was using from York (1650 from KX), having taken on board a party contingent, made repeated announcements declaring this was also a dry train, threats of being removed by the BTP, etc. There were also security bods on the train itself.

It seems to particularly concern trains heading for Teeside! I don't use the southbound services from York on Saturday evening so I don't know if they have similar problems.

I know there are trains declared as dry when the operators anticipate carrying a lot of football supporters and I think Merseyrail has a total ban on alcohol. And LU of course. Are there any other routes where there is a permanent alcohol ban on certain days?

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jonb said:

Myself and a couple of mates usually go to work every 2 - 3 months and have a day out around the city, as well as visiting the NRM.

We always aim to arrive about 10:30 and after grabbing breakfast, like most head for the Maltings as a starting point. After visiting several pubs during the day (we are ale fans so none of this lager rubbish) usually travel back on the 20:01 towards London, which is 1E25 from Aberdeen.

Experiences of this train have varied, sometimes it is absolutely dead and other times it can be packed. It is usually a bit rowdy between York & Doncaster, but after that it's a very sedate affair never known any problems South of there.

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Greenback said:

Attitudes to drinking and the culture of drinking alcohol in this country need to change. Over the last thirty years there has been a marked change in attitude to such things as smoking and drink driving, perhaps binge drinking needs to be stigmatised int he same way?

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wensley said:

Just a quick one from me really...this weekend was expected to be really busy and the barrier operation ran Friday and Saturday.

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yorkie said:

There were no actual barriers on Friday, but it was observed that there were some staff in hi-vis jackets checking tickets at the main arch entrance. No checks took place at the NRM entrance, north car park entrance, or south car park entrance. There was someone (not in a hi-vis jacket) watching people exiting from the ticket office, who asked to see tickets if they were seen to proceed directly from the concourse, through the ticket office, without going to the counter.

Presumably if you were wanting to use station facilities such as Burger King or WH Smith they'd let you through providing you weren't drunk?

Do they actually stop drunks (who are in breach of the byelaws) and prevent access even if they hold a ticket? I would hope they do but I suspect not, which would make it a bit pointless IMO.

Also the trick to avoiding the louts is to sit at the rear of GC/TPE services heading North as the front of the train tends to be where they pile on (and, as mentioned before, try prevent people getting off), however not all louts pile on at the front so even the rear of the train can get infested.

Most of the louts get off at Yarm and Eaglescliffe, that area seems to be a hotbed of dodgy characters wanting to visit York for some reason.

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