Hayley at Holyhead

Bob Ames · 10 Sep 2014

Has anyone here ever been approached by a woman named Hayley at Holyhead station stating that she is £2 short to buy a ticket home? I was approached by her on Aug 29th within the ferry terminal (I only had euros) but she was given the money by an old lady sitting nearby.

Imagine my surprise when she made the same request again on Sept 9th (this time on platform 2 within the station)! I was too tired to check whether she bought a ticket, and I was distracted with talking to another passenger that I had met at Dublin Connolly station earlier that day, so I wasn't paying attention to whether she boarded a train...
Is such begging allowed on railway premises?

RailUK Forums

gazthomas · 10 Sep 2014

Bob Ames said:
Has anyone here ever been approached by a woman named Hayley at Holyhead station stating that she is £2 short to buy a ticket home? I was approached by her on Aug 29th within the ferry terminal (I only had euros) but she was given the money by an old lady sitting nearby.

Imagine my surprise when she made the same request again on Sept 9th (this time on platform 2 within the station)! I was too tired to check whether she bought a ticket, and I was distracted with talking to another passenger that I had met at Dublin Connolly station earlier that day, so I wasn't paying attention to whether she boarded a train...
Is such begging allowed on railway premises?

Ever seen any staff at Holyhead station? Always like a ghost town!

higthomas · 10 Sep 2014

I've had a similar experience at Guildford. I am pretty sure he was a beggar, but gave a guy £1.30 or something, because I was feeling more generous than usual.

Greenback · 10 Sep 2014

It was a common enough occurrence in Reading when I was there, same people, same time of day...

LowLevel · 10 Sep 2014

Don't encourage the arses, 99% of the time you're funding their drugs habit, it's illegal and they require launching with extreme prejudice. The local beggars used to hate me when I was on stations.

hidden · 10 Sep 2014

LowLevel said:
Don't encourage the arses, 99% of the time you're funding their drugs habit, it's illegal and they require launching with extreme prejudice. The local beggars used to hate me when I was on stations.

This. They certainly don't use it to catch trains and I know at some of our stations there are posters advising to call BTP if there are beggars.

Geezertronic · 10 Sep 2014

If you're feeling generous, offer to buy the ticket for them rather than handing them cash. You can usually tell from their response if they genuinely do want to get home or if they are feeding a habit from the response you get back

Greenback · 10 Sep 2014

Geezertronic said:
If you're feeling generous, offer to buy the ticket for them rather than handing them cash. You can usually tell from their response if they genuinely do want to get home or if they are feeding a habit from the response you get back

All they will do is let you buy the ticket, and then go and claim an immediate refund from the window, if my experience at Reading is anything to go by.

hairyhandedfool · 10 Sep 2014

Greenback said:
All they will do is let you buy the ticket, and then go and claim an immediate refund from the window, if my experience at Reading is anything to go by.

Pay for it by card and, on Northern's ticket office machines (STAR), it goes straight back to the card that paid for it without the need to present it.

mullin · 10 Sep 2014

Greenback said:
It was a common enough occurrence in Reading when I was there, same people, same time of day...

Reading has a woman who frequently asks for £20 so she can travel back to Swindon. She never does...

Greenback · 10 Sep 2014

Basingstoke or Wokingham used to be the favourites back in the day. Smaller fares meant that people were more likely to give them cash, or pay for a ticket with cash rather than a card. At the time it was £3 or £4.

HarleyDavidson · 10 Sep 2014

My advice is just say sorry I don't have it and walk away.

Please DO NOT give them any money whatsoever, you are encouraging them. SWT has enough hassle with "Tissue Beggars" who travel illegally on the network within the London area,it regularly comes through on staff pagers or blackberry's.

Thanks.

headshot119 · 10 Sep 2014

Birkenhead / The Wirral / Chester has a regular always asking for money to go and look after his kid brother in Flint or Colwyn Bay because his Mum is ill.

PHILIPE · 10 Sep 2014

I read once of a chap in Edinburgh who worked night regularly and in the day when "begging" on the streets of the city. It is claimed he made more money than he was paid for his night shift.

Gareth Marston · 10 Sep 2014

Back in the early 90's my other half recognised a well dressed young man in a west end bar with plenty of cash on him. He was a regular beggar at Victoria!

Signalmans Eye · 10 Sep 2014

couple of year ago guy on metrolink trams claiming he was canadian and had been robbed the previous night was asking for money so he could buy ticket for national express bus to london to catch a flight to Canada? he had a good canadian accent.couple of month later he was hoppin about on two sticks still asking for money.reported the matter only to be told not a lot can be done has he probably had a ticket to travel on tram..

carriageline · 10 Sep 2014

There was a story on one of the regular 'con' program's, and IIRC there was a beggar in Putney who made over 50k a year in begging!

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PHILIPE · 10 Sep 2014

ATW and BTP are currently in the process of introducing a scheme known as "Withdrawal of Implied Permission" or WIP at Cardiff Central which is to target persistent offenders such as alcoholics, shoplifters and beggars. They will be a letter handed to them by BTP banning them from the station area for 6 months. If breached look out. This follows complaints over time by members of the public using the station. Similar to an ASBO.
If you so wish, full details of the WIP can be found on Arriva Trains Wales Website in the News Section.

Greenback · 10 Sep 2014

PHILIPE said:
ATW and BTP are currently in the process of introducing a scheme known as "Withdrawal of Implied Permission" or WIP at Cardiff Central which is to target persistent offenders such as alcoholics, shoplifters and beggars. They will be a letter handed to them by BTP banning them from the station area for 6 months. If breached look out. This follows complaints over time by members of the public using the station. Similar to an ASBO.
If you so wish, full details of the WIP can be found on Arriva Trains Wales Website in the News Section.

That's great news. I've often encountered beggars at Cardiff Central!

Hornet · 10 Sep 2014

In Dublin they tend to hang around close to the Luas stops at Connolly and Heuston Stations. As you go up to purchase a ticket from the machine they amble over with a 'howya bud', then begin to try and help you buy a ticket, hoping for a bit of loose change, or to grab your wallet and disappear into the crowds. I say nothing, just fix them with a stare, as much as to say 'I know what you are up to, scumbag. Don't even think of trying anything'. They usually know by your demeanour that they are not going to get anything and slink away.

Came across a first a couple of years ago travelling back from Paddington to Slough one afternoon. Was sat minding my own business when an Eastern European woman, (probably a Roma, as Slough seems to have a large population now, and she wore the typical garb), touting for cash. I used the same stare as I use for the Luas underclass. Same result. She disappeared into the next coach. I have seen the same type of begging on the Paris and Rome metro's and some other Western European commuter trains, but deffo a first on my regular use on the National Network, or LU for that matter.

EM2 · 10 Sep 2014

PHILIPE said:
ATW and BTP are currently in the process of introducing a scheme known as "Withdrawal of Implied Permission" or WIP at Cardiff Central which is to target persistent offenders such as alcoholics, shoplifters and beggars.

Also in use at St Pancras.

Kite159 · 10 Sep 2014

I've noticed on a couple trains within the south London that you get the odd person walk up and down putting a packet of tissues with a little note asking for money in exchange for the tissues.

Although the best "homeless" chap I've seen is someone coming out of a brand new X5 to start his 'shift'.

Midlandman · 10 Sep 2014

Not on trains, but several years ago when we lived in Chorlton, Manchester, I was walking past a bus stop when a man asked if I could 'lend' him 50p for the bus fare to Stockport. No sooner had he spoken than a number 22 came round the corner going to Stockport. 'No need' I said, 'here, you get on and I'll buy your ticket'. I really think our Olympic selectors should have tried to track him down, given his speed over 100 yards to get away from me.

tsr · 10 Sep 2014

EM2 said:
Also in use at St Pancras.

Likewise at London Bridge. Especially useful in the underpasses/passageways, no doubt!

MidnightFlyer · 10 Sep 2014

Only ever experienced the tissue saleswomen twice, on the same day. One was on a GA service up through Stoke Newington and the other I think was on the DLR somewhere. The two people came from entirely separate origins and both had identically typed (or mis-typed!) notes about their situation. How very coincidental!

Away from the railways, I must have run into the same beggar twenty or thirty times at my uni's city centre last year, always just looking for a few pence. Another mooches around Tesco on a nightly basis in tears, asking for some money for a sandwich. Tempted next time I see her to offer to go in and buy one for her...

Swr28 · 11 Sep 2014

Some people are genuinely homeless and in a difficult place, I always preferred a cup of tea to money.

asylumxl · 11 Sep 2014

I was approached by someone asking me if I had some spare cash as he needed a ticket to get back to Reading to pick up his son.

"Well I'm on my way to Plymouth! I'll buy you a ticket and you can come with me on the train!".

He seemed rather speechless and had nothing to say for a few seconds and then began making excuses.

"Oh I guess you're not that eager to get to Reading then" I said and went through the barriers.

PermitToTravel · 11 Sep 2014

Bob Ames said:
Is such begging allowed on railway premises?

No. It's also not allowed anywhere else in public

Xenophon PCDGS · 11 Sep 2014

When I was working in Canada in the late 1990's, the large iconic Union Station in Toronto was a well-known haunt for a number of totally different beggars with a wide range of excuses.

LowLevel · 11 Sep 2014

Swr28 said:
Some people are genuinely homeless and in a difficult place, I always preferred a cup of tea to money.

Yeah - I've known several of those in passing and none of them ever just 'needed £2 to get home mate'. I work shifts over 24 hours and have a pretty good idea of which ones are real and which ones are states who want launching. I had one once where he had a crutch for effect, got aggressive demanding money on the concourse from the wrong bloke and had his crutch broken in half over his head for his trouble. Local police turned up and funnily enough he must have been known to them as the limit of their sympathy was to make him clean up his own blood off the floor. He didn't come back.

Hayley at Holyhead

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