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"See it, say it, sorted"

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Mag_seven

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Sorry I am fed up hearing this soundbite seemingly everywhere on the national railway network. Its everywhere on trains and at stations. I know its purpose is commendable, but its just the way I feel.
 
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rich r

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It's still infinitely better than the sinister 'Tracks are for trains not for playing games. Please don't trespass' that seems oddly much louder than all other announcements at Leeds station.
 

DarloRich

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Sorry I am fed up hearing this soundbite seemingly everywhere on the national railway network. Its everywhere on trains and at stations. I know its purpose is commendable, but its just the way I feel.

we are in a period of an elevated terror threat to the UK and our infrastructre including the railways. It will be staying.
 

MCSHF007

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Is it wrong that whenever I hear "Remember the Three S's" I automatically think "Sh*t, Shave, Shampoo"?
 

Antman

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Sorry I am fed up hearing this soundbite seemingly everywhere on the national railway network. Its everywhere on trains and at stations. I know its purpose is commendable, but its just the way I feel.

Tell me about it!

I think this, and indeed other repetitive announcements, do rather lose whatever effectiveness they might have after a while.

Time to change the record I think:roll:!
 

Antman

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Well given the amount of notices we get about it, it won't be any time soon. And in the event of another attack in UK it will get more frequent

Or maybe somebody will come up with a new way of getting the message across? Repetitive announcements surely lose their effectiveness after a while?
 

NSEFAN

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Or maybe somebody will come up with a new way of getting the message across? Repetitive announcements surely lose their effectiveness after a while?
How long have the announcements been around for? It doesn't need to be changed that often if the information is correct. I've heard the annoucement about cases and parcels in a 1990s documentary about BR, with the exact same wording as the more recent Phil Sayer version!
 

D1009

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The one reason it could be changed is if the BTP were indundated with texts from people who've "seen something that doesn't look right" but is in fact totally trivial.
 

AlterEgo

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Well given the amount of notices we get about it, it won't be any time soon. And in the event of another attack in UK it will get more frequent

They might not change the intention of the message, but they might want to think about changing up the wording, which I have switched off to.
 
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Regardless of the wording of the message, I'm not sure the service is up to scratch even if you do get in touch. On one occasion I saw a person they had recently made an appeal to trace for a serious assault. I had just got off the train and saw the suspect outside the station. I first called them, and after some time on hold I gave up waiting and decided to text them. As the result of my text, they sent a couple of follow up texts and finally an officer called me to discuss around an hour later. Needless to say the person I had seen, who they were appealing to find, was long gone.

This was some time ago - perhaps the service is better now - but if someone was prompted by these messages to call BTP to report something suspicious, I sincerely hope it wouldn't take an hour to get a response...
 

Bletchleyite

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Sorry I am fed up hearing this soundbite seemingly everywhere on the national railway network. Its everywhere on trains and at stations. I know its purpose is commendable, but its just the way I feel.

It's an irritating earworm - but by being so it's memorable so I guess works...

Perhaps a bit more modern than referring to not leaving cases and parcels on the station, which always gives me the image of an olde-worlde luggage trolley with some olde-worlde parcels in brown paper and leather suitcases left on it.
 

Simon11

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On a remote Welsh station, that only picks up when requested and the tannoy mentions the three S's..... Your more likely to get attacked by sheep, than people!
 

skyhigh

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Regardless of the wording of the message, I'm not sure the service is up to scratch even if you do get in touch. On one occasion I saw a person they had recently made an appeal to trace for a serious assault. I had just got off the train and saw the suspect outside the station. I first called them, and after some time on hold I gave up waiting and decided to text them. As the result of my text, they sent a couple of follow up texts and finally an officer called me to discuss around an hour later. Needless to say the person I had seen, who they were appealing to find, was long gone.

In situations like this it'd be much better to tell an officer if you saw one around - or if the situation was urgent, call 999.

Always dial 999 when you need an urgent police response such as:

  • A crime is happening
  • Someone suspected of a crime is nearby
  • Someone is injured, being threatened or in danger

http://www.btp.police.uk/61016_text_service1.aspx
 

ag51ruk

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They might not change the intention of the message, but they might want to think about changing up the wording, which I have switched off to.

It has changed - until November last year it was "see something, say something" . You're hearing it more often because of recent events, and it's unlikely to be going away anytime soon
 

Wombat

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The one reason it could be changed is if the BTP were indundated with texts from people who've "seen something that doesn't look right" but is in fact totally trivial.

I think this every time I hear that damn announcement.

If you see something that doesn't look right, speak to a member of staff

"Excuse me, but I'm sure that the man next to me on the 07:52 made a mistake in today's intermdiate-level sudoku puzzle."

But the announcement does annoy me. The "doesn't look right" bit and the "see it, say it, sorted" slogan seem childish and a bit like the sort of thing a marketing department might come up with when misjudging its audience. And then I think that it's quite probably done deliberately to resonate with children and the less bright, which is a reasonable enough thing to do, which makes it more annoying. And then I get annoyed with my own annoyance at something so trivial.
 

Bertie the bus

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It’s hardly worth complaining about. These messages have effectively replaced the constant no smoking announcements and if they stop these they’ll just replace it with some other announcement as part of the railway’s policy of not giving passengers a minute’s peace from arriving at the station to reaching their destination.
 

AlterEgo

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It has changed - until November last year it was "see something, say something" . You're hearing it more often because of recent events, and it's unlikely to be going away anytime soon

Probably true, but remember there's a difference between hearing and listening.
 

rdeez

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It's played annoyingly often, and loudly, at Birmingham New Street.

I find it sinister. Every time I hear it, it conjures up 1984-esque images. "We'll sort it" in particular evokes unease.

I know the intention is noble, but yeah. Makes me feel a bit like I'm living in a dystopia.
 

ASharpe

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I do find repetitive announcements rather irritating, but I wonder if they are going to start disappearing as we take the message onboard.

Last on Saturday night in Selby someone left (my wife thought intentionally) a bag on the platform. So I sent a text to 61016 and not only got a message back straight away but when I woke up I had a text saying that they had investigated.

It turned out the bag didn't have suspicious contents but given that they had gone to the effort to keep me informed I think I will make the effort the next time too, I've certainly not been put off texting the BTP.
 

Antman

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I do find repetitive announcements rather irritating, but I wonder if they are going to start disappearing as we take the message onboard.

Last on Saturday night in Selby someone left (my wife thought intentionally) a bag on the platform. So I sent a text to 61016 and not only got a message back straight away but when I woke up I had a text saying that they had investigated.

It turned out the bag didn't have suspicious contents but given that they had gone to the effort to keep me informed I think I will make the effort the next time too, I've certainly not been put off texting the BTP.

I don't mean to sound pedantic but shouldn't you have called 999 in that situation?

I had much the same response from BTP when I text them about anti social behavior issues.
 

Tetchytyke

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If you see something that doesn't look right, speak to a member of staff

"Excuse me, but I'm sure that the man next to me on the 07:52 made a mistake in today's intermdiate-level sudoku puzzle."

T'missus observed "those shoes, with that dress?" whenever we heard the announcement at Euston this weekend (and we heard it a lot), so great minds, etc etc.

I totally agree with you, it's the sort of thing you'd expect to hear from one of those particularly evangelical RE teachers who always tried too hard to seem down with the kids.
 

maire23

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I lost a bit of confidence in BTP when they started questioning me aggressively about the theft of a phone- I was on my way home from a rugby event, about 10.30 on a Wednesday night and I was waiting for my partner to collect me. I sat down and noticed that someone had left an expensive smartphone on the seat so I took it straightaway to a uniformed member of station staff. Some little scrote in the waiting room decided to claim it was his but I gave it to the staff member and there was somewhat of an exchange.
Next thing I knew, BTP turned up and said 'we have reason to believe you have stolen a phone' and started aggressively questioning me. I'm a clearly disabled female and have mental health problems so you can imagine I was in a bit of a state. Suddenly one of them groaned loudly and said 'she's the witness, not the suspect'
Turns out the staff member had given the phone to this scrote who had just done off on a train and was lying to cover up his mistake- saying I had taken the phone back off him and given it to this bloke!
Luckily there were others around who corroborated my story and I had been on my own phone to my best friend who had heard the whole thing and backed me up too.
I said I was more than happy to help with their enquiries but I wasn't happy with the fact they didn't even apologise when it became apparent they had the wrong person- if being honest gets you that kind of treatment why bother?! Not the first time I've found stuff but I always take it straight to station staff.
 

fowler9

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A few years back I accidentally left a large metal frame rucksack on the last Liverpool to Manchester train when I got off at Warrington Central (I had dozed off and just jumped up and got off without my bag). I pressed the emergency call button in the station because there were no staff about and basically got told off and asked why I had pressed the emergency call. I told them it was to let them know there was a huge metal framed rucksack left on a train and that it was nothing to worry about since they seem to have 24/7 announcements in the station about such things. They told me not to worry and to contact lost property the next day. The illusion of safety coupled with the constant fear mongering of the press. The bag never turned up and there were no stories about a bag being destroyed in a controlled explosion. Clearly they (The powers that be) are not that bothered.
 
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sheff1

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My experiences are not good.

I reported a seemingly unattended bag to a member of staff who replied "what I am supposed to do about it ?". Mind you, that was better than when I tried to report an incident to BTP officers - they wouldn't even listen and aggressively told me to move along and board the train or I would be arrested.

Needless to say, I no longer bother to try and report anything "which does not look right".
 
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