Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
You can't blame the Council for capping. Capping is an affront to local democracy and prevents them doing their work properly.
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Beggars at railway stations
- Thread starter johntea
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You can't blame the Council for capping. Capping is an affront to local democracy and prevents them doing their work properly.
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R
RailUK Forums
I'm fairly confident it is. 95% of the ones I have dealt with in the past year present Romanian National ID cards.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
I can and will blame them for the decisions they make, cap or no cap. They cut a relatively minor funding stream for homeless shelters while voting themselves a pay rise every year (this year was £500 each ) and also agreed this year was a 2% year on year increase for 4 years. The council leader is on a £30k a year allowance, cabinet members £11k, The Mayor gets £11k and the deputy Mayor £5k.
Don't tell me hard choices have to be made while pocketing more of our cash.
atraindriver
Member
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Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
If you pay peanuts, you get monkeys.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
They are local councillors not brain surgeons!
61653 HTAFC
Veteran Member
It's certainly just as bad overseas in places. I was approached by a middle-aged female beggar while queueing for a coffee in a 20min interchange at Frankfurt am Main hauptbahnhof. I said I'd buy her a coffee, as I was about to be served. I ordered 2 coffees and a hot-dog, handed one of the coffees to the woman, but when receiving my change from the barista she shoved her hand over mine, in an attempt to catch the change!
I left with both coffees, one of which I handed to a different beggar.
I left with both coffees, one of which I handed to a different beggar.
I've used 61016 to report a beggar at Kings Cross and they responded within a few minutes asking for more of a description so they could try and find them. About half an hour later I got another text saying they'd looked but couldn't find them and thanking me for bringing it to their attention. I, personally, was very very impressed by the response on 61016. I know of someone else who used it to report another issue and they get a very quick a comprehensive response.
tsr
Established Member
61016 seems very variable. In London and other urban areas, I have often had a very fast response and told what action has been taken, but if reporting stuff elsewhere, they rarely even bother to text back a reference number, which is the usual default when something has been logged with them. This is especially annoying given that I have been specifically asked by local officers to text (as opposed to email or call in) reports of certain issues.
cjp
Member
£30,00₩ is not an allowance it is a good wage. I know of night shift workers getting less than that.
Noses in the trough springs to mind.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
Part of the problems are caused by politicians having outside interests. We would be better off paying them a proper CEO's wage i.e. 6 figures but then banning all outside work other than the likes of volunteering in organisations like Scouting.
DarloRich
Veteran Member
I don't disagree - the council leader is a senior position with substantial responsibility. The mayor is a sinecure.
I used it to report a large group of kids cycling (and doing wheelies FFS) on a platform at Thetford (I was remaining on the train that came in on the opposite platform and saw it from the window). I got a phone call almost straight away asking for more information and assurances that police were on the way.
ForTheLoveOf
Established Member
- Joined
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I was recently asked by a member of staff at a station that shall remain nameless, to report a beggar to 61016. The member of staff said that the BTP didn't take reports from staff, and therefore every report from a passenger counted.
matt_world2004
Established Member
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I reported a beggar working between Uxbridge and Harrow on the hill on the met and I got a follow up text saying they caught him.
HaggisBotherer
Member
- Joined
- 25 Sep 2018
- Messages
- 253
Chuff, chuffing heck that's bad...Beggars at stations does surprise me seeing as beggars can't be choo, choosers.
..... I'll get my coat.
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Liverpool Lime Street used to be plagued with "beggars" walking up to people and asking for "60p for the train home" etc etc etc. They were mostly off their faces on drink, drugs or a combination of both. I once got hassled for "spare change" and I gave the guy the last 5p in my pocket just to get rid of him. He looked at it, said "what's that?" and handed it back to me!
Anyway, the BTP and station security had a crackdown because it was getting out of control, especially the group of smack rats that would congregate on the corner opposite the Crown pub, and now you rarely see anyone hassling people for money at Lime Street station.
Anyway, the BTP and station security had a crackdown because it was getting out of control, especially the group of smack rats that would congregate on the corner opposite the Crown pub, and now you rarely see anyone hassling people for money at Lime Street station.
As a former councillor I would emphasise that the councillors are there to represent the community and set the policy direction of the Council; the officers are there to implement those broad policies and to run the Council on a day-to-day basis. Unfortunately - IMO - those roles have become blurred in recent years with some councillors starting to behave like officers. It rarely ends well.
My personal view is that there's little reason for a councillor to receive much more than c.£10k. If being a councillor becomes a full-time job it's being done wrong!
Elecman
Established Member
Nonsense. They have certainly taken reports from me on numerous occasions and I’m Rail staff
that joke hit the buffers. pointless....Chuff, chuffing heck that's bad...
Same. 61016 is much better than ringing.
matt_world2004
Established Member
- Joined
- 5 Nov 2014
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- 4,504
It might have been the case the station staff had already reported the beggar in this circumstance and the station staff member wanted passengers to report it so it reinforced their reports.
Strat-tastic
Established Member
If they don't listen to staff then there is no hope.
ForTheLoveOf
Established Member
- Joined
- 7 Oct 2017
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- 6,416
Well, the member of staff didn't elaborate in any great detail, but they were anxious to ask that I made the report. Report duly made, nothing ever heard back. No surprise there!
bromleyboy21
Member
- Joined
- 22 Jun 2011
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- 20
Last night I travelled up to Charing Cross and arrived at about 7pm, I was heading to the Northern Line so went down the stairs to the tube entrance. I know that you often see some homeless people down there in the subway but I was shocked by just how many there were - admittedly I don't go to the West End all that often.
One homeless guy was screaming in the face of another and I felt a really nasty atmosphere about the place. It felt more like Dickensian London than "Global Britain" London 2019 and didn't really strike me as a welcoming view for people to see arriving in the capital.
There were 3 TFL guys in the ticket hall who were watching with some interest but didn't seem particularly interested in doing anything about it - I don't know who is responsible for those subways or if they should be getting involved.
On the way back home at about 10pm coming back from the tube to the station there was an announcement being given as I walked through the subway which said something along the lines of "professional beggars are known to operate in this area, please do not give them money, if you'd like to help please make a donation to a homelessness charity".
All in all a sorry state of affairs to see in 2019.
One homeless guy was screaming in the face of another and I felt a really nasty atmosphere about the place. It felt more like Dickensian London than "Global Britain" London 2019 and didn't really strike me as a welcoming view for people to see arriving in the capital.
There were 3 TFL guys in the ticket hall who were watching with some interest but didn't seem particularly interested in doing anything about it - I don't know who is responsible for those subways or if they should be getting involved.
On the way back home at about 10pm coming back from the tube to the station there was an announcement being given as I walked through the subway which said something along the lines of "professional beggars are known to operate in this area, please do not give them money, if you'd like to help please make a donation to a homelessness charity".
All in all a sorry state of affairs to see in 2019.
Bletchleyite
Veteran Member
The toilets in Charing Cross are equally dangerous-feeling with all sorts of unsavoury characters in them. It's enough for me to want to pay 30p/pee again for some protection. I genuinely feel unsafe down there, and those who have met me will know I am, shall we say, not of a stature that I would be under genuine physical threat from the vast majority of people unless they had a weapon.
d9009alycidon
Member
The beggars in Glasgow have cottoned on to the idea that if you have a cute or depressed looking dog as a sidekick then you will attract more revenue, my wife is a sucker for that set up.
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