You could have stopped there, really. Why does everything have to be someone else's responsibility?
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Rail company's liability for stolen luggage
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tiptoptaff
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Compensation, innit
Same as delay repay.
tiptoptaff
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I don't think luggage theft is in any way similar to delay repay
I thought Essex Gonzo's post was light-hearted but fairly accurate. The attitude of the railways does often seem to be that 'yes it is a crap service but we have always been crap and if you don't like it stay away. In fact we would prefer you to stay away'.
Of course that is only my opinion based on my admittedly narrow band of experiences and I have also met very good railway people that are keen to do their best to help.
Of course that is only my opinion based on my admittedly narrow band of experiences and I have also met very good railway people that are keen to do their best to help.
Or as the song put it "Passengers will please refrain"...
No, nobody is forced to bring luggage, but carrying luggage when travelling is not exactly fringe behaviour is it? It's entirely reasonable to expect a travel provider to include decent and (within reason) secure provision for luggage as part of their service. If I buy a return ticket over a two week period am I expected to wear the same pants and socks every day to avoid inconveniencing the rail industry?
I think that the growing number of delay repay claims investigated and rejected by customer services after they are referred to revenue teams would suggest otherwise.
I've factually seen examples where the traveller has made claims for both an outward and return journey when the claimed trains actually passed each other in the opposite direction!
Admittedly many fictitious claims fail, but theft is theft however it is perpetrated.
tiptoptaff
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I see what you mean - I agree. I thought it was comparing blame-free compensation for delays to blame free compensation for luggage theft
staticsteve
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Seems quite a good idea to have a cheap wire style bike lock (or similar) to lock it to the luggage rack (if the configuration allows).
I've seen something similar provides on airport trains in Japan. Unfortunately unlikely to be implemented here as our trains tend to have a lot less spare space.
I've seen something similar provides on airport trains in Japan. Unfortunately unlikely to be implemented here as our trains tend to have a lot less spare space.
Except would it be legal?
Railway byelaw 6(3): No person shall write, draw, paint or fix anything on the railway.
staticsteve
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Ah, I didn't realise that.
I'd hope realistically it wouldn't be enforced if your bag wasn't causing a problem (e.g. you hadn't locked it in a manner where it blocks other people's bags / the gangway etc). But, I could be totally wrong.
If somebody locks their bike to the train would the guard always take action? Or only if it was causing a problem?
ashkeba
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Lock it to the luggage rack not the tracks!
That's still not allowed. "The railway" doesn't just mean the tracks.
tiptoptaff
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I think a degree of common sense is required in that byelaw, otherwise technically speaking a locking to a bike-rack on railway property is in breach.
In this current security climate, I'd think locking a bag to a luggage rack is going to get an instruction to remove said lock at the very least.
In this current security climate, I'd think locking a bag to a luggage rack is going to get an instruction to remove said lock at the very least.
ashkeba
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Hasn't in 15ish years, which includes around the 2005 London bombings. Train crew have enough to do with passengers and seem to ignore luggage unless it seems obstructive or abandoned. The "current security climate" seems more worried about knife and truck attacks than bombers.
As I think I wrote before, to stop locked luggage, put luggage spaces in full view instead of hidden.
Haywain
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In full view of what - every seat? It isn't possible.
ashkeba
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And yet other countries manage this impossibility in various ways: luggage racks in the centre of the carriage, or at the end that seats face with reinforced glass/perspex walls into the coach, or large overhead racks, or below seats that you step up into. Loads of options but the lazy British railways answer is "it isn't possible".
Haywain
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It isn't possible to have large overhead racks or large underseat spaces because we are confined to the loading gauge of our railway system. Luggage racks in the centre of the coach are effective for security but dramatically increase time for passengers boarding and alighting which is why they only feature on a few trains. As for racks at coach ends it will only ever be possible to have a handful of seats that have visibility of luggage racks, so the problem won't be significantly different to what it is now. But feel free to continue to dismiss this as laziness while you continue to come up with answers that haven't been thought through.
Ticket Man
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Not sure how far that would get ya. Its already been mentioned that the conditions of travel (which are laid down by the RDG and DaFT) that the TOC's don't accept responsibility for luggage, its also mentioned in the same conditions that you can not block doorways and walkways with luggage.
It's just a case of your luggage, your responsibility.
And yet in some pacers they even provide some chain or something to lock your bike securely so i really dont think its going to cause an issue.... Unless you are looking for it to become an issue of course
Oh, I don't expect that it would be an issue 99% of the time. I was just pointing out that in the 1% then the Byelaw would provide a basis for prosecution.
Funny, it always used to be possible. It’s a matter of decent train design.
Voyagers have minimal luggage space because the designers chose to use the space behind the luggage rack for pipework, and then put seating in without much space for luggage. The trains I commute in on LNER have reasonable luggage space because stacks have been built in view of the seating in the vestibule. They were however better as originally designed because there were many fewer airline seats, and therefore space was available between the seat backs.
Conscious decisions have been taken to squeeze more seats in. Those come at the cost of luggage space. That is to say, prioritising commuting over over forms of travel. That seems wrong headed on inter city routes.
That answer presumes that the available space on trains was unchangeable.
TPE trains on the Sheffield - Manchester route have overhead racks which comfortably take the mid-size cases you referred to earlier. EMT trains on the same route do not. XC HSTs do, XC Voyagers do not.
So perfectly possible if the train design is done properly.
HSTs are the oldest of the 4 types above, yet the TPE are the newest - so nothing to do with not being possible on "modern" stock either.
Haywain
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Thanks for quoting me out of context. I was answering a previous post which started with the words “And yet other countries manage this...”.
ashkeba
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Not sure how that context would change the inaccuracy of your post claiming it's not possible in the British loading gauge?
Indeed, and you went on to say that the reason we can't have large overhead racks was
I saw no point in quoting that 'reason' as it was a red herring ... the GB loading gauge does not preclude the possibility of overhead racks large enough to take the mid-size cases - witness those on XC HSTs and the TPE trains. Of course, the GB loading gauge does not allow racks the size of those in, say, Sweden which can accommodate humongous pieces of luggage but that was not the type of luggage being discussed.
The undeniable fact is that many TOCs tell passengers to keep their luggage with them, or in sight, at all times, but at the same time operate trains which, due to poor design, do not have suitable storage space to make this possible even when the luggage is not in any way 'abnormal'.
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