Antisocial behaviour on trains

[Skimpot flyer]

Yesterday, I boarded a lightly-loaded Gatwick Express service at London Victoria, about 10 minutes before departure. I sat in an airline-style seat and looked forward to the journey. A few minutes later, a man settled into the airline style seat (of a pair) in front of me, arranged all his stuff on the seat-back table, and starts playing YouTube or TikTok videos on a phone, at full volume.
I politely asked if he had any earphones, as people might not want their peace and quiet disturbed.
He said ‘Earphones? You’re incredibly rude! I’ll tell you what, I’ll just move somewhere else, ok’
I was flabbergasted. I said ‘I’M rude? You want to inflict loud noise on everyone but it’s me that’s rude??’
He walks off with a ‘stop digging’ comment over his shoulder. Then sits down in a bay of four seats about 5 rows ahead, on the opposite side.
A man at his new proposed seating area says ‘the gentleman has a point, don’t think you can play that here’ presumably pointing at the phone (I couldn’t see). ‘You’d best move on, or else…’
‘Or else what?’ said phone man, gathering his things and moving off into the next carriage…
Was I in the wrong? I thanked the other chap for his support and enjoyed a quiet journey as a result.
Was I unreasonable?
Not that it makes any difference, but phone man was not a teenager, he was in his mid-50s !

 

[trebor79]

You were entirely reasonable. This issue is becoming more of a problem and bravo you and the other guy not letting him get away with it.

 

[zwk500]

The that your fellow passenger backed you up is very heartening to hear. You were completely reasonable to ask him to use earphones.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The fact that he moved (twice) suggests he knew he was in the wrong. Him being a bit arsey about it makes it seem quite amusing to be honest.

It also seems like the most middle class example of anti-social behaviour I've ever heard of!

 

[Parjon]

No. Not only is it become a widespread problem but so is the entitled attitude.

On one occasion I determined to join in instead of arguing. They put tik tok on, so I put my stuff on. They put their volume up and so did I. In the end I couldn't hear my science lecture (although could read the subtitles) and he couldn't hear his moronic Tim tok videos. He packed it in then.

Playing stuff out loud is not only rude, it's a nonsense. And shows how badly the collective intellect has been degraded.

 

[Gemz91]

When there’s members of staff travelling pass in uniform watching their mobile phones with with no earphones in just shows how little awareness people really have.

 

[Iskra]

Fairly recently I challenged a man on a service, who was repeatedly playing the same 10-second clip of bangra music out-loud for 30-minutes constantly. He then had the audacity to ask me if I had headphones to put on so I wouldn’t hear it …but after a curt response from me he did turn it off and I was thanked by other passengers.

I also had a man watching a documentary about ants out-loud for the full Settle-Carlisle last year although that was less annoying as it was less repetitive, less brash and further away.

Most recently I had a lady in the quiet carriage watching videos on her phone, but she was apologetic when I pointed out which carriage she was in.

It’s an increasing issue, and I don’t understand the mindset of people who think it is socially acceptable behaviour to inflict their devices on fellow passengers. It is spoiling journeys. I wish guards would address such behaviour on their PA announcements and when walking through the train.

 

[Huntergreed]

I’ve been down in Birmingham for the weekend, and I’ve been shocked at the standard of behaviour I’ve seen on some trains.

Over the past 24 hours, I have seen:

• Shouting across a carriage
• No fewer than 9 separate instances of people playing audio out loud from a device.
• Swearing
• Cycling along platforms
• Plenty of feet on seats
• Someone being told to “shut your ******* baby up or I’ll do it for you” when a baby was crying.
• Shoving
• People barging onto trains before everyone has alighted.
• Someone telling a guard to “**** off” when asked to produce a ticket.
• An extensive amount of litter left on many trains
• People spreading their luggage and belongings across a bay of 4 on a busy train
• Plenty of drunk football fans singing loudly
• People blocking the door on a busy train and refusing to move to allow people on or off.

The standard of behaviour on the railway is shocking at the moment. I’m generally against the Merseyrail approach of Penalty Fares or prosecutions for misconduct. That said, having seen the behaviour I’ve seen this weekend, I’m inclined to think there may be some merit to being much stricter and issuing penalty fares for some of the above.

 

[12C]

I’ve been down in Birmingham for the weekend, and I’ve been shocked at the standard of behaviour I’ve seen on some trains.

Over the past 24 hours, I have seen:

• Shouting across a carriage
• No fewer than 9 separate instances of people playing audio out loud from a device.
• Swearing
• Cycling along platforms
• Plenty of feet on seats
• Someone being told to “shut your ******* baby up or I’ll do it for you” when a baby was crying.
• Shoving
• People barging onto trains before everyone has alighted.
• Someone telling a guard to “**** off” when asked to produce a ticket.
• An extensive amount of litter left on many trains
• People spreading their luggage and belongings across a bay of 4 on a busy train
• Plenty of drunk football fans singing loudly
• People blocking the door on a busy train and refusing to move to allow people on or off.

The standard of behaviour on the railway is shocking at the moment. I’m generally against the Merseyrail approach of Penalty Fares or prosecutions for misconduct. That said, having seen the behaviour I’ve seen this weekend, I’m inclined to think there may be some merit to being much stricter and issuing penalty fares for some of the above.

I completely agree, there has been a huge deterioration of passenger behaviour on trains in recent years, which is probably a reflection of wider society.

I have stopped taking my young kids anywhere by rail now as I got fed up of them constantly hearing the ‘F’ word (or worse) everywhere we went, as well as all the other things you describe. This is probably why in general you don’t see many families taking train journeys any more.

 

[yorksrob]

I don't understand why people can't just use earphones.

 

[Peter0124]

The barging on before everyone has got off seems to be a common problem in London (elizabeth line) aswell atleast from my experience being there last week.

 

[Halwynd]

I don't understand why people can't just use earphones.

Its a selfish 'me me me' society these days.

I wonder whether half the problem is that a few years ago Apple (and probably their Android competitors) stopped putting 3.5mm headphone sockets on their phones - and stopped including a set of earphones with each phone. Everytime I see this behaviour I curse Apple and Tim Cook.

The OP was quite right and not a bit unreasonable.

 

[yorksrob]

Its a selfish 'me me me' society these days.

I wonder whether half the problem is that a few years ago Apple (and probably their Android competitors) stopped putting 3.5mm headphone sockets on their phones - and stopped including a set of earphones with each phone. Everytime I see this behaviour I curse Apple and Tim Cook.

The OP was quite right and not a bit unreasonable.

Ah, that might explain it. Still doesn't justify it though.

Also, earphones provide a far better quality of sound to the listener.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

I don't understand why people can't just use earphones.

During the conversation I had with the man, a young woman to our right had earbuds in, presumably listening to her phone, and glanced over at the raised voices. But she was showing consideration for others by not inflicting whatever she was listening to on everyone.
I recall a young woman in the declassified First Class section at the back of a Thameslink service one time playing an episode of Big Bang Theory out loud. Despite several people asking her to stop, she was quite rude and insisted on her ‘right’ to do it as ‘I’ve paid for my ticket, the same as you’
She stopped eventually, then phoned a friend on FaceTime (with speaker on full volume of course) and proceeded to loudly moan about ‘all these old fat people having a go at me’

 

[BeijingDave]

I don't understand why people can't just use earphones.

This is what I do now, but really, why should we have to?

 

[NeilCr]

Many moons ago when I was commuting there was a group of kids playing music quite loudly through a phone

Nobody did anything until a woman stood up - walked to the seats they were sitting in and started to sing (very well) an operatic song.

That stopped them!

 

[zwk500]

Ah, that might explain it. Still doesn't justify it though.

Also, earphones provide a far better quality of sound to the listener.

Certainly given that bluetooth headphones are easily available, there's no reason not to have some with you. I sometimes find I've been wearing my headphones too long that day, or don't want to stick buds right in, but if I'm in an environment where other people might hear my music I either put up without the music or put up with the discomfort of wearing the head/earphones.

 

[Skimpot flyer]

This is what I do now, but really, why should we have to?

Do you mean ‘why should we have to challenge people?’ or ‘why should we have to wear earphones?’ ?
I would think the answer to the latter is ‘because it’s the considerate thing to do’.
Imagine the cacophony of noise if multiple people are playing different music/videos at full volume on speakers !!

 

[Halwynd]

Ah, that might explain it. Still doesn't justify it though.

Also, earphones provide a far better quality of sound to the listener.

You're right - it doesn't justify it, particularly as with the iPhone you can buy an adaptor for £9 that lets you plug in your earphones. You don't need to spend a great deal to get a decent set. If people can afford the phone they can afford the earphones.

I mentioned selfishness earlier, there's probably another group too: the halfwits who probably don't even realise the disturbance they cause.

 

[zwk500]

I mentioned selfishness earlier, there's probably another group too: the halfwits who probably don't even realise the disturbance they cause.

I think there's also an element of american thinking being imported, with the 'nobody can tell me what to do' type of thinking evident in a number of areas of public life.

 

[Halwynd]

I think there's also an element of american thinking being imported, with the 'nobody can tell me what to do' type of thinking evident in a number of areas of public life.

Yes, very true.

 

[Virgin Voyager]

This would definitely overpower the sound of a crap tik tok

 

[lxfe_mxtterz]

This would definitely overpower the sound of a crap tik tok

I made a point about Class 150s being awfully noisy on another thread, and couldn't think of anything to like about them. But now that I've read this thread, perhaps they do serve one purpose...

To drown out the insufferable, endless cycle of 10-second clips of crap on TicTac, complete with that stupid, grating high-pitched robotic voice they all seem to come with.

 

[bramling]

Yesterday, I boarded a lightly-loaded Gatwick Express service at London Victoria, about 10 minutes before departure. I sat in an airline-style seat and looked forward to the journey. A few minutes later, a man settled into the airline style seat (of a pair) in front of me, arranged all his stuff on the seat-back table, and starts playing YouTube or TikTok videos on a phone, at full volume.
I politely asked if he had any earphones, as people might not want their peace and quiet disturbed.
He said ‘Earphones? You’re incredibly rude! I’ll tell you what, I’ll just move somewhere else, ok’
I was flabbergasted. I said ‘I’M rude? You want to inflict loud noise on everyone but it’s me that’s rude??’
He walks off with a ‘stop digging’ comment over his shoulder. Then sits down in a bay of four seats about 5 rows ahead, on the opposite side.
A man at his new proposed seating area says ‘the gentleman has a point, don’t think you can play that here’ presumably pointing at the phone (I couldn’t see). ‘You’d best move on, or else…’
‘Or else what?’ said phone man, gathering his things and moving off into the next carriage…
Was I in the wrong? I thanked the other chap for his support and enjoyed a quiet journey as a result.
Was I unreasonable?
Not that it makes any difference, but phone man was not a teenager, he was in his mid-50s !

This sort of thing has got a lot worse since Covid. Indeed it seems that isolation, working from home, selective or no socialisation and all the rest of it have done some people no good at all.

Very unfortunately it’s just another reason not to travel by train, though behaviour on the roads has also got worse since 2019.

 

[Deepgreen]

You were; a) right and b) lucky he caved in so readily.

A couple of years back I was on a 165 in first class and a woman got on and proceeded to have a very loud phone conversation without holding the phone to her ear - so broadcasting it to anyone else around. After a couple of minutes (we were the only two in the compartment) I deliberately turned on loud music on my phone. After a startlingly long time she asked if I would turn it down (all the while continuing her conversation). I stared at her and told her I would if she would. She went red and shut up.

 

[mikeb42]

The barging on before everyone has got off seems to be a common problem in London (elizabeth line) aswell atleast from my experience being there last week.

This has been relatively prevalent in other parts of the country for a long time but as an outsider frequently travelling into London it was very noticeable that, with surprisingly limited exceptions, there was an unspoken code not to do this. Mostly, it seemed, because it was realised by the great majority that it was quicker on average to wait for the bulk of people to alight first before trying to get on.

I agree that there's been a striking deterioration in this recently though. Being 6'4" tall and about as wide, whenever this happens (v noticeable on the Elizabeth line for some reason) I now stop dead and stand in the doorway, blocking as much of it as possible and making it very clear that I'm not moving until those trying to shove past me pack it in or else. Anyone who makes significant contact with me is going to get 18 stone of belligerence pushing them back onto the platform if necessary. I'll probably get stabbed at some point but it feels increasingly like it might be a blessed relief.

If I say what I think of people playing media/video/audio calls on speakerphone on trains (or in any indoor public environment rather than their own private space where they can electrocute their one remaining neuron and make their ears bleed with their appalling high-pass-filter audio systems to their hearts content) I will be banned from the forum.

 

[BeijingDave]

Do you mean ‘why should we have to challenge people?’ or ‘why should we have to wear earphones?’ ?
I would think the answer to the latter is ‘because it’s the considerate thing to do’.
Imagine the cacophony of noise if multiple people are playing different music/videos at full volume on speakers !!

Sorry, a poorly written and unclear post by me.

I meant "Nowadays, I do just wear headphones (to drown out other people's TikTok rubbish), but I don't see why I should have to." I have largely given up on challenging anti-social behaviour, though, 1. because it's so widespread and 2. other passengers rarely back you up.

 

[Iskra]

It would possibly be beneficial if BTP could spend a day issuing fines for such behaviour, and publicise the operation so people become aware of it being against the law.

 

[Halwynd]

It would possibly be beneficial if BTP could spend a day issuing fines for such behaviour, and publicise the operation so people become aware of it being against the law.

Or perhaps, instead of the 'see it, say it, sorted' nonsense, the railway could broadcast: 'please use earphones when using electronic devices', or something like that. Personally, I would add... 'or else a cattle prod may be deployed against you', but I realise that might be taking it a bit far.

Seriously though, I think the responsibility for tackling this is down to the TOCs. I have a feeling that one day there will be a serious incident because of it... better to act now for the benefit of the majority of passengers who don't cause such disturbance or annoyance and do not want to listen to it.

 

[XIX7007177]

Listening to stuff on public transport without earphones should be illegal. Life imprisonment.