Conductor punched at Blackpool South Wed 14 Jan

[AndyPJG]

BBC News item

An appeal has been launched to trace a commuter who punched a train conductor when he stopped him from boarding after he was verbally abusive.
The conductor stopped the Blackpool South train in Lancashire after hearing a "loud bang" as it set off at 08:20 GMT on Wednesday.
Police said a man ran towards him shouting abuse while saying: "You left early, I'm going to be late for work".
The man then punched the conductor in the face, police said.
British Transport Police said he tried pull the conductor out of the way to board the train before assaulting him.
The man was wearing a hat, a dark jacket and dark trousers and fled towards Waterloo Road.
PC Melanie Reid said: "The conductor opened the door and got off the train.
"As he did so he saw a man running towards him shouting abuse saying 'You left early, I'm going to be late for work'.
"The man then tried to get on the train but the conductor refused him travel due to his behaviour."

The conductor was left with bruising and swelling to his face.

 

[185143]

I've missed a train before that actually did leave early, this was confirmed on TRUST by station staff. Did I run after the train and assault the crew? No, I waited 30 minutes for the next train and took the issue up with the TOC concerned.

What is this world coming to?

 

[AndyPJG]

Seems the working was cancelled, rest of passengers must have been ....off.

Real train Times

This service was cancelled between Blackpool South and Preston due to unknown cause ().

 

[itsjamierawr]

That line seems to attract all the strange people... I've been on it before when in the middle of the day a very drunk couple started hurling abuse at some passenger for no reason whatsoever - including hitting him, needless to say the BTP got them at Preston

 

[Deepgreen]

Of course the assault was wrong, but early running is inexcusable and becoming all too common. In my case, the next train in the peaks is an hour away, and two hours off-peak, so it's glib to say just wait for the next one. We'll get to the station to catch the train in time as long as the train holds up its end of the bargain.

 

[Robertj21a]

So - did it leave early or not ?

[no excuse for abuse regardless]

 

[Darren R]

If a train departing half-a-minute early results in you missing it, you haven't left yourself sufficient time to catch it.

For the sake of train crew and passengers I hope they catch this person and make an example of him. I use the Blackpool South to Colne services regularly, and although the vast majority of passengers are perfectly well behaved, there seems to be a number who give every impression of heading off to appear as guests on Jeremy Kyle. Guards often retreat into their cab, leaving tickets unchecked, particularly in the evening. Quite frankly, I don't blame them. The criminal justice system needs to start meeting out some punishments that act as real deterrents in cases such as this.

 

[anti-pacer]

If a train departing half-a-minute early results in you missing it, you haven't left yourself sufficient time to catch it.

For the sake of train crew and passengers I hope they catch this person and make an example of him. I use the Blackpool South to Colne services regularly, and although the vast majority of passengers are perfectly well behaved, there seems to be a number who give every impression of heading off to appear as guests on Jeremy Kyle. Guards often retreat into their cab, leaving tickets unchecked, particularly in the evening. Quite frankly, I don't blame them. The criminal justice system needs to start meeting out some punishments that act as real deterrents in cases such as this.

Most Jeremy Kyle guests are Northerners anyway so you could be right!

 

[Deepgreen]

If a train departing half-a-minute early results in you missing it, you haven't left yourself sufficient time to catch it.

For the sake of train crew and passengers I hope they catch this person and make an example of him. I use the Blackpool South to Colne services regularly, and although the vast majority of passengers are perfectly well behaved, there seems to be a number who give every impression of heading off to appear as guests on Jeremy Kyle. Guards often retreat into their cab, leaving tickets unchecked, particularly in the evening. Quite frankly, I don't blame them. The criminal justice system needs to start meeting out some punishments that act as real deterrents in cases such as this.

What utter rubbish. What part of "of course the assault was wrong" did you fail to comprehend? There is absolutely no excuse under any circumstances for the very lazy behaviour of early running. For the hard-of-thinking I repeat, if the train does its part of the bargain and does not leave early, I will do my part and arrive at the station in time to catch an on time (i.e. NOT early) departure. Just a reminder to those who may have lost sight of the fact, we railway operators are there to serve the passengers and not vice versa!!

 

[muz379]

What utter rubbish. What part of "of course the assault was wrong" did you fail to comprehend? There is absolutely no excuse under any circumstances for the very lazy behaviour of early running. For the hard-of-thinking I repeat, if the train does its part of the bargain and does not leave early, I will do my part and arrive at the station in time to catch an on time (i.e. NOT early) departure. Just a reminder to those who may have lost sight of the fact, we railway operators are there to serve the passengers and not vice versa!!

Have we actually established that this train left early ?

Remember that to allow an on time departure train doors close 30 seconds before departure .

And just out of interest do you actually think that early running is just caused by laziness on the behalf of traincrew ?

 

[Bishopstone]

What is the official source of the time, on the railway? Does this vary by TOC?

 

[DarloRich]

i think people asking about he train leaving early may, ever so slightly, have missed the point.....................

 

[talltim]

i think people asking about he train leaving early may, ever so slightly, have missed the point.....................

Did the point leave early too?

 

[Bodiddly]

What utter rubbish. What part of "of course the assault was wrong" did you fail to comprehend? There is absolutely no excuse under any circumstances for the very lazy behaviour of early running. For the hard-of-thinking I repeat, if the train does its part of the bargain and does not leave early, I will do my part and arrive at the station in time to catch an on time (i.e. NOT early) departure. Just a reminder to those who may have lost sight of the fact, we railway operators are there to serve the passengers and not vice versa!!

Very strange reply. It seems to me that you are failing to condone the violence because the train set off early. Let me state to the hard of thinking, violent behaviour towards ANY individual is totally and utterly unacceptable. This country is becoming an absolute breeding ground for angry thugs!

 

[trainophile]

Did the point leave early too?

 

[DarloRich]

Did the point leave early too?

hilariously funny that someone went to work and got assaulted for their trouble. haven't laughed as much for ages. :roll:

No one should be assaulted at work. I hope the perpetrator is caught and dealt with and that the victim is able to resume work swiftly.

 

[yorkie]

Whatever happened before the incident, nothing justifies it.

Yes I've seen trains go early, and that's wrong, but all you can do is write to the Company. We do not know if that actually happened in this case or not.

I've also known Guards incorrectly deny people boarding through false allegations of being "abusive" and that's also wrong, but again all you can do is write to the company. We don't know in this case who said what exactly.

Whatever happened before the assault took place cannot possibly justify it and I am sure no-one here is justifying it, so there should be no need for an argument about that.

trainophile was clearly laughing at the typo, and not that someone went to work and got assaulted. If you really thought anyone was laughing at such an assault in a post on this forum I hope you would use the report button (

) to let us deal with it.

 

[PermitToTravel]

I don't really understand - if the train left early then how did he punch its guard?

 

[trainophile]

talltim made a joke, I showed my appreciation of it. I did wonder whether my response might offend, but thought only someone deliberately looking for offence would bother to pick it up.

Fahad - my interpretation is that the loud bang was the passenger banging on the train to cause it to stop, whereupon he forced his way on and assaulted the guard, but I might have got that wrong.

 

[PermitToTravel]

Ah, that would make sense.

 

[DarloRich]

talltim made a joke, I showed my appreciation of it. I did wonder whether my response might offend, but thought only someone deliberately looking for offence would bother to pick it up.

I took no offense - i just thought it was silly

 

[muz379]

Whatever happened before the incident, nothing justifies it.

Yes I've seen trains go early, and that's wrong, but all you can do is write to the Company. We do not know if that actually happened in this case or not.

I've also known Guards incorrectly deny people boarding through false allegations of being "abusive" and that's also wrong, but again all you can do is write to the company. We don't know in this case who said what exactly.

Whatever happened before the assault took place cannot possibly justify it and I am sure no-one here is justifying it, so there should be no need for an argument about that.

trainophile was clearly laughing at the typo, and not that someone went to work and got assaulted. If you really thought anyone was laughing at such an assault in a post on this forum I hope you would use the report button (

) to let us deal with it.

Indeed completely agree with all of this .

Even if the guard has denied you boarding and incorrectly accused you of being abusive assaulting them isnt exactly going to prove the point that you aren't abusive and have done nothing wrong so should have been let on the train .

 

[hassaanhc]

If you are looking for a facepalm moment, nothing beats the following comment by a passenger interviewed :roll:

But following the attack, rail bosses had to cancel the service, which is popular with London-bound commuters, sparking chaos for commuters on the busy line.

And police have today launched a manhunt to track down the train rage attacker.

Mark Nelson, a coach with Fylde rugby club, was among passengers waiting at Ansdell and Fairhaven station as he made his way to a meeting at the Rugby Football Union headquarters in Twickenham.

He said: “The train was cancelled without any consideration for people waiting for the train later on the line at St Annes, Lytham, and Kirkham and Wesham.

“When I rang up Northern Rail, I was told that the train had been cancelled due to ‘disruptive behaviour’, which must be something serious if it is happening at that time of the morning on a train.

“Luckily I rang up a colleague at Fylde rugby club, who was kind enough to give me a lift so that I could get my connection at Preston, but others won’t have been so lucky.

“It doesn’t show much consideration to passengers.”

http://www.blackpoolgazette.co.uk/n...er-attacks-staff-member-on-platform-1-7051672

Hope the conductor recovers quickly.

 

[ANorthernGuard]

Like many people in public facing industries, Conductors/Guards whatever we are called nowadays face abuse quite regularly. If I was assaulted in the same manner as my colleague that train would not have gone any further as well. Sadly the majority of passengers do not realise that there is hardly any "spare" traincrew to cover incidents like this let alone sickness and other reasons as not many companies pay people to sit on their backsides for 8 hours plus just incase. (Spare turns are included in almost all rosters, however they usually get used by Annual Leave etc etc) Sadly A person just doing his job has been assaulted and all the general public can say is “The train was cancelled without any consideration for people waiting for the train later on the line at St Annes, Lytham, and Kirkham and Wesham." or “It doesn’t show much consideration to passengers.” I just hope (like members on here) that some people asked how the Guard was. Yes I know its not good if a train leaves early (I have done it myself 2 or 3 times over 10 years) it does happen and we can all misread a docket but to assault someone for just doing their job is just quite frankly wrong!

 

[Stompehh]

To be fair, the wording implies that he didn't actually know a guard had been assaulted, just that his train was cancelled due to "disruptive behaviour". Still not the smartest response by any means though.

 

[Bodiddly]

Like many people in public facing industries, Conductors/Guards whatever we are called nowadays face abuse quite regularly. If I was assaulted in the same manner as my colleague that train would not have gone any further as well. Sadly the majority of passengers do not realise that there is hardly any "spare" traincrew to cover incidents like this let alone sickness and other reasons as not many companies pay people to sit on their backsides for 8 hours plus just incase. (Spare turns are included in almost all rosters, however they usually get used by Annual Leave etc etc) Sadly A person just doing his job has been assaulted and all the general public can say is “The train was cancelled without any consideration for people waiting for the train later on the line at St Annes, Lytham, and Kirkham and Wesham." or “It doesn’t show much consideration to passengers.” I just hope (like members on here) that some people asked how the Guard was. Yes I know its not good if a train leaves early (I have done it myself 2 or 3 times over 10 years) it does happen and we can all misread a docket but to assault someone for just doing their job is just quite frankly wrong!

To be fair, when the general public hear that the train was cancelled because of 'disruptive behavior' it leaves a lot for the imagination. Why not just tell it as it is?
' We apologise to all customers but the xxxx to Anyborough has had to be cancelled because some scrote has decided to viciously lash out at a member of staff because they couldn't control their temper, and that member of staff is very, very shaken and wouldn't be much good in escorting you from the train if there was a fire etc etc'.

Too sensible?

 

[muz379]

To be fair, when the general public hear that the train was cancelled because of 'disruptive behavior' it leaves a lot for the imagination. Why not just tell it as it is?
' We apologise to all customers but the xxxx to Anyborough has had to be cancelled because some scrote has decided to viciously lash out at a member of staff because they couldn't control their temper, and that member of staff is very, very shaken and wouldn't be much good in escorting you from the train if there was a fire etc etc'.

Too sensible?

Whilst I would not object to seeing such notices . Its against their human rights to call them a scrote :roll:

 

[PermitToTravel]

Whilst I would not object to seeing such notices . Its against their human rights to call them a scrote :roll:

Rubbish. I really hate to see this proliferation of blaming "human rights" or "health & safety" for everything, including things that have nothing to do with either. In this case, it's the TOC wanting to appear professional - nothing whatsoever to do with human rights!

 

[muz379]

Rubbish. I really hate to see this proliferation of blaming "human rights" or "health & safety" for everything, including things that have nothing to do with either. In this case, it's the TOC wanting to appear professional - nothing whatsoever to do with human rights!

It was a joke more than anything

 

[PermitToTravel]

It's one that spreads the idea that human rights is a bad thing.