Fenced off area at Llandudno Jn?

[Bletchleyite]

Quick question.

Attached is a picture of an area at the end of the buildings at Llandudno Junction surrounded by a yellow metal fence. The fence has no entry gates so is presumably not for storage. However it appears to serve no purpose at all - the roof isn't damaged and there's no kit inside it (and if there was there wouldn't be easy access for maintenance).

Does anyone know why that area is fenced? Just idly wondering.

Thanks.

 

[furnessvale]

Quick question.

Attached is a picture of an area at the end of the buildings at Llandudno Junction surrounded by a yellow metal fence. The fence has no entry gates so is presumably not for storage. However it appears to serve no purpose at all - the roof isn't damaged and there's no kit inside it (and if there was there wouldn't be easy access for maintenance).

Does anyone know why that area is fenced? Just idly wondering.

Thanks.

I can't quite make out what is on the building wall within the compound, but is there a door in that wall?

If so, it could be accessed from within the building, perhaps for putting something outside for whatever reason?

 

[Bletchleyite]

The door is the ladies' toilets, and there's basically two fenced areas, one either side of that door. (For fairly obvious reasons I didn't want to take a photo directly pointing at the toilets). It's not just an oversized handrail as there are separate ones either side of said door.

There's something smallish on the wall connected to an electrical box above one of them but not above the other one so I don't think that's it.

 

[swt_passenger]

Perhaps it’s just an attempt to stop people hanging about in the immediate vicinity?

 

[Bletchleyite]

Perhaps it’s just an attempt to stop people hanging about in the immediate vicinity?

Could be. I didn't think of antisocial behaviour as a possible reason, but the station is ungated and does occasionally suffer from a bit of that. Its presence does mean that nobody would naturally be waiting by the toilet door just to be under the shelter - anyone there is clearly there deliberately.

 

[Rescars]

For the photo, it looks as though it is designed just to prevent passengers from sheltering from the rain!

 

[Bletchleyite]

For the photo, it looks as though it is designed just to prevent passengers from sheltering from the rain!

Well one does wonder!

The suggestion above that it's there to prevent people loitering around the door to the ladies' toilet (which as it's out of view of the rest of the station and possibly therefore the CCTV might have been the location of choice for the local kids) seems plausible.

 

[AngusH]

It's clearly fairly new and looks fairly permanent.

I'm wondering if there is possibly something wrong with either the platform or the roof and they don't want anyone standing there?

Though that would require the path through to be somehow safer?


I could see anti-social issues may be the reason, but if you're going to break
the rules couldn't you just climb over the barrier?

Could it be to manage queues into the toilets somehow and prevent them forming into the narrower platform area?

 

[edwin_m]

In a slightly different context I've seen areas fenced off to make it impossible for someone to conceal themselves behind a corner of the building. However, unless there's anything different about this one, there are probably several other similar areas around the station which haven't been so treated.

 

[plugwash]

I could see anti-social issues may be the reason, but if you're going to break
the rules couldn't you just climb over the barrier?

Sure you could, but that means you have "broken the rules" as soon as you start climbing over, when you are still in sight of people/cameras on the platform.

Rather than being able to quietly slip round the corner out of sight before "breaking the rules".

Having a fence in front of you would also make it harder to attack someone on the platform, if that is your goal.

 

[DarloRich]

perhaps there has been some anti social behaviours in that area. perhaps some pestering of people or inappropriate use of the facilities

Alternatively, it looks like I have a candidate for the post of director of making passenger journeys more uncomfortable. Well played sir. well played. Chapeau.

 

[chrisjo]

I just assumed it was to stop anyone lurking around the entrance to the Ladies, which is effectively out of sight of any staff on the platform unless they walk right up the end. Presumably having CCTV pointed at the entrance is not considered acceptable either. I don't think there's any more to it than that.

 

[Krokodil]

According to the station staff it appeared a couple of weeks ago and no one seems to know what it's for. Probably a job creation scheme for the contractor.

 

[DarloRich]

According to the station staff it appeared a couple of weeks ago and no one seems to know what it's for. Probably a job creation scheme for the contractor.

Do you really think that is the reason?

 

[Islineclear3_1]

Any loiterers will just sit on the fence if they wanted to...

 

[Krokodil]

Do you really think that is the reason?

If someone can come up with a proper reason then I'm all ears.

 

[Trackman]

Any loiterers will just sit on the fence if they wanted to...

or step through it.

 

[Llandudno]

It’s probably a passenger waiting area for the now scrapped TfW’s Standard Plus seating areas for the class 197 units!

 

[Efini92]

Perhaps they had a job lot of fencing to get rid of before the end of the tax year

 

[chrisjo]

According to the station staff it appeared a couple of weeks ago and no one seems to know what it's for. Probably a job creation scheme for the contractor.

While it may be true that the permanent barriers were installed recently, there were 2 meter tall temporary mesh barriers in the same position and serving the same function when I was last there at the end of August 2024. It seems a little surprising that 7 months later staff still don't know why!

 

[Bletchleyite]

It’s probably a passenger waiting area for the now scrapped TfW’s Standard Plus seating areas for the class 197 units!

I guess climbing over a fence was a minimum accessibility qualification for that?

 

[KevinTurvey]

If this is the eastern end of the station which I think it is, I was looking at the columns supporting the canopy a year or two ago before the fence was up and I noticed they were distorted and out of plumb/alignment, and wondered if they had received a whack from something, historically perhaps. They seem to have been recently repainted black, they were white. (as shown in chrisjo's photo post#20)

 

[Krokodil]

While it may be true that the permanent barriers were installed recently, there were 2 meter tall temporary mesh barriers in the same position and serving the same function when I was last there at the end of August 2024. It seems a little surprising that 7 months later staff still don't know why!View attachment 177557

The temporary fencing was to do with structural issues with the platform. That doesn't explain the new permanent ones as they are railings rather than a proper fence. They wouldn't keep anyone out!

 

[Lewisham2221]

Does it improve visibility when dispatching? In other words, does it reduce the problem of people suddenly appearing from around the corner by forcing them further along so that the building no longer obscures them from view?

 

[nwales58]

It was definitely there on 12th Feb. I don't remember before then.

 

[Parallel]

I bet it is meant to deter loitering. Pontypool & New Inn station (which has not long been refurbished) has similar around the base of the lift and steps on the island platform.

 

[Prime586]

The bridge, platform canopy and supporting steelwork were refurbished in 2019. You can see the patches of new concrete where some of the columns were replaced or had their footings excavated for inspection - photo and a video of the works in progress (note the blue 'boxes' around the bases of some of the columns surrounding what look like temporary additional supports). Ever since then there has been some form of net fencing supported by scaffoldng around the top of the canopy (to stop the seagulls landing on it, or to stop people climbing up onto it?). The area at the eastern end seems to have been partially fenced off with temporary fencing since the works ended (a video from 2020 with the 'blue boxes' still present and another from last year showing both sides fenced off).

The original columns were I beams made from two pieces - the lower section embedded in the platform, and an upper section supporting the canopy. They were joined by rivetted-on splicing plates about half way up. During the refurbishment, some of the original joints appear to have been cut out and replaced by new sections of I-beam welded in (the leftmost column in the original photo for example - in the 2019 Street View image you can see where the new section was welded in).

i'm wondering if not all was well with the canopy structure post-refurbishment and those temporary fenced off areas (and now this more permanent barrier) are a health and safety measure.

 

[Russel]

The temporary fencing has been in place for around 2 years.

Is loitering / anti-social behaviour an issue at Llandudno Jn? I've been there numerous times in the evening and never noticed anything, I'd actually say it feels rather safe.

Why does it have to be so ugly and out of character with the rest of the statin?

 

[matrix24]

What's on the other platform around same location, it is possible they have been installed on wrong platform?

 

[Starmill]

I just assumed it was to stop anyone lurking around the entrance to the Ladies, which is effectively out of sight of any staff on the platform unless they walk right up the end. Presumably having CCTV pointed at the entrance is not considered acceptable either. I don't think there's any more to it than that.

I am aware of a significant number of examples of CCTV inside toilets. Now it may not cover views where people are necessarily in a state of undress, but it still doesn't seem great to me.