Often they don't. Plus they're regularly sent out to lesser matters... Alternative they can turn up with BTP later when the person who's lost the item is now laid out in pieces along the track, when it's a more important matter!
Difference being the person who is now laid out in pieces along the track has willingly broke the law and put themselves in that situation and could potentially cause much trauma for the driver/passengers other traincrew of the train that has hit them .
And all for a mobile phone,Oh Great ...
Don't you think they'd priorities jobs? If they're not miles away from the new points failure retrieving someone's lost house keys/wallet/phone, they could be even further away scrapping up someone's long deceased dead dog.
They would yes , if they are round the corner it is all good and well they can be there in 5 or 10 minutes . But as I say below , how many people will wait for the MOM to arrive if s/he is further away which could in some cases be upto an hour .
TBF I didnt even know prior to this that the MOM would come out to retrieve items , so next time something like this happens I will contact the signaler and ask if the MOM can come out and see how that works out .
So it's better to do sod all and give them no choice but to break the law and risk their lives, completely oblivious to the danger they face? Fair enough if you've just followed your TOCs official policy on the matter, I don't think my TOC even has one, but I know what I'd do.
I didn't say it was better to do sod all , I have said I wish that the train carried a cleaners litter pick device because in my experience most items that go onto the track fall down the gap when people are getting on or off and this would be perfect for retrieving those items . Unfortunately the train does not carry that which is not my doing .
I also said when it happens to me I will inform the signaler so that the next train can be cautioned , that way if the person does slip and hurt themselves , or the next train is an express they at least have some chance of not getting laid out by the following train .
Apart from that in my position all I can do is inform them that they should not go on the track . And IMO any member of railway staff that tells them they can go onto the track is neglecting the safety implications of such massively .
If however when I tell people not to do something and they then go and break the law and get themselves killed , they really have nobody to blame but themselves .
If the MOM is not immediately round the corner it could take them some time to travel to the station . 45 minutes . How many people are realistically going to wait that long when they already dont perceive the danger as being that bad that they think they can just break the law pertaining to trespass ?.
In all honesty in most cases people who already dont know or think about the danger or are arrogant enough to think they wont get hit are not going to wait an hour to do something they think they can do in 2 minutes
Given that I have seen someone jump onto the track to retrieve something at a manned station with dispatchers who might have been able to retrieve it . I think even if we did have a policy where staff could retrieve items many people just wont be patient enough to wait .
My only other point is , where do we draw the lines as to what the MOM will come out to retrieve and what they wont . A mobile phone or a wallet yes I see why . But what about the group of young boys who approached me and asked for me to get a football from under my train . Are we really going to start delaying trains and paying for the MOM to come out to retrieve a football ? I am pretty certain they did retrieve it because when passing back through the station about half an hour later it was gone .
On another note TBH even if my TOC did have a policy where I was permitted to retrieve items from the track I would probably decline in many cases because I dont want to go anywhere near the excrement that is sprayed out of the bottom of trains .But that is another matter .
