I think what is most noticeable from the replies to this thread is that the professional railway workers on here have supported you totally, but the "others" have found excuse on excuse to disagree and to try and find ways around safety.
I know from comments made to me by some station staff that they would quite happily ban all spotters and gricers, especially when "specials" are timetabled, simply because the staff end up having to spend time making sure they behave instead of their other, proper jobs.
Perhaps "the usual suspects" should think about that, because your mis-behaviour could end up with you being banned!
I don't think *anyone* on this thread has not supported the OP, nor found 'excuse'.
The point is that this incident happened, so clearly the measures in place proved inadequate - therefore it's reasonable to look at ways the situation could be improved. This is why the industry spends a lot of time and money investigating incidents - to look at ways of preventing recurrence.
Secondly, I happen to be a 'professional railway worker'. Maybe I'm lucky that in my corner of the world we don't really have issues with railway enthusiasts, and I certainly don't sense any massive desire to ban this particular group. I should also add that interfacing with public / farepaying passengers *is* part of staff's "proper" job - especially station staff.
What I do have a bugbear with, and this issue is by no means exclusive to signage, is when you have to deal with a situation and don't have the relevant material to back up your stance. This equally applies when dealing with issues involving staff management, for example if I have to deal with an operating error made by a driver, the first thing I would do is seek out the relevant Rule Book, diagram, handbook, standard or procedure to ensure I am giving the correct corrective advice, and ensure this is physically present when having the interview, to ensure the driver can have confidence in the advice I am giving. This is a simple basic way of making everyone's life easier, preventing conflict, and avoiding wasting time arguing over what should be obvious. Issues surrounding passenger behaviours are no different in my view.
Too often the industry only reacts to an issue after an incident has occurred. It's all very well moaning and ranting about something, either in a messroom or on this forum, but how about actually trying to do something to prevent the incident in the first place? How many times does the word "deficiencies" crop up in RAIB reports? Let's take the Moreton-on-Lugg crossing accident. The system in place was perfectly safe, so long as the signaller did not put a signal back in the face of an approaching train, in which case there was no further safeguard to prevent the crossing being opened to road traffic. Your attitude would seem to be "that's fine, it's the signalman's responsibility to ensure safety". Had the safeguards which have subsequently been rolled out in a hurry been implemented previously, the incident would not have been able to occur. As you rightly say, everyone on the railway has a responsibility to ensure safety. We do this by proactively identifying potential issues, and doing what we can to address them. We don't shout at someone and hope the problem person gets the message, and leave it at that.
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There is no ambiguity with the first post. The guy climbed over a barrier that has been placed there for a reason. I had to request 3 times, it should have only taken 1, for him to return. But twice he ignored me, twice being polite. No he didn't say anything about any sign and niether did i in the first post. If i had left him there and pulled away, and he had fallen under the front of my train, who is to blame, is it him for climbing the barrier, or is it me, the member of staff with a duty of care and the common sense to know when something in my enviroment is wrong.Or do we just hold up the railway for anybody who wants to take that 1 perfect picture. How many people have actually condoned the guys actions in this thread, because all i have really seen is an endless stream of "well the sign says passengers and not photographers so it must be ok" and such like. The first thing that concerns me when i go to work is safety, not driving trains, delays, when im getting my break etc but SAFETY. We only have to look at what happened with the guard in Liverpool, something unsafe was going on next to his train when it moved. We can discuss ambiguity of signage here until we are blue in the face but it does not change the following.
1: Guy climbs barrier to take picture and puts himself in an unsafe position.What is ambiguous about a barrier.
2: He was of an age that he should have known better.
3: The barrier is there for a reason and not just to make the station look good.
4: If something takes place right next to my cab when at a stand i WILL NOT move away until such time as it is safe to do so.
That's all fine. I don't think anyone has any issues with any of that. I fully support the actions you took, and it appears you dealt with the situation well and calmly.
Looking to the future, what do you propose should be done to try and prevent a similar incident happening again?
Some ideas:
1) Do nothing and hope he doesn't do it again, perhaps next time it might be at an unmanned station where you're passing through at speed.
2) Post on this forum, with minimal chance you'll reach the original problem person, and no guarantee of influencing their behavior in the future.
3) Look at ways of discouraging the problem behaviour.
4) Was the incident reported to the BTP? If so, they could attempt to identify the individual using CCTV, and if he was clearly trespassing and ignoring instructions from staff then he's committed at least one offence. If it were to go to prosecution, I can guarantee someone would want to ensure all the signage and safety equipment was present, clear and correct. If they were, then good - that should be the case everywhere, which isn't always the case.
