Raising the alarm when witnessing a crush at a station

[All Line Rover]

If (1) witnessing a crush on a station platform caused by a stampede of passengers and seeing some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious, (2) the crush is NOT caused by a fire, (3) although the station is large and supposedly staffed, no members of staff can be found other than contracted security guards who are not willing to assist or take charge, (4) there are no emergency alarms at the station other than fire alarms: how, as a member of the public, should one raise the alarm?

 

[Flying Snail]

Is this a theoretical question?

If people are injured and unconscious then it is a 999 situation.

 

[All Line Rover]

No.

999 asks if one requires police, medical or fire. One says police. They then say it could take up to 15 minutes for police to attend - a major city-centre station managed by Network Rail.

What should one do next (if anything)?

 

[yrreb]

At these stations there should always be someone on the Network Rail desk, but out of hours would be via any help points provided around the station or dial 999 if an emergency situation and seek contracted staff on site

 

[ModernRailways]

No.

999 asks if one requires police, medical or fire. One says police. They then say it could take up to 15 minutes for police to attend - a major city-centre station managed by Network Rail.

What should one do next (if anything)?

999/112 will also be able to alert the control room of the station to an emergency situation. Contracted security staff should also have direct contact to the control room, whether they want to get involved or not is immaterial they can alert the control room to the situation so staff who do want to help can do so.
If people appear unconscious and there has been a crush then this is a major incident and all emergency services would attend regardless of whether you ask for police, or ambulance. Police and paramedics will be primary first responders, but fire and rescue would also attend.

Is this hypothetical or have you witnessed such a situation?

 

[Bantamzen]

In my view the sequence of events ought to be something like this:

1. Alert a member of staff or security if immediately available. None of them should be ignoring or unwilling to help where lives may be in danger. Some may be trained in First Aid, but all should know who to contact if not.
2. Contact the emergency services. As said above even if they cannot get assistance there immediately they can instigate contact to the necessary control to get someone to the scene.
3. If the situation is ongoing try to intervene. Shout for anyone with First Aid or medical training, shout at anyone still pushing others to stop, make people aware that a serious situation is developing.

But the last one should never become a thing were staff are on a station. Perhaps it might be helpful to provide a bit more context, i.e. if this is no hypothetical give some details of an event you've witnessed?

 

[Scott1]

Generally a station that deals with the kind of crowds where a crush is possible are staffed, even if it is only temporarily (for example for a local event, like a concert). I'm unaware of any incident like this happening, but I'd advise calling 999 if it ever does. As pointed out above they can alert the Control Room, and it's unlikely rail staff would be able to arrive faster than emergency services.

This is an unusual hypothetical.

 

[LCC106]

We definitely need context to this. One additional option is to text British Transport Police.

 

[66701GBRF]

No.

999 asks if one requires police, medical or fire. One says police. They then say it could take up to 15 minutes for police to attend - a major city-centre station managed by Network Rail.

What should one do next (if anything)?

Surely if people are laying seemingly unconscious you’d request ambulance?

 

[Surreytraveller]

No.

999 asks if one requires police, medical or fire. One says police. They then say it could take up to 15 minutes for police to attend - a major city-centre station managed by Network Rail.

What should one do next (if anything)?

If you need multiple emergency services, ring the police. They will contact the others

 

[zwk500]

What should one do next (if anything)?

If one has raised the alarm with contracted security staff and nothing has happened, then you call the police. If you believe that response is insufficient then the only thing you can reasonably do is attempt to exit the station (or crush) and prevent further people from joining it.

However this situation would require 1. The TOC or NR to have completely missed a major event or for all staff to have abandoned their posts. 2. No trains to have passed or called at the station or no driver or guard to have reported unsafe platform conditions. 3. Control to not be monitoring a situation over multiplehours, with no communication from either the BTP or area police as a major crowd moves towards or builds up at a station.

 

[43066]

If (1) witnessing a crush on a station platform caused by a stampede of passengers and seeing some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious, (2) the crush is NOT caused by a fire, (3) although the station is large and supposedly staffed, no members of staff can be found other than contracted security guards who are not willing to assist or take charge, (4) there are no emergency alarms at the station other than fire alarms: how, as a member of the public, should one raise the alarm?

Stations are designed with multiple exits, ticket barriers that can be forced open etc. specifically to prevent this scenario.

No.

999 asks if one requires police, medical or fire. One says police. They then say it could take up to 15 minutes for police to attend - a major city-centre station managed by Network Rail.

What should one do next (if anything)?

There’s really little else you could do in that situation other than alert the authorities. The same as witnessing any emergency in any other setting, surely?

 

[Towers]

I suppose one option might be to operate the closest fire alarm call point, which would at least alert staff or the authorities to there being a situation of some sort, and could encourage others to leave the area. At the same time though, this could result in making any crush worse, as people attempt to turn around and leave.

If there is no train in the platform then it’s likely that the crowd would spill onto the track, if there is a train present then conditions on board are likely to become dangerous. Operation of non-platform side egress equipment is possible, with the associated consequences.

Not an easy scenario, but as others have said there really needs to be some context here!

 

[snookertam]

If (1) witnessing a crush on a station platform caused by a stampede of passengers and seeing some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious, (2) the crush is NOT caused by a fire, (3) although the station is large and supposedly staffed, no members of staff can be found other than contracted security guards who are not willing to assist or take charge, (4) there are no emergency alarms at the station other than fire alarms: how, as a member of the public, should one raise the alarm?

Dial 999, the same as you would anywhere else.

I agree with others, very unusual and highly detailed for a hypothetical question.

 

[AlterEgo]

We definitely need context to this. One additional option is to text British Transport Police.

If people are being trampled and crushed your first port of call after shouting that there’s a crush is to call 999. Nowhere else.

People can be killed in a crush.

 

[matt_world2004]

Wouldn't the emergency help point do? They will be able to stop trains immediately and get the emergency services.

 

[LondonExile]

I'm just a member of the public myself, but I wouldn't hesitate to push the fire alarm in that situation. It may not be technically correct, but the design of such an alarm system should take into account crushes etc., and mitigate that (e.g. by being a silent alarm in the first instance, whilst also summoning staff.)

At the end of the day, if there is a button likely to alert staff, call emergency services, mark the station as closed and trigger a managed evacuation - I'm going to push it. If doing so is dangerous enough that it should never happen, the system needs to be designed to take into account the fact that some people will follow my logic, and there is a high chance in this (somewhat odd) situation, that the fire alarm will be activated regardless.

I've been in a situation where the fire alarm was pushed for a chemical spill. Again, nothing on fire, but the concept of "Evacuate, and call emergency services" was close enough.

 

[43066]

This is a very odd thread

Agreed. Especially given the oddly specific scenario outlined.

It seems to me completely implausible that, in the situation described, there wouldn’t already have been a major incident respond of some kind? At NR station dealing with large crowds, say a London terminal for instance, the police aren’t going to be “up to” 15 minutes away.

The parts of the rail network where a crush might be a risk have controlled access (most obviously the tube) which deals with mind boggling numbers of people without ever reaching crush levels.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

If you need multiple emergency services, ring the police. They will contact the others

It would probably also help to state clearly right at the start of the call "All three services required".

 

[robert thomas]

If (1) witnessing a crush on a station platform caused by a stampede of passengers and seeing some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious, (2) the crush is NOT caused by a fire, (3) although the station is large and supposedly staffed, no members of staff can be found other than contracted security guards who are not willing to assist or take charge, (4) there are no emergency alarms at the station other than fire alarms: how, as a member of the public, should one raise the alarm?

Where is it assumed that this fantasy is to happen?

 

[BAFRA77]

The OP has a slight whiff of what could happen at Stansted airport with the queues to get out of the station into the Terminal...

 

[GadgetMan]

There was some chaos at Euston last night, that could possibly have triggered the question.

 

[robert thomas]

The OP has a slight whiff of what could happen at Stansted airport with the queues to get out of the station into the Terminal...

But there are staff present at Stansted which is the problem there. The OP says no staff are present at his fantasy location

 

[Haywain]

The OP has a slight whiff of what could happen at Stansted airport with the queues to get out of the station into the Terminal...

With "some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious"?

 

[Pit_buzzer]

Presumably in a genuine emergency with people being crushed there would be enough 999 calls going in for it to be immediately apparent it was a major incident

 

[MotCO]

Stations are designed with multiple exits, ticket barriers that can be forced open etc. specifically to prevent this scenario.

If there are no staff, the barriers should be open. However, that means there is nothing to stop more people entering the station and exacerbating the situation.

 

[357]

For all three emergency services the 999 operator tends to put you through to the fire brigade as they tend to be the least busy. Any service can summon the others.

Best thing to do is to say you need a multiple agency response and state what services you need.

In my experiences, after a person hit by a train, the initial call director remained on the line and was coordinating the other services response while I was put through to one service to establish details.

 

[alholmes]

In such a scenario the most common response will probably be to do nothing helpful but film it on a phone then upload to Tik Tok etc.

 

[43066]

If there are no staff, the barriers should be open. However, that means there is nothing to stop more people entering the station and exacerbating the situation.

Any examples of this happening on the UK rail network? In particular has anyone ever reported anything along the lines of:

witnessing a crush on a station platform caused by a stampede of passengers and seeing some passengers lying on the platform apparently unconscious,

I think not…

As someone else has now pointed out, I suspect this thread is explained by the OP’s previous thread, where IIRC he described barging past some barrier staff when he was unable to show a railcard…

 

[yorkie]

As someone else has now pointed out, I suspect this thread is explained by the OP’s previous thread, where IIRC he described barging past some barrier staff when he was unable to show a railcard…

...due to a known nationwide failure of the Railcard app!