What constitutes trespass on the railway?

[JDi]

What constitutes trespass on the railway? Do you physically have to stand on the tracks, or just stand in front of the yellow lines? Do you have any stories about trespass incidents that you are aware of that you could share?

 

[EM2]

RAILWAY TRESPASS & ASSOCIATED OFFENCES

Several summary offences deal with this as follows:

Section 16 Railway Regulation Act 1840:

It is an offence to wilfully trespass on any railway or premises connected therewith and to refuse to leave when asked to do so by any officer or agent of the railway company. 'Wilfulness' can be proved by the refusal to leave. The offence is punishable by a fine of up to £1000 and up to 51 weeks imprisonment if the fine is unpaid.

Section 23 Regulation of the Railways Act 1868:

This prohibits passage upon or across any railway line except for the purpose of crossing the line at an authorised point. A person commits an offence by so doing after having once received warning by the railway company, their servants or agents, to desist. Up to £200 fine.

Section 55 British Transport Commission Act 1949:

This penalises trespass on railway lines or property in dangerous proximity to such lines or electrical apparatus. Evidence is required of a notice exhibited at the station nearest the place of offence providing a clear public warning not to trespass on a railway. Punishable by a fine.

55(1) any person, who shall trespass upon any of the lines of railway or sidings or in any tunnel or upon any railway embankment cutting or similar work now or hereafter belonging or leased to or worked by any of the Boards or who shall trespass upon any other lands of any of the Boards in dangerous proximity to any such lines of railway or other works or to any electrical apparatus used for or in connection with the working of the railway shall be guilty of an offence.

 

[Stigy]

Lineside trespass as described above under s.55 British Transport Commission Act 1949 (which is most commonly used when somebody crosses the tracks and doesn't obstruct trains etc.) requires a person to actually go on the track (including verges etc when not actually on the tracks, as long as it's the line side of the perimeter fence).

You'd have other possible offences if somebody is dangerously close to the platform edge of course, but it wouldn't constitute trespass unless they were on the tracks (even if dangling legs over the edge!). Level crossing misuse by pedestrians used to constitute trespass contrary to s.55 BTCA too (even if the red lights are only illuminated and the barriers raised), however this was outlawed by the law commission so only vehicles can be done on crossings using the Road Traffic Act (potentially pedestrians too, although using byelaws instead). Silly really, especially if the barriers are fully lowered as it to all intents and purposes creates a running line and closes the road and right of way for pedestrians. It's easy legislation to use for this offence of course.

 

[trainophile]

On Saturday I was on a fairly busy platform, and a bloke with a dog on one of those extending leads was waiting for the same train as I was, and playing with a punctured football that the dog was tossing around, and the bloke was kicking gently for the dog to chase.

Inevitably the ball went over the edge of the platform and onto the tracks, not once but twice. Both times the bloke jumped down off the platform edge and retrieved it - the second time was four minutes before our train was due to arrive.

I said to him that he would get prosecuted if any staff had seen him do that, but he was mildly abusive to me and stomped off, so I decided to mind my own business.

Stupid idiot :roll: .

 

[matt_world2004]

If you use a disabled toilet to avoid paying for the toilet facilities are you commiting tresspass on the railway?

 

[AndrewE]

I wouldn't be surprised if someone would be trespassing if they (not being at work and properly certificated) were anywhere other than on a platform or a road or footpath crossing.

 

[Bromley boy]

What constitutes trespass on the railway? Do you physically have to stand on the tracks, or just stand in front of the yellow lines? Do you have any stories about trespass incidents that you are aware of that you could share?

When I was out with my instructor, we spotted a guy from the cab who was technically trespassing. He was pruning the hedge at the end of his garden which backed onto the railway. Unfortunately he'd got a bit carried away and had lifted his ladder over the fence so it was resting on railway property. He had his back to the tracks and was facing towards the garden.

My instructor decided to pretend he hadn't seen him on the basis he wasn't doing anything dangerous, was a good 30 feet from the tracks and if anything was saving Network Rail a job. Someone else took a differerent view! We went back down the same way about an hour later and were brought to a stand at the previous station and delayed for 15 minutes while a MOM and a couple of police officers were on the tracks looking for him.

It shows how seriously it is taken, even where well intentioned. It caused a great deal of inconvenience to staff and hundreds of passengers and if the guy had been caught he'd have been arrested and quite likely prosecuted. Absolutely not worth it!

 

[Joe Paxton]

On Saturday I was on a fairly busy platform, and a bloke with a dog on one of those extending leads was waiting for the same train as I was, and playing with a punctured football that the dog was tossing around, and the bloke was kicking gently for the dog to chase.

Inevitably the ball went over the edge of the platform and onto the tracks, not once but twice. Both times the bloke jumped down off the platform edge and retrieved it - the second time was four minutes before our train was due to arrive.

I said to him that he would get prosecuted if any staff had seen him do that, but he was mildly abusive to me and stomped off, so I decided to mind my own business.

Reprimanded, yes. But prosecutions don't happen 'just like that'.

 

[Phil.]

When I was out with my instructor, we spotted a guy from the cab who was technically trespassing. He was pruning the hedge at the end of his garden which backed onto the railway. Unfortunately he'd got a bit carried away and had lifted his ladder over the fence so it was resting on railway property. He had his back to the tracks and was facing towards the garden.

My instructor decided to pretend he hadn't seen him on the basis he wasn't doing anything dangerous, was a good 30 feet from the tracks and if anything was saving Network Rail a job. Someone else took a differerent view! We went back down the same way about an hour later and were brought to a stand at the previous station and delayed for 15 minutes while a MOM and a couple of police officers were on the tracks looking for him.

It shows how seriously it is taken, even where well intentioned. It caused a great deal of inconvenience to staff and hundreds of passengers and if the guy had been caught he'd have been arrested and quite likely prosecuted. Absolutely not worth it!

Ah, common sense where art thou?

 

[shredder1]

I was accused of tresspassing at Sheffield Midland once because apparently I`d passed an unlite sign that said passengers must not cross the line and use the footbridge, I was just walking up and down the platform waiting for my train and the platform didnt have any lines on it, the sign I presume was reffering to the railway line, but it was difficult to see in the dark anyway and I didnt leave the platform and was nowhere near the ramp??

 

[CheesyChips]

Do the laws make it an offence to trespass or an offence to continue trespassing after being told to stop? Or am I not reading it correctly?

 

[furnessvale]

I was accused of tresspassing at Sheffield Midland once because apparently I`d passed an unlite sign that said passengers must not cross the line and use the footbridge, I was just walking up and down the platform waiting for my train and the platform didnt have any lines on it, the sign I presume was reffering to the railway line, but it was difficult to see in the dark anyway and I didnt leave the platform and was nowhere near the ramp??

That sort of sign refers to the railway line, not some sort of imaginary painted line on the platform.

There is another wording on signs at similar locations which states "Passengers must not pass this point". This has quite a different meaning and must be obeyed as it states.

Sadly, some rail staff conflate the two signs mentally. I myself had an abusive conflict with a member of staff telling me I couldn't read for passing a sign with the former wording.

The best signs have both sets of wording thereon.

 

[Phil.]

On Saturday I was on a fairly busy platform, and a bloke with a dog on one of those extending leads was waiting for the same train as I was, and playing with a punctured football that the dog was tossing around, and the bloke was kicking gently for the dog to chase.

Inevitably the ball went over the edge of the platform and onto the tracks, not once but twice. Both times the bloke jumped down off the platform edge and retrieved it - the second time was four minutes before our train was due to arrive.

I said to him that he would get prosecuted if any staff had seen him do that, but he was mildly abusive to me and stomped off, so I decided to mind my own business.

Stupid idiot :roll: .

"four minutes before the train was due".
At 60mph that's four miles away.

 

[shredder1]

That sort of sign refers to the railway line, not some sort of imaginary painted line on the platform.

There is another wording on signs at similar locations which states "Passengers must not pass this point". This has quite a different meaning and must be obeyed as it states.

Sadly, some rail staff conflate the two signs mentally. I myself had an abusive conflict with a member of staff telling me I couldn't read for passing a sign with the former wording.

The best signs have both sets of wording thereon.

Thanks very much for that, I was boarding the train as the staff member approached me, he was very confrontational and abusive, I tried to report him after I arrived home, but both Northern and East Midlands said they couldnt identify him, as I wasnt sure who he worked for and could only give a description, ?

 

[Peter Mugridge]

"four minutes before the train was due".
At 60mph that's four miles away.

Trains can and do arrive at stations some minutes before they are due to depart...

 

[londonbridge]

What constitutes trespass on the railway? Do you physically have to stand on the tracks, or just stand in front of the yellow lines? Do you have any stories about trespass incidents that you are aware of that you could share?

The recent story about a schoolgirl crossing the tracks at Latimer Road springs to mind.

 

[Phil.]

Trains can and do arrive at stations some minutes before they are due to depart...

This is of course very true. I would however give thought to the different situations. Me, standing on the platform, dropped (insert object of choice) on track.
Welwyn North up platform? No bloody fear, it stays there.
Betchworth with the barriers up? No problem.

 

[trainophile]

But they can hardly make it okay to drop down onto the tracks provided the next train isn't due for a bit. There have to be rules, and in this case I would have thought it is cut and dried that such an act is prohibited, regardless of the various possible situations.

 

[sheff1]

There is another wording on signs at similar locations which states "Passengers must not pass this point". This has quite a different meaning and must be obeyed as it states.

That wording always seems strange. Someone at the station solely to meet an arriving passenger, or even just to watch the trains, is not a "passenger" and hence the instruction, as written, does not apply. Surely it would be better to say "Unauthorised persons must not pass this point".

 

[daikilo]

Trains can and do arrive at stations some minutes before they are due to depart...

Train or no train, it is an offence to be on the tracks unless it is a marked crossing.

Technically, I suspect that even being on a platform without a valid ticket could also be trespass, but as there are no clear signs I know of to that effect, and given that sometimes it is not possible to purchase a ticket for travel without going on the platform (and sometimes even then), I am not sure whether prosectution would be possible.

 

[D1009]

I was accused of tresspassing at Sheffield Midland once because apparently I`d passed an unlite sign that said passengers must not cross the line and use the footbridge, I was just walking up and down the platform waiting for my train and the platform didnt have any lines on it, the sign I presume was reffering to the railway line, but it was difficult to see in the dark anyway and I didnt leave the platform and was nowhere near the ramp??

Can I ask why you were walking towards the end of the platform in the dark? It could well have been inferred by the staff that you were acting suspiciously or even have suicidal intentions.

 

[Merseysider]

Train or no train, it is an offence to be on the tracks unless it is a marked crossing.

Technically, I suspect that even being on a platform without a valid ticket could also be trespass, but as there are no clear signs I know of to that effect, and given that sometimes it is not possible to purchase a ticket for travel without going on the platform (and sometimes even then), I am not sure whether prosectution would be possible.

Nope.

The closest to that would be areas designated as CTAs, for which a penalty fare is the immediate remedy.

 

[PeterC]

"Unauthorised persons must not pass this point"

"Of courtse I am authorised, I have got a ticket!"

IMHO The sign shows the physical limit of the authorisation given by the ticket so is addressed to "passengers".

 

[Busaholic]

Most times I walk my dog around local streets I come across an old BT sign, presumably now under the ownership of OpenReach, which simply reads:-
'Unauthorised access is trespass and is not allowed'. Clear and succinct.

 

[mirodo]

There is another wording on signs at similar locations which states "Passengers must not pass this point". This has quite a different meaning and must be obeyed as it states.

The frontmost set of doors of a 10 car service calling at the s/b platform at Battersea Park are beyond such a sign...

 

[jon0844]

The frontmost set of doors of a 10 car service calling at the s/b platform at Battersea Park are beyond such a sign...

Yes, many signs are just on a nearby post and clearly not really where such a restriction should begin.

I've been on platforms where a rather poor, thin, perhaps not entirely straight line has been painted to presumably serve as the 'line' you're not supposed to cross!

As for why you might wander up and down, well myself and many others do so at times to kill time waiting for a train. Pretty simple answer really.

 

[321446]

Looking at it another way, the line on the platform beyond which thou shalt not passeth could be along the lines of "if you hurt or damage yerself beyond here, you are on yer own, mate, sueth us not"?

 

[shredder1]

Can I ask why you were walking towards the end of the platform in the dark? It could well have been inferred by the staff that you were acting suspiciously or even have suicidal intentions.

Certainly, I just tend to walk up and down a platform when I`m waiting for a train, especially on cold evenings, many people do, I was hardly acting suspiciously

 

[infobleep]

If you use a disabled toilet to avoid paying for the toilet facilities are you commiting tresspass on the railway?

I'm don't know if this was meant to be a joke or not. However I'll assume not.

How would you enter the disabled toilet? Would:
The door be left open accidentally?
The door be left open on purpose?
Someone else, other than an authorised member of staff, let you in?
You force your way in?

I once used a disabled loo where the door was open. I then closed it after I'd finished and a member of staff with another passenger beside said that's the only working loo, which is why the door had been left open. No problem though as I had a key so I reopened it.

So overall I suspect they could not do you for trespass but they could ask you to leave a station and if you refused, other laws might apply.

If you had a RADAR key then you wouldn't be trespassing at all or what would be the point of disabled loo. Again they could ask you to leave the station if they had good reason.

Looking at it another way, the line on the platform beyond which thou shalt not passeth could be along the lines of "if you hurt or damage yerself beyond here, you are on yer own, mate, sueth us not"?

Trains hitting people can cause injuries to drivers of said trains.

 

[meridian2]

It's somewhat sad that all those pictures of children with their legs dangling over a parapet watching the trains go by, were technically trespassing and would now be subject to legal redress. It wasn't too long ago that passengers crossing on the planks at the end of the platform was tolerated, or at least a blind eye turned to.

I suspect it's about a legal culture that has to explain every aspect of an incident, not just the manifest reasons. At its most egregious, someone nicking hardware from the railway could claim the railways were acting improperly by continuing to run trains while they did so, and someone would be prepared to defend that position legally.