Why do some passengers not get how annoying it is to play music and videos out loud?

[perstreperous]

Never mind annoying music and videos, irresponsibility comes into it to. I have encountered:

(Multiple times) Individuals working on confidential information on a laptop (documents with the old UK RESTRICTED marking or, on occasion, higher);

(Once) An individual talking on their phone about details of a bid for a multi-million pound project where I was a member of the competing bid and could put what they were saying in context.

The attitude that "information security is for others but I have a job to do" is common; in the first case, at least, those individuals would have been told explicitly not to do work involving such documents on public transport

 

[35B]

Never mind annoying music and videos, irresponsibility comes into it to. I have encountered:

(Multiple times) Individuals working on confidential information on a laptop (documents with the old UK RESTRICTED marking or, on occasion, higher);

(Once) An individual talking on their phone about details of a bid for a multi-million pound project where I was a member of the competing bid and could put what they were saying in context.

The attitude that "information security is for others but I have a job to do" is common; in the first case, at least, those individuals would have been told explicitly not to do work involving such documents on public transport

For the screen information, I find it incredible that they didn't use screen protectors.

 

[Mag_seven]

Never mind annoying music and videos, irresponsibility comes into it to. I have encountered:

(Multiple times) Individuals working on confidential information on a laptop (documents with the old UK RESTRICTED marking or, on occasion, higher);

(Once) An individual talking on their phone about details of a bid for a multi-million pound project where I was a member of the competing bid and could put what they were saying in context.

The attitude that "information security is for others but I have a job to do" is common; in the first case, at least, those individuals would have been told explicitly not to do work involving such documents on public transport

I experienced two loud mobile phone users today - one person discussing his company strategy, the other having an argument about the contents of a will! Talk about lack of self awareness!

 

[perstreperous]

For the screen information, I find it incredible that they didn't use screen protectors.

Agreed, although they are not effective when you are behind the miscreant in airline-style seats and it is possible to look almost straight through a gap between the seats, as happened a couple of times here.

Hence the instruction is not to do work [at all] on public transport, not to work with mitigations which might fail.

 

[Purple Train]

They’re a good investment in many settings, these days!

I'm increasingly coming round to that point of view... although not having them does mean that I hear enough of what's going on around me to, for instance, notice that someone is attempting to get off but can't find the button to open the door, and rectify the situation. It's very much swings and roundabouts!

 

[Elon Bust]

I think a lot of this is down to free wifi and cheap wifi mobile phone deals. If using up data was really expensive then I would imagine a lot of these unnecessary calls and views would end. Of course one could always download at home, but in the old days when someone was yelling down their phone the chances are they wouldn't be long as their allowance would be used up quickly!

On trains it's difficult to stream (for example) youtube and music sites - so that everyone can get basic internet. maybe that should also apply to free public wifi??

I think you're right. Maybe that's the reason there was a lag of several years between the advent of smartphones and this problem.

Train Wi-Fi is better than it used to be and it is quite easy to have a very generous phone deal, data-wise. I would prefer it if there was simply no internet on trains at all, but obviously that's not possible.

 

[Howardh]

I think you're right. Maybe that's the reason there was a lag of several years between the advent of smartphones and this problem.

Train Wi-Fi is better than it used to be and it is quite easy to have a very generous phone deal, data-wise. I would prefer it if there was simply no internet on trains at all, but obviously that's not possible.

Having wifi on a train is really useful in times of disruption, my own data provider's coverage is hit-and-miss, and I could easily find my train stopped in a blank spot! I wonder how much the train's staff use train wifi in times of disruption, also to find out what's going on?

 

[Krokodil]

I wonder how much the train's staff use train wifi in times of disruption, also to find out what's going on?

I don't. I usually end up using my personal phone to start looking up RTT etc. because despite being six years old it's far quicker than my brand new all-singing, all-dancing work phone.

 

[Elon Bust]

I have emailed both Greater Anglia and the Fen Line Users Association about this. Hopefully the more complaints organisations see, the more likely they'll be to take action.

I am going to keep trying until I get a reply, at the very least.

 

[pinkmarie80]

Another excuse I've been given for why a three year old must have Paw Patrol out loud on an iPad. The mother did not appreciate me pointing out that if he's deaf he won't mind if the sound is off entirely.

Pub staff should just kick him out, they have the right to eject anyone.


If they do, make sure that you thank them. It makes it seem less like a losing battle.

To be fair, as a deaf person, there are different spectrums of deaf.
There is Deaf, which usually means profoundly so, and deaf which usually means hard of hearing. I’m deaf with a small d, so I am (very) hard of hearing but I can hear some. I do use AirPods but often sound will leak as I need my music/video etc up loud in order to hear.
It’s a bit ignorant to assume just because someone is deaf that they dont need any sound at all. Although granted there are more considerate ways to do it.

 

[Towers]

I have emailed both Greater Anglia and the Fen Line Users Association about this. Hopefully the more complaints organisations see, the more likely they'll be to take action.

I am going to keep trying until I get a reply, at the very least.

About phone-wielding degenerates with zero self awareness? I can only say good luck! It appears to be utterly endemic and a symptom of the sort of ignorant folk that we are increasingly sharing society with.

I recently spent an hour long journey sat opposite someone almost relentlessly broadcasting a phone conversation to the rest of the bus. The few brief minutes of respite - when I presume the signal failed at one end or the other - were filled instead with the constant pinging of those who need sound effects every time they send or receive a message. It was utterly painful.

It seems fair to suggest that these behaviours are frequently combined with a rather low intellect and a complete and utter lack of self awareness, a combination which I fear makes tackling the issue nigh on impossible.

 

[Bletchleyite]

It seems fair to suggest that these behaviours are frequently combined with a rather low intellect and a complete and utter lack of self awareness, a combination which I fear makes tackling the issue nigh on impossible.

As Merseyrail have demonstrated, the only effective way to tackle minor antisocial behaviour is with a strict approach to the Byelaws - caught with your feet on the seat, straight to prosecution or a hefty settlement, no "just take them down and I'll let you off this time".

It doesn't create a friendly atmosphere but it does create a safer-feeling one.

 

[JammyJames08]

If anyone here is a driver, there are certain types of stock where the driver can hear the passengers behind them in the saloon, and oh boy some of the conversations I’ve heard over the years.

There’s lovely people who threaten to do this that and the other to people down the phone.

What people are having for dinner and that they’re having it for a second night running, who they (reckon) had it off with a colleague.

To someone on loudspeaker challenging a PCN and giving out his FULL credit card number to pay it, on loudspeaker in front of everyone, right behind the cab door. Anyone could have written down the numbers and had a few purchases!

Sadly it’s the society we live in now and most people have lost any kind of awareness and it’s me me me.

The roads aren’t much different.

 

[Fiyero]

On Saturday I got a nice seat in the quiet carriage out of Waterloo then just before departure had a howling group of ladettes come in ranting about having to buy a ticket (I gather they tried to use Contactless, totally not valid!). I decided to move carriage as there was room. Shouty tot and someone on her phone. Still better!

She wasn't on her phone, she was recording the war and peace of voice notes! God help whoever it was for!!

 

[Basher]

What we need is Clint Eastwood, see below.

 

[Mark G]

The one thing that really grates with me is facetime......what's wrong with a one way quiet telephone call instead of hearing both people...get a grip.

 

[Krokodil]

It seems fair to suggest that these behaviours are frequently combined with a rather low intellect and a complete and utter lack of self awareness, a combination which I fear makes tackling the issue nigh on impossible.

And said people are precisely the sort to threaten to knock the guard's block off rather than sheepishly turn the sound off.

 

[PedroHav]

I replied to a post sometimes so but there was a guy speaking loudly on his phone. I turned round and glared and he got verbally aggressive. During the conversation he had to give his home address. Not the brightest move.
I sent him a card to suggest that in future he 'conducts himself better' when travelling on a train. Not the actual words I used ....

 

[trainophile]

I was sat next to a probably 30-something male today, and as soon as he sat down out came the phone and he called someone, which involved about 10 minutes of total drivel at an unnecessarily loud volume. He also had a laptop open in front of him so I stared at that, trying to make him uncomfortable, which didn’t work.

Eventually I got my iPod out and connected my wired earphones to it pointedly. I was on a long journey and wanted to save my phone battery so didn’t use my AirPods, and I thought the iPod with visible wires would make my point a bit more obvious.

He finally ran out of drivel despite clutching at inanities for the last couple of minute, and decided to end the call. An uncomfortable silence ensued, during which I continued with my iPod, until he eventually got off the train.

Yeah I was probably over-reacting but he was showing absolutely no consideration, and on a XC in Standard Class we were inches apart.

 

[Krokodil]

Came across this voicemail from an American woman complaining that she was thrown out of a cinema for texting (I hate having my experience disturbed by the light of someone else's screen). Just an illustration of the sort of mindset held by some people even 13 years ago.
[Warning: some swearing in recording]

I didn't know that I wasn't supposed to text in your little c****y a** theatre... I've texted in all the other theatres in Austin and no one ever gave a f***... You guys, obvously, were being a**holes to me...

 

[londonbridge]

Similarly, I was once at a concert, woman in the row in front of me and two seats along got her phone out and looked at a text she’d just received, then started replying. Another text came in and the conversation continued for a good five minutes until the man in front of me leaned across and said “excuse me, could you put your phone away, you’re distracting everyone”. She basically told him to mind his own business, whereupon he repeated his request with some rather more fruity language to “put your f….ng phone away”, and then tried to snatch it from her. Fisticuffs then started to break out before stewards came over and removed both of them.

 

[BingMan]

I was sat next to a probably 30-something male today, and as soon as he sat down out came the phone and he called someone, which involved about 10 minutes of total drivel at an unnecessarily loud volume. He also had a laptop open in front of him so I stared at that, trying to make him uncomfortable, which didn’t work.

Eventually I got my iPod out and connected my wired earphones to it pointedly. I was on a long journey and wanted to save my phone battery so didn’t use my AirPods, and I thought the iPod with visible wires would make my point a bit more obvious.

He finally ran out of drivel despite clutching at inanities for the last couple of minute, and decided to end the call. An uncomfortable silence ensued, during which I continued with my iPod, until he eventually got off the train.

Yeah I was probably over-reacting but he was showing absolutely no consideration, and on a XC in Standard Class we were inches apart.

If you can hear both sides of the conversation you could try joining in and making comments.

 

[Cross City]

I was sat next to a probably 30-something male today, and as soon as he sat down out came the phone and he called someone, which involved about 10 minutes of total drivel at an unnecessarily loud volume. He also had a laptop open in front of him so I stared at that, trying to make him uncomfortable, which didn’t work.

Eventually I got my iPod out and connected my wired earphones to it pointedly. I was on a long journey and wanted to save my phone battery so didn’t use my AirPods, and I thought the iPod with visible wires would make my point a bit more obvious.

He finally ran out of drivel despite clutching at inanities for the last couple of minute, and decided to end the call. An uncomfortable silence ensued, during which I continued with my iPod, until he eventually got off the train.

Yeah I was probably over-reacting but he was showing absolutely no consideration, and on a XC in Standard Class we were inches apart.

"Person makes phone call on train".

How dare they.

 

[Bletchleyite]

I was sat next to a probably 30-something male today, and as soon as he sat down out came the phone and he called someone, which involved about 10 minutes of total drivel at an unnecessarily loud volume. He also had a laptop open in front of him so I stared at that, trying to make him uncomfortable, which didn’t work.

Eventually I got my iPod out and connected my wired earphones to it pointedly. I was on a long journey and wanted to save my phone battery so didn’t use my AirPods, and I thought the iPod with visible wires would make my point a bit more obvious.

He finally ran out of drivel despite clutching at inanities for the last couple of minute, and decided to end the call. An uncomfortable silence ensued, during which I continued with my iPod, until he eventually got off the train.

Yeah I was probably over-reacting but he was showing absolutely no consideration, and on a XC in Standard Class we were inches apart.

If the phone was being used in the correct way (i.e. not speakerphone) then outside of the quiet coach this is acceptable behaviour. Human conversation is allowed on trains.

If on speakerphone it is not, though.

 

[Joey Beauchamp]

(Once) An individual talking on their phone about details of a bid for a multi-million pound project where I was a member of the competing bid and could put what they were saying in context.

That's nothing: I was once on a packed train at Haywards Heath and overheard that CBeebies were in discussions with a member of the Royal family to read a bedtime story. I guessed it would be Wills but it turned out to be Kate.

 

[perstreperous]

That's nothing: I was once on a packed train at Haywards Heath and overheard that CBeebies were in discussions with a member of the Royal family to read a bedtime story. I guessed it would be Wills but it turned out to be Kate.

That is hard to beat.

Not railway-related, but I once saw a colleage hunched behind his desk and tried to find out what was wrong, as he certainly appeared to be ill. It turned out that he was trying to block out outside noise - a losing proposition in an open-plan office - because he was on The World at One. (The listeners must have been puzzled to hear anxious-sounding "Are you OK?" and similar in the background).

 

[trainophile]

"Person makes phone call on train".

How dare they.

I still think that if you are within less than 12 inches of another person it would be courteous to say what you need to say, and perhaps tell them you’re on a train and will call them later.

We’ve all experienced the “like” “like“ “like” young ladies conducting their social life on a train, and it’s not pleasant for those in earshot.

 

[BRX]

In the distant past when mobile phones were a new thing, there was briefly the notion that etiquette might be to be considerate to other passengers and go and do the phone call in the vestibule.
I still tend to do that, although partly because I'm not that keen on others listening in on my conversations.

 

[Krokodil]

In the distant past when mobile phones were a new thing, there was briefly the notion that etiquette might be to be considerate to other passengers and go and do the phone call in the vestibule.
I still tend to do that, although partly because I'm not that keen on others listening in on my conversations.

I still do it too. Anything more than "I'll be arriving in 15 minutes" (which usually goes in a message anyway) means moving to the vestibule.

 

[Halwynd]

The Telegraph have picked up on this now - there's an article today that isn't behind a paywall:

In the last year, I have been subjected to a Zoom business meeting, an intercontinental family Facetime, and someone vlogging on TikTok – all while minding my own business on a train. It has to stop. In fact, loudspeaker video calls on trains should be a straight red...

I say this to the mainly young people who think it’s acceptable to inflict their terrible music on me in public: “Would you like to hear some of my favourite tunes? Think your delicate little ears can handle Black Sabbath?” This usually scares them sufficiently to desist...

The sorry state of British train etiquette – and the 10 worst offences

A rail watchdog has suggested issuing ‘yellow cards’ to passengers travelling without a ticket. Here are some other bookable misdeeds

www.telegraph.co.uk