LNER and people drinking on board

[railfire90]

Two separate occasions just recently happened on services from Edinburgh to London on Thursday morning around 11am and Sunday morning around the same time.

On the way down from Edinburgh to London, 4 group of guys had the tenacity to have 5 bottles of Smirnoff vodka, 4 cans of cider and 6 cans of beer. They were totally intoxicated, and they said "OK lads cheers to a drunken weekend", yet LNER on board staff turned a blind eye to it, like no responsibility or anything.

This all happened in coach H, the quiet coach, yet it was nothing but quiet as people were loud and noisy, plus I have Autism, OCD, PTSD, and ADHD etc, so I felt totally uncomfortable.

The same instance happened on the way up this morning, 4 guys drunk after having 5 cans of beer again, staff did nothing.

Suffice to say I had enough of alcoholics and drunks to last me a lifetime, so I sent an email complaint to LNER customer services.

I am fed up with zero enforcement towards all this.

 

[yorkie]

Sorry to hear this.

Did you move to another coach?

Did you speak to staff about this, and what did they say?

 

[The exile]

I would imagine this is a case of discretion being the better part of valour on the staff’s part. It is not good if other passengers are made to feel totally uncomfortable but it may well be that not antagonising them was considered the best possible action in the circumstances. Short of permanent police patrols there’s a limit to what can be done on train.

 

[Iskra]

If you had a quiet word with staff at the time, I suspect they would have upgraded you to First Class on the spot if there was room.

While it’s frustrating, there’s not much they can do after the event.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Lack of enforcement of quiet coaches by staff who pass through them and witness the making of unnecessary noise really does hack me off. This weekend I witnessed a woman give someone a barrage of abuse for politely asking her and her noisy child to quieten down a little (there was plenty of room in the other coaches for them to move to).

They either need to be enforced or they need to be removed so the expectation isn't there. This is rather backed up by what the OP here says - that people sit there not only because they want it quiet, but for reasons of disability where they NEED, not just want, a bit of quiet.

 

[baz962]

Lack of enforcement of quiet coaches by staff who pass through them and witness the making of unnecessary noise really does hack me off. This weekend I witnessed a woman give someone a barrage of abuse for politely asking her and her noisy child to quieten down a little (there was plenty of room in the other coaches for them to move to).

They either need to be enforced or they need to be removed so the expectation isn't there. This is rather backed up by what the OP here says - that people sit there not only because they want it quiet, but for reasons of disability where they NEED, not just want, a bit of quiet.

To be fair , what do you expect staff to do. I know many train managers getting hacked off with people who are anti social and those kinds of people will abuse the staff too. People on here complain about rent a cop security and the police are stretched and unless the person or people are getting physical you can't really even put hands on them.

 

[Bletchleyite]

To be fair , what do you expect staff to do.

Ask them to either quieten down or move coaches.

They can't do much more than that, but staff do have far more perceived authority than other passengers do.

But if things have really got to the point staff don't feel safe doing that (but will ask for their ticket and take action if one is not produced), then it's time to get rid of quiet zones and set the expectation appropriately. One or the other. If they exist, they should be enforced strictly. If they can't be enforced strictly, they should be abolished.

 

[Iskra]

Ask them to either quieten down or move coaches.

They can't do much more than that, but staff do have far more perceived authority than other passengers do.

But if things have really got to the point staff don't feel safe doing that (but will ask for their ticket and take action if one is not produced), then it's time to get rid of quiet zones and set the expectation appropriately. One or the other. If they exist, they should be enforced strictly. If they can't be enforced strictly, they should be abolished.

You know that’s going to end in a fudge of ‘quieter coaches.’

BTP should actually travel on a few trains, enforce the existing byelaws and a few fines appearing in the news might make people think about their behaviour and get the message out there.

Currently, BTP are not taken seriously as a force, as they seem to avoid enforcement due to potential conflict due to lack of numbers, and seem content to move problem passengers on to become someone else's issue, rather than deal with them.