Scotrail

[Bairnardo]

Just now, Todd_is_God said:

Where I was going with it was that certain posters claim it's just not possible for Scotrail to enforce penalty fares because conductors might get a slap for issuing them, yet this is in direct contrast to the fact that Scotrail are clearly willing to risk their conductors "getting a slap" by expecting them to enforce alcohol bans.

It depends on the level of expected enforcement. My opinion re fare dodging is that the problem is not seen as being big enough to throw any more resources at it than what already exists. Conductors selling tickets to those who board without one, and some slipping through the net is probably an acceptable wastage. 

They probably expect the alcohol ban to deter most, some of those who carry on to acquiesce to a conductor saying "can you put that away please, its not allowed on the service" and some to be fannies about it, with said fannies again representing a small enough portion that its not worth additional resources. In such cases, they probably train the conductor to act in a way as to minimise potential escalation, and if neccessary get BTP involved

 

[Todd_is_God]

Just now, Bairnardo said:

They probably expect the alcohol ban to deter most, some of those who carry on to acquiesce to a conductor saying "can you put that away please, its not allowed on the service" and some to be fannies about it, with said fannies again representing a small enough portion that its not worth additional resources. In such cases, they probably train the conductor to act in a way as to minimise potential escalation, and if neccessary get BTP involved

Replace "alcohol ban" with "penalty fares" and you have essentially described my point from yesterday.

[Todd_is_God]

4 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

I'm not sure Scotrail really expect them to enforce it other than telling folk they shouldn't be doing it.

I'm not convinced. By tweeting about it, they maintain public awareness of it, and invite outraged passengers to tweet them etc when they see people drinking on board and conductors ignoring it.

 

[Bairnardo]

Just now, Todd_is_God said:

Replace "alcohol ban" with "penalty fares" and you have essentially described my point from yesterday.

I lost the run of the fare dodgers debate. Didnt you say that the ability to issue penalty fares already exists? If so, then your point and my point sort of combine to make "no changes required". Conductors dont have the authority to escalate, and so in the rare cases where a ticketless passenger gets belligerent over it, its really not worth getting into it with them, because the penalty fare thing has already put off the vast majority of fare dodgers

[Busta Nut]

I've had conductors say "I am not supposed to see that" with a smirk as they pass.

It's the annoying fact that BTP will only ever be present on "fitba trains" or the trains were all the youth arrange their days to Ayr beach.

[Bonksy+HisChristianParade]

22 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

I've never once see a conductor even try. Don't blame them. I imagine some do at least try, but on some services you have whole carriages and even a majority of an entire train having drinks.

Most have been sound, but one pulled us up about it on the train up to Inverness. At this point all the beers were still in a carrier bag in the seat next to me and fucking hawk eye still spotted them and said if we opened them he’d report us to the BTP. Thankfully he never returned up our side of the carriage so it wasn’t an issue. 

[DA Baracus]

1 minute ago, Bonksy+HisChristianParade said:

Most have been sound, but one pulled us up about it on the train up to Inverness. At this point all the beers were still in a carrier bag in the seat next to me and fucking hawk eye still spotted them and said if we opened them he’d report us to the BTP. Thankfully he never returned up our side of the carriage so it wasn’t an issue. 

I still make a small effort to be discreet mostly when having some cans on the train for this reason.

[welshbairn]

2 minutes ago, DA Baracus said:

I still make a small effort to be discreet mostly when having some cans on the train for this reason.

Aye, I keep them out of view and just have the one on the table so it's easy for the conductor to pretend he hasn't noticed.

[vikingTON]

Leaving it to the discretion of an employee (in any business) means that enforcement will almost certainly discriminate against certain types of passengers based on class, age and gender.

TL;Dr version: 'scum' football fans will get targeted, while wine-drinking 40 year old women from Bearsden will be allowed to shriek like banshees regardless. 

[IrishBhoy]

13 hours ago, Detournement said:

I just had to book a flight to London on Friday. 

Inconvenient and expensive for me but it's down Westminster and Holyrood, not the workers. 

Calaonian Sleeper service still running 6 nights a week, £60 one way on the seated coach. 

[IrishBhoy]

9 hours ago, Todd_is_God said:

The alcohol ban is a nonsense, but, given BTP do not patrol every train, who do you think Scotrail's managers are expecting to enforce it if not their conductors?

I was on a train Saturday afternoon with 4 tins of beer on the table, two opened, and when the conductor came to check our tickets he said to keep them under the table if the police came on board. Guy didn’t give a f**k, and unless there was an incident it’s highly unlikely that the police would ever come on board anyway. 
 

I must admit that almost every conductor I’ve had dealings with on Scotrail services has been sound, they all seem to have a good nature when conversing with the passengers. 

[hk blues]

16 hours ago, Left Back said:

Look at the furore over the recent NI hike.

For years people have complained about NHS funding.  A tax rise is put in place ring-fenced for that.  Result is moans about tax rises.

Agreed, but my post was specific that the 'tax rises always hitting the poorer folk' philosophy has to change. 

[KingRocketman II]

12 hours ago, philpy said:

I went over on the train for a raith (only fife team in the championship) last season, had 3 neck oils on the way there, and a couple of jd and coke tins on the way back, conducters never batted an eyelid.

 

maybe they were just body swerving you as they heard you refer to some drinks as "neck oils"....

[Jacksgranda]

15 hours ago, 54_and_counting said:

Of course they dont deserve it, f**k sake ambulance paramedics earn way less than a train driver, can you imagine the uproar of all the ambulance medics went "f**k this lets strike" 

When the rail service was privately owned, it was bad enough, the train users had to face shite services for expensive fares, but at least they (well most) had the choice to choose different transport

Now the taxpayers are paying for a shit service that is going to cost even more money for the same shit service, 

Why anyone would think they deserve their wage and its worth the service provided is beyond me

Did the privately owned companies not get any government (taxpayer) money?

[RH33]

Why is dropping a carriage due to a shortage of drivers?

[Hauzen]

58 minutes ago, RH33 said:

Why is dropping a carriage due to a shortage of drivers?

Units out of place all over the country because not enough drivers to get them to where they need to be. The four carriage train that would have been used for that service was probably due in from another destination but that service didn't go ahead - the three carriage train would most likely be due to be used on another line, but diverted to this service which has been prioritised over other cancellations.

 

[RH33]

Makes sense.

[Albus Bulbasaur]

I've never had any conductor mentioning not being allowed alcohol on a train before, I think similar to what VT said when it comes to individuals it's disproportionate. Basically if you look like a scrawny wee jakey they'll probably chance it but if you're a handsome tall hard c**t they'll not chance it. 

Some very revealing outcomes being shared right enough. 

[Cosmic Joe]

2 hours ago, Hauzen said:

Units out of place all over the country because not enough drivers to get them to where they need to be. The four carriage train that would have been used for that service was probably due in from another destination but that service didn't go ahead - the three carriage train would most likely be due to be used on another line, but diverted to this service which has been prioritised over other cancellations.

 

Is the correct answer

[Wile E Coyote]

8 hours ago, KingRocketman II said:

maybe they were just body swerving you as they heard you refer to some drinks as "neck oils"....

Neck Oil is the name of the product he was drinking not some generic term for beers