Great Western Coffee Shop

British Transport Police have warned of tough action as part of a clampdown to stamp out assaults and intimidation on rail staff in the South-West (link below.)
http://www.rmtbristol.org.uk/2007/05/transport_police_get_tough_on.html#more

A regional campaign has started to raise awareness of the real effects and sometimes traumatic consequences of workplace violence experienced by rail staff.

1 guard I belive had 4 cases of Verbal Assult & 2 Death Threats issued 1 day, mind you, they only had aa 153 vice 2X143! The problem is, as shown there, it is not the frontline staffs fault, yet they get the flack all the time, whiilst Alison sits back in her comfy seat!

Whilst I agree that it is not the front line staff's fault, I have come across a proportion - a small minority - of them who I have seen taking an attitude / approach which may bring them into conflict with the company's customers.  I think I've read that First have trained all their customer facing staff in the art of handling irate passengers, but a few (and the one that I especially remember wasn't actually First crews even though he was on a First train) seem to have learnt how to rub people up the wrong way.