Great Western Coffee Shop

This morning at 0645 on Reading station there were 3 un accompanied peices of luggage. Whilst I stood some distance away to verify, there was no one attached, I counted 4 station staff who walked past this luggage and did not bat an eye lid. Once I established the risk, I waitied to speak to a station member of staff ( I had to wait until she had released train out of station) then explained to her my concern about the luggage. She thanked me kindly and I went on my way to catch my train.

It makes me laugh that there are all these tanoy messages warning us to keep an eye out for anything suspicious and tell some one if we see anything, yet this obviously does not apply to staff? In the current precarious security situation we find ourselves in, this seems a bit barmy to me. What do other people think?

Could you please advise me which platform so I can identify the staff by checking the CCTV and if necessary rebriefing them?

Of course, we take security seriously and staff often identify/remove unattended items.  It is true, however, that when working on a busy platform with many other duties to attend to, an "normal" looking piece of luggage can possibly be overlooked for a time.  That is why we have the regular announcements urging passengers to assist us in highlighting anything which looks unusual or suspicious, and I thank you for being sufficiently vigilant in bringing it to the attention of our staff on this occasion.

I can assure you that the whole station is fully checked at least every hour 24/7 by our staff and detailed records are kept.  Additionally, we are subject to frequent spot checks by TRANSEC who "hide" packages and report on how long it takes us to find them.  999 times out of 1000, luggage such as you saw will be reunited with people who have popped into a shop, or possibly boarded a train and left it behind on the platform, however we are all aware it only takes one slip to have a serious incident.

I'm guessing it was platforms 1 and 2 given that that Commuting Bookworm filed this under "Reading to Basingstoke".

I have to say, I use Reading station at least once or twice a week and have very often seen staff standing next to odd bits of luggage looking around pointedly for its owner in order to have a word with them when they turn up, so based on my observation I'd say the above was an isolated if very unfortunate incident. All credit to you for jumping in and underlining the seriousness of it though, Fish.

Good morning, sorry only just logged on. The left luggage was just to the right of the door of the upper crust resturant on platform 4.  I walked past it at approx 0650 yesterday. I even saw a cleaner sweep the floor around it, I think. I realise that every one is busy, but when it goes boom, it will be too late to say "but we have security measures in place, how did that happen?". Will the families of the victims understand? Why do we always have to wait for a disaster before taking preventative measures? 

I'm surprised to be honest - especially given the recent plane packages everyone should be very vigilant.  That being said, it's possible that the owners of the luggage had asked permission to a member to leave it there for a short while?  Unlikely, but possible.

Luggage left on platforms rarely triggers a station evacuation though as it does happen frequently and doesn't match the HOT profile that staff follow when deciding what to do with something unattended.  H = Hidden, O = Obviously suspicious (i.e. wiring visible), or T = not Typical of its location (i.e. a piece of luggage left in a luggage rack is rarely treated as suspicious).

Tricky one this. Firstly we don't wait for a disaster before taking preventative measures - there have been very few bins on stations for decades, we've been warned about leaving unattended luggage etc etc. Invoking emotional arguments about "the families of the victims" isn't a sound basis on which to weigh up the risks involved and make a decision.

Clearly I don't know the exact circumstances of what happened, and it sounds like someone may have temporarily taken their eye off the ball. But it's a fact of life that people are fundamentally forgetful and will always leave bits and piece of luggage lying around, if only for a few minutes. If railway stations were evacuated every time someone left a bag lying around, the system would grind to a halt, pure and simple. That way terrorists (regardless of their particular cause) have already won without actually having to do anything. It's a fine balancing act, but the simple fact is that almost all the time such packages are just passengers' luggage.

I'm interested to know what your suggestions are for what might be done differently, if you think we're always waiting until a disaster happens before reacting, Commuting Bookworm. It's certainly possible to go too far the other way - if you try travelling on Amtrak in the US, especially around major holidays, you'll often find major stations bristling with police, many of them with large snarling dogs walking up and down queues of passengers sniffing luggage, pulling people out of line to inspect them and their belongings etc etc. Amtrak also has a policy in place where they will refuse to carry anyone who does not consent to having their bag searched when asked. As far as I can tell, these ridiculous over-reactions achieve very little other than "security theatre" and making you feel like you're travelling in some kind of police state.

Inspector Blakey, I am am not for 1 minute suggesting that the station be evacuated. My concern in this instance was the fact that several Rail employees walked past the baggage, and not even stopped to look or ask if it belonged to someone. I am concerned that it took me, a passanger, who could quite easily of been in too much of a hurry to report it to a platform manager, to report the concern. I stood for a good 10 mins either watching to see if it belonged to someone, or trying to wait until they had dispatched the train on Platform 4, before I could get someones attention.

The real thing that concerned me was the employees paid no attention to a potential security risk. 

Bookworm you sound just like a transec inspector as that is exactly what they do!

well I can't  comment on what you experienced, but I have observed FGW staff at Paddington and Reading being proactive in dealing with suspect bags, so I'd agree with Phil that they are pretty hot on security usually.

It also needs to be pointed out that it's not just 'unattended items' that should be considered a potential security risk.

The four bombs used in the London attacks on 7 July 2005 were all contained in rucksacks which were being worn or carried by the suicide bombers, right up to the moment each one was detonated.

As I said before, and others have attested, we are generally very vigilant with such items.  It is true, however, that whilst we have to be vigilant all the time, a prospective terrorist has to be lucky just once.

Unfortunately, members of the public are often very forgetful about their luggage and at Reading we get dozens of "lost" (or should that be "found"?) bags and cases every week, not to mention the mobiles and wallets, which must be replicated to varying degrees at every station in the country.  And I certainly wouldn't wish to see the Amtrak method here.

Thank you for identifying the location and I can now use the CCTV and identify any staff in the vicinity and use it as a good example to help them improve on their observation and vigilance.

SDS Pad, is this a compliment or a dig? Not that I mind becuase if me being a busy body, helps to awaken just one member of staff to the dangers and thus potentially stop the next bomb attack, thats cool.

Fish, please don't take it the wrong way, I wasn't having a go at any staff, but just wanted to highlight a weakness in Reading's security proceedures.

Im just a commuter that wants to stay safe and I am prepared to do my bit to enable that to happen.

Its a compliment bookworm. We need everybody to be vigilant.

If it wasn't for transec 'testing' us at unannounced times, things wouldn't get done and we'd get complacent!

Whilst it is well to be cautious regarding unattended luggage, it should be remembered that the present type of terrorists favour manually detonated suicide bombs carried about the person or in vehicles, and not time bombs left in luggage.

This may of course change, but the current threat does not appear to be from unattended luggage.