Four-year-old left on train after doors close - Burnham Station, 1 August 2012

[whole diary]

[BerkshireBugsy]

.....well I'm sorry but this has really wound me up   Station stops such as at Burnham are generally 30 seconds.  Whenever I use the train I'm always near a door ready to get off well before the station stop.  You can't expect the driver to wait in case somebody is a little bit slow in moving...the timetable would just fall apart.

One of the good things about a forum like this is it allows users to exchange opinions. I have to say that although I plan my exit from the services I use in order to avoid passengers that "faf" I also understand that in some situations it will take passengers longer to exit than at other times. Sometimes this can be due to circumstances outside of their control. It is not unusual, on the North Downs Line for example, for passengers to take longer to exit a train because people waiting to board won't give them a clear route though.

Maybe we should just have a timer on the doors which only opened the doors for a specific period of time come what may and, like I believe has been suggested, sod the passengers.

[Gordon the Blue Engine]

The bus comparison is interesting.  On the bus I get into Reading sometimes not only do some people not even start to move out of their seats until the bus has stopped, but the driver won't move away from bus stops until everyone has sat down!  So I agree with bobm that non-regular passengers just don't realise that some train stops are pretty short (I wonder how they manage on the tube?)

Maybe we'll have to add yet another train announcement - "we are now approaching [station] - if you are leaving the train here, please be ready to alight (or "get off", as more people know what that means) as soon as the train arrives as it may only stop for a short time".

Not forgetting to mind the gap and making sure you have all your personal belongings (including children) with you etc.

The nanny state.....

[bobm]

On some buses I have caught recently - including First in Bracknell - there are actually signs up telling you not to leave your seat until the bus has reached the stop.

[IndustryInsider]

The first generation of automated Turbo announcements asked you to remain seated until the train had come to a stand.  Quite amusing if you were on a packed train.

[Southern Stag]

SWT^▸ (South West Trains)'s system makes an announcement telling people to remain seated if a train is going to couple up to another at a station, perhaps quite sensible advice though. There can be a bit of a jolt, and if you aren't expecting it I suspect it could throw you off your feet.

[Western Explorer]

Maybe we'll have to add yet another train announcement - "we are now approaching [station] - if you are leaving the train here, please be ready to alight (or "get off", as more people know what that means) as soon as the train arrives as it may only stop for a short time".

Not forgetting to mind the gap and making sure you have all your personal belongings (including children) with you etc.

The nanny state.....

And not forgetting to take a moment to read the important safety information in the vestibule. Has any passenger (sorry, customer) ever been seen to get up and read the safety notices as a result of such an announcement? At least they now use "in the vestibule" instead of "which are located / adjacent to the / train doors" which took three passes to display on the old system.

[thetrout]

Forgive me for being completely callous as I have no idea as to the circumstances and I feel a bit out of order for suggesting this...

But hypothetically speaking... Perhaps the younger generation should learn to "put something on the end of it?!?!"

20 year old with a 4 year old kid... Does anyone else suspect that something not quite correct in the eyes of the law happened there?

In also seriousness though... Maybe headphones were a key factor... Would certainly explain not hearing the alarm... But also does every passenger know what the audible alarm actually means?

*Leaves large pile of brown smelly stuff in front of and switches on industrial sized fan and legs it*

[trainer]

There seems to be a thread of opinion from some in this topic in which certain kinds of people are not welcome to travel by train unless they want to fall foul of the short stopping time of some trains.  1st - don't have a mobility problem that means you can't get to the door in time to leap off. 2nd - don't travel unless you fully understand that a train is not like a bus  3rd - don't travel if you cannot single-mindedly concentrate on the business of boarding and alighting from the train. 4th  - don't travel if you are a young parent or perhaps have other impediments of character caused by the fecklessness which is youth. 

I would be happy to be rid of all drunk and noisome foul-mouthed passengers, but we need to tolerate some human foibles if the trains are to carry people like me.  Or perhaps old curmudgeons are not to be encouraged either. 

[swrural]

With you Trainer.  Of course there was a time..... yes when the porter (remember them?) would have signalled to the guard (remember them?) when it was safe to start the train.  Watch Mr Perks do it (oops, another thread).

[thetrout]

I'm siding with trainer here too. Having read my post I think it was a little harsh (and I am normally of the type bearing in mind my own disabilities who is perhaps a lot more tolerant than most...*)

But purely speculating having read the article CfN kindly linked, it does state this:

A First Group spokesman said: "Prior to the doors closing, there is a clear and audible warning. I do not understand why the customer did not hear the noise. We are investigating further."

I strongly suspect it was Headphones with music blaring so loudly that perhaps the mother didn't hear the audible alarm?? If anyone has alternatives to suggest, I'm all ears (No pun intended ) but if you listen to this... Perhaps I'm not at all far from the truth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNRkZd34uhE

* Sadly become a lot less tolerant due to increasing issues with my disability making me very, very grumpy. Once I've had my operation I'll be back to normality and being nice

* edit * Perhaps CfN would like to use that link in his signature... It would suit his current one very nicely...

[John R]

I'd agree with the comment that the stroy is somewhat sensationist as "4 yr old separated from her mother" loses a bit of its impact when you realise that she was still with her aunt. However, the slightly troubling point for me is this comment:-

Despite efforts to raise the alarm, the train departed with Chantel still onboard with her aunt.

Now we don't know how the mother attempted to raise the alarm, but I suspect it involved a certain amount of hand waving and very anxious behaviour around the door that she had just seen closing. So what judgement call was made by whoever was responsible for the safe departure of the train (not sure who it would have been in this case)?  Given the fatality in Liverpool last year, we can see that every day despatchers or train crew have to make decisions as to whether something is an emergency, and delay the departure, or whether to let the service go. Withough seeing what happened it is impossible to tell, but I would have hoped FGW^▸ (First Great Western) would have reviewed any CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) so determine whether the crew's actions were appropriate.

[Chris from Nailsea]

I strongly suspect it was Headphones with music blaring so loudly that perhaps the mother didn't hear the audible alarm?? If anyone has alternatives to suggest, I'm all ears (No pun intended ) but if you listen to this... Perhaps I'm not at all far from the truth http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rNRkZd34uhE

* edit * Perhaps CfN would like to use that link in his signature... It would suit his current one very nicely...

My concerns over the potential dangers of people using headphones to the exclusion of any external warnings of danger are perhaps best set out here: http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?topic=10234.0

As I said there: RIP Katie Littlewood.