Gloucester Station - facilities, incidents and developments (ongoing discussion)

[whole diary]

[Lee]

A community mural in Gloucester Station , commissioned by First Great Western , has been unveiled (links below.)
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/england/gloucestershire/7067133.stm

http://www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk/NewsItem.aspx?id=562

[JayMac]

From thisisGloucestershire:

Cash for a makeover of Gloucester's "grotty" railway station subway has been slashed.

The budget to refurbish the subway has been cut by ^330,000. The graffiti-covered walk-through had been scheduled to undergo a radical makeover for some time ^ but a dispute between Gloucestershire County Council and Network Rail over insurance stalled the work. Now, the estimated ^750,000 budget for the project has been slashed as part of the council's cuts package.
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Councillor Jeremy Hilton, leader of the city and county council's Liberal Democrat groups, said: "I am hopping mad about this announcement. That money has been sitting in an account for five years and it hasn't been used. That subway is the first thing a lot of visitors see when they come to our city and it just isn't up to scratch. It's grotty and horrible. It needs a total refurbishment, not what the county council is now proposing."

With the cuts, the council is now proposing to install a CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) camera, new lighting and a new coat of paint over the graffiti. Previously it had been hoped the project would include new walls and graffiti-proof tiles.

"It's just not good enough," said Mr Hilton. "In the previous proposal, they were going to put special tiles in there to stop people from doing graffiti, but now they are just going to paint over it. There is no excuse ^ they should have got on with the work long ago. The work they are now proposing is not going to improve the ambience there whatsoever."

Councillor Stan Waddington, cabinet member for transport, said: "Because the coalition government has decided to cut the council's budget, we have to make savings in the areas they have identified. With regards the station subway, although we have reduced the cost of the scheme, we will still be painting it with vandal-proof paint and installing CCTV. In these difficult times we simply cannot justify the extra expense of building brand new walls. We still expect the end result to be a substantial improvement than now and will represent value for money."

The matter will be discussed by the county council's cabinet tomorrow (13/07/2010).

[devon_metro]

http://www.thisisgloucestershire.co.uk/news/rips-station-office/article-3054091-detail/article.html

Trains are still running smoothly after a fire ripped through Gloucester railway station.

First Great Western has confirmed that although the ticket office was heavily damaged in last night's blaze, services will not be affected.

However, the incident has caused distruption to ticket sales and the customer information system.

FGW^▸ (First Great Western) spokeswoman Sue Evans said: "There is no impact on train services.
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"The ticket office is closed until further notice, but passengers can buy tickets on the train.

"We will be assessing the damage and if necessary, we may be able to put mobile ticket office staff in place throughout the station."

She said staff in hi-vis jackets would also be around to keep customers informed of journey details after an electricity failure lead to the breakdown of the information system.

Police and firefighters were called to the ticket office at the station in the early hours of this morning.

Police spokesman Chris Jackson said: "Gloucester Police were called to a fire at the railway station in the early hours of this morning.

"The Fire Service reported a large fire at the ticket office at 1.30am today, December 31.

"It was extinguished by 2.30am but had caused extensive damage.

"Police are treating the fire as suspicious and have arrested a 17-year-old boy from Cheltenham on suspicion of arson in connection with the case. He is currently being questioned."

Anyone with any information should call Gloucestershire Police on 0845 090 1234, or Crimestoppers anonymously on 0800 555 111 quoting incident 32 of December 31.

[LiskeardRich]

some interesting reader comments at the bottom of the article

[Chris from Nailsea]

From thisisgloucestershire:

Teenager set fire to Gloucester railway station after train cancelled

After his late-night train was cancelled, drunken Jordan Clews set fire to the ticket office at Gloucester train station and caused ^322,000 of damage.

This was the scene left behind after Clews, a 17-year-old, of Gloucester Road, Cheltenham, drunkenly torched the site.

The teenager admitted arson when he appeared at Gloucester Crown Court yesterday.

He was given a two-year detention and training order, and Judge Jamie Tabor lifted an order set to protect the identity of minors, as it was in the public interest to release his name.

Prosecuting, Lisa Hennessy said Clews had gone to Gloucester railway station in the early hours of December 31, 2010 to get a train to Cheltenham.

The train, due at 12.40am, was cancelled and he was told it would be replaced by a bus at 1.40am. He sat in the booking hall, but, when staff saw him get out tobacco, they told him he could not smoke inside the station and he went out.

A few minutes later, the fire alarm went off and staff found that the offices upstairs were filling with smoke.

"The booking hall was ablaze and also filling with black smoke, and the cashiers windows were a wall of flame," Mrs Hennessy said. "Clews was outside, transfixed by the fire as if he was in a trance."

It looked as though someone had pushed burning paper through the pay slots.

CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) showed Clews going backwards and forwards across the booking hall before the fire. He was arrested as his hands were blackened.

Clews asked for two other offences, of theft and grievous bodily harm, to be taken into consideration. The court heard he had taken money from an alcoholic in the street, then punched him as he lay on the ground.

Tim Burrows, defending, said Clews had not set out to cause arson, and did not remember what happened.

He said: "He was drunk and that is a common factor in all his offending."

[vacman]

I cant believe that they can try and use his drinking as a defence! seems that justice has been done to an extent, they should make him pay back all of the money for the damage, even if it means him paying a tenner a week for the rest of his life.

[devon_metro]

I'd like to see him pay back that ^322,000 over the course of his lifetime.

[JayMac]

...they should make him pay back all of the money for the damage, even if it means him paying a tenner a week for the rest of his life.

At ^10 a week that would take approximately 619 years. 

[vacman]

...they should make him pay back all of the money for the damage, even if it means him paying a tenner a week for the rest of his life.

At ^10 a week that would take approximately 619 years. 

maybe, but he would still have paid some of it back.

[chuffed]

I am tempted to say he got off 'lightly' , wouldn't you ?

[Tim]

I think he got off lightly.  This was not just an offense against property but endangered people's lives.  It was an ocupied building, buit some empty derilict place.

[Brucey]

As I'm not familiar with the lingo, is a "two-year detention and training order" basically what most people would call borstal?

[JayMac]

A two year DTO will see the offender spend half the sentence in a Young Offenders Institution and half spent in the community under the supervision of a Youth Offending Team.

The community part of the sentence requires the offender to attend up to twice weekly meetings with their YOT Officer. Additional criteria may be added to the community part of the sentence, such as unpaid work ('Community Payback') or a requirement to attend education or vocational training. A curfew with electronic tagging may also be imposed.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From thisisgloucestershire:

Improvements will be made to Gloucester train station from next month. On May 16, First Great Western will be doing work to the platforms costing more than ^500,000. This will include new waiting rooms, changes to the ticket office and putting a covered platform at the site.

First Great Western spokesman John Ratchford said: "There are plans for a covered walkway from Platform 2 to 1 and new waiting rooms on both Platforms 1 and 4, as well as changes to the main ticket office. Train services will run as normal during this period and we do not anticipate any passengers being disrupted. The amount being spent on this project will be over ^500,000."

The changes to the station have been welcomed by Gloucester's MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Richard Graham. He met First Great Western's head of network strategy Russell Evans, communications director Sue Evans and Gloucester Station manager Lynn Edgington to discuss their planned improvement works at the station earlier this month.

Mr Graham said: "These changes should make a significant difference for Gloucester's train users, protecting passengers from the elements on all platforms. I'm also encouraged that work will start on May 16 and finish by July 29. Now we need to ensure that Network Rail work on covering the bridge to Platform 4 and installing a lift for the disabled is not delayed."

The plans for Gloucester Station are part of Network Rail's National Station Improvement Programme (NSIP).

[chuffed]

Well, it's almost done now.  New alumium and glass modular waiting rooms on Platforms 2 and  4 with fixed individual seats ... they are fine ...but oh dear what a monumental waste of money on the canopy linking the half mile walk between PLatforms 1 and 2 . Just a curvy roof, no sides and no use whatsoever if anything more than Beaufort Force 2 is blowing. Ticket office not yet finishead and new CIS^▸ (Customer Information System) still in their wrappings.