Rail firm fined for passengers actions
Thread Starter
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Newcastle Upon Tyne
Age: 53
Posts: 1,504
Rail firm fined for passengers actions
My ineptitude prevents me posting a link from my phone but Govia Thameslink have been fined £1m for health and safety breaches after a passengers head struck a steel gantry as he leant out of a window.
24 year old Simon Brown who reportedly worked on trains and was a rail enthusiast was killed.
The court found that warning stickers were inadequate and cluttered.
Now I knew from a fairly young age that sticking my head out of a train window was a bad idea. Certainly by 24, despite having no particular interest in trains, I didn't need a sticker to remind me of this.
Why should the company pay for the injudicious actions of an adult?
24 year old Simon Brown who reportedly worked on trains and was a rail enthusiast was killed.
The court found that warning stickers were inadequate and cluttered.
Now I knew from a fairly young age that sticking my head out of a train window was a bad idea. Certainly by 24, despite having no particular interest in trains, I didn't need a sticker to remind me of this.
Why should the company pay for the injudicious actions of an adult?
Join Date: Feb 2006
Location: Hanging off the end of a thread
Posts: 23,399
It's the blame culture and the sue culture, hence you have warnings plastered over everything, vehicle may be further away in US on car mirrrors, Contents hot on Coffee cups after McD sued over spilt drink..
Join Date: May 2001
Location: south of Cirencester, north of Lyneham
Age: 75
Posts: 1,261
It does seem a bit silly. How much common sense do you need to know that leaning out of train windows can be fatal?
Especially if you've worked on a preserved railway...
Especially if you've worked on a preserved railway...
Gnome de PPRuNe
Join Date: Jan 2002
Location: Too close to Croydon for comfort
Age: 58
Posts: 9,842
I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 79
Posts: 16,756
Surely Network Rail should have put the pylons further out 😀
Similarly the word Express might have suggested it was fast.
Similarly the word Express might have suggested it was fast.
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: West Wiltshire, UK
Age: 69
Posts: 412
It's a long time since I travelled on a train in the UK, but I used to get the train to school years ago. These were slam door trains, with a sliding window, and the only sign I can remember them having was a prominent warning under the window to not open either the window or door whilst the train was moving. Being kids we all used to slide the windows down and lean out...
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Peterborough
Age: 68
Posts: 226
This happened last year.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ow-police.html
there are still a great number of HST’s with drop light windows used to open doors running about the network.
With four doors per coach and an eight coach set, that’s a lot of doors to supervise.
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ow-police.html
there are still a great number of HST’s with drop light windows used to open doors running about the network.
With four doors per coach and an eight coach set, that’s a lot of doors to supervise.
Join Date: Dec 2007
Location: Hertfordshire
Posts: 470
Time was when European transcontinental passenger carriages had four-language notices by the windows. As I remember it we had:
Do not lean out of the window
Nicht hinauslehnen
Ne pas se pencher en dehors
all of which are clear prohibitions, but the Italians being of a sporting nature were told
E pericoloso sporgere
and left to do as they liked.
Do not lean out of the window
Nicht hinauslehnen
Ne pas se pencher en dehors
all of which are clear prohibitions, but the Italians being of a sporting nature were told
E pericoloso sporgere
and left to do as they liked.
Join Date: Nov 2011
Location: Japan
Posts: 1,041
Perhaps I am behind the times and spend too much time out of the country, but this story is hard to believe. Even if the warning sticker was cluttered by other stickers, this guy is still 100% or more at fault. Nuts. Has the world been turned inside out?
Join Date: Mar 2002
Location: Peterborough
Age: 68
Posts: 226
Tashengurt.
Responsibility, what’s that?
If you have an accident these days, someone else is always to blame.
Years ago if you slipped up and knocked your head, you saw stars,
now you just see £££’s!
Responsibility, what’s that?
If you have an accident these days, someone else is always to blame.
Years ago if you slipped up and knocked your head, you saw stars,
now you just see £££’s!
Resident insomniac
Join Date: Aug 2005
Location: N54 58 34 W02 01 21
Age: 77
Posts: 1,870
Time was when European transcontinental passenger carriages had four-language notices by the windows. As I remember it we had:
Do not lean out of the window
Nicht hinauslehnen
Ne pas se pencher en dehors
all of which are clear prohibitions, but the Italians being of a sporting nature were told
E pericoloso sporgere
and left to do as they liked.
Do not lean out of the window
Nicht hinauslehnen
Ne pas se pencher en dehors
all of which are clear prohibitions, but the Italians being of a sporting nature were told
E pericoloso sporgere
and left to do as they liked.
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Cambridge, England, EU
Posts: 3,438
Join Date: Oct 2002
Location: West Wiltshire, UK
Age: 69
Posts: 412

It reads something like "WARNING This is an active alligator crossing area. Keep on the path and hold children by the hand"
It always struck me that holding a child by the hand was probably a recipe for both of you getting eaten. Mind you, when wading out to help a friend who'd just flown in come ashore there was this sign in the water (as if we needed reminding that swimming might not be a good idea):

I don't own this space under my name. I should have leased it while I still could
Join Date: Dec 2002
Location: Lincolnshire
Age: 79
Posts: 16,756
We did a rain Forrest walk in the US VI with slippy when wet notices. The paths were tarmac. They had rain shelters for when it rained.
We think they had sensors that set off hoses so we got the rain Forrest experience.
We think they had sensors that set off hoses so we got the rain Forrest experience.
Avoid imitations
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Wandering the FIR and cyberspace often at highly unsociable times
Posts: 13,728
Near where I was born was a road roundabout appropriately known as "five lamps" because of the five street lamps on it's outer edge. A local tearaway stuck his head out of his mate's car window while his mate drifted it round there at high speed. Thereafter it was better known as "four lamps"....
Another school acquaintance drowned in the local river after messing about and falling out of a rowing boat. In those days, there were no lifejackets at the council run boat hire place. No-one got sued. But that was fifty years ago when Darwin's theory of natural selection was easier to prove.
Another school acquaintance drowned in the local river after messing about and falling out of a rowing boat. In those days, there were no lifejackets at the council run boat hire place. No-one got sued. But that was fifty years ago when Darwin's theory of natural selection was easier to prove.