To have got off the train and reported this?

[nutcrackerneepsntinseltatties]

Yesterday I was on the train with DH and DS three. I was sitting down as I am 35 weeks pregnant and DH was standing by the doors where there was space for the buggy.

A couple with two large bags came into our carriage. The husband watched the wife place the bags on the rack at the end of our carriage then indicated to her to move away with him. They then went through to the other carriage and I am guessing to the end of the train as we couldn't see them when we moved through. A few other people on the carriage had noticed this too and thought it was a bit odd, there were seats in our carriage so they didn't need to move else where to sit down and I know I would want to sit as near to my stuff as possible. 6 of us felt concerned enough to move through to the other carriage and as we were about to pull into a station 5 of us decided to get off. My Dh dashed back to report it to the ticket man who just ignored him and kept checking tickets.

Once off the train we reported it to the staff there and were made to feel really stupid. I feel kind of cross because even if we were over reacting (and luckily we were totally wrong!) surely there must be some kind of procedure to follow in these situations? Or am I in some kind of pregnancy madness here?

I think your report should have been taken seriously. I mean what if it had been a bomb?
YANBU

yanbu there are signs telling people to report this kind of thing so they should not have made you feel stupid for it, as it will put people off reporting and you never know

I'm confused: surely they just went to look for the loo/dining car? How is that odd?

but sometimes you get on a train and just put your bags where you get on, because you haven't stood exactly on the platform where your carriage is? Maybe they just dropped thier bags and then went to find seats?

Yes could be lost of explanations I suppose, it just seemed an odd move at the time and because a few of us thought the whole thing had seemed strange it felt like the right thing to pass it on.

BUt they may have just got on the train - put their bags in the nearest rack and then gone for their reserved seats?

There were no reserved seats on the train so not that.

YANBU - that is a weird thing to happen. Always best to report it, imagine if you hadn't and something awful had happened?

YANBU - always best to follow your instincts and it seems you were not the only ones to feel concerned.

Have you read a book called The Gift of Fear by Gavin De Becker?

Gosh - I'd happily leave a luggage bag unattended, didn't know it wasn't the norm.

I don't see why you shouldn't report it - better safe than sorry if it worries you, but I don't see why you expected them to make a huge fuss, either.

YANBU. Rail passengers are advised to report unattended baggage, there are posters everywhere. These people were irresponsible to do that, and I'm shocked at the attitude of the rail staff.

It's always best to report - there's even a poster campaign as you say so the station staff were BU to make you feel you'd done something odd.

Sounds very strange to me, I'd report the staff for not taking it seriously. Having to hear the mantra "unattended items may be removed without warning" 750 million times at least once it ought to be true!

I might have been tempted to report it to British Transport Police as well. Did you get off at a mainline station?

I have a Duty of Care under Money Laundering etc.
I had a peculiar situation earlier this year (just before I went on Summer holiday).. I not only had money laundering concerns; I also had concerns re home grown terrorism.

They weren't ill-founded (IMO). I have been a professional in practice for 25 years and it has been the only occasion where I voiced concerns. It felt "all wrong".

I voiced my concerns to the appropriate authorities.

I was treated well by the police. It was very distressing because it went against the grain with regard to confidentiality.

Better to speak up than be sorry afterwards.

And I speak up as someone that grew up in the "bomb" culture of Northern Ireland.

I think you should get in touch with the train operators and complain. That's really bad, they should not have ignored you.

YANBU. There are signs up to tell people not to leave luggage unsupervised and to report unattended luggage.

You did the right thing in reporing it and the staff should have acted upon the information.

Now chances are there were no problems, but it still needs investigating.

The couple should have had their luggage within their sights, not just left them and left the carriage. If looking for buffet or loos then one could stay and one go.

Bet if the luggage was tampered with or went missing the couple would be complaining.

YANBU at all.

I agree your report should have been taken seriously. My mum was told not to walk to far away from her case which she had put down on the station platform by a station employee.

Yes, my mother is a bit dizzy and trusting, and wouldn't expect someone to steal her case.

I'm guessing no action was taken because there weren't enough staff to deal with it.

did the train not have a guard?

I would have reported it, and been off that train at the next stop!
I was on a train two weeks after the 7/7 bombings in London, and there was another threat (with arrests if I recall rightly). We were all evacuated, and all trains into London stopped. Terrifying.

Whenever I've been on trains/stations in recent years there's been constant announcements about not leaving luggage unattended and saying that if anyone sees unattended items or anything suspicious they should report it immediately. So you're hardly unreasonable to assume they'd want to know and would have some procedure to follow? Otherwise why all the announcements, except just to annoy us?

It is normal though in practice for people to leave their luggage out of sight, often you have to put big items in the racks at the end where you can't see them from the seats. It would be a bit unreasonable to expect everyone with a case in the luggage rack to stand next to it for several hours.

Some people are just dim though. DH was a guard years ago, just after the September 11th attacks he used to come home on a daily basis and tell me of how many unattended cases had been reported to him. None were anything sinister, but people seem to remove their brains on trains sometimes (ooh, that rhymed

Ephiny - agreed, but to walk past empty seats? On a train with no reservations?

Perhaps there was some completely rational explanation, like the bags were too big to fit down the gap between seats, and they had .. errrm, very specific seating requirements like two airline seats together or two window seats opposite each other and they just didn't think. No-one expects people to stand guard over their bags at the end of a train. But deliberately ignoring empty seats in the carriage where the bags are is weird.