Train journey CFs

[GreenestValley]

On a train and go to the loo - someone is in it

Wait three, four, five minutes. I have a tactic of trying the door handle several times at intervals so as to hopefully embarrass anyone who thinks they can stay in there as long as they like, into emerging

In this instance even with trying the door and eventually knocking, no movement at all. Clearly someone who wants to avoid the ticket inspector for the full 3 hour length of this journey

I obviously just went to another loo but it really pisses me off - when you’ve got carriages of people who have paid sixty quid for a ticket 👿

AIBU or does this really grind the gears for anyone else?!

People like you OP are the reason my disabled dad refuses to get the train anywhere.

@Herpesfreesince03 people definitely do exactly that!

Are you honestly claiming that someone sat in a toilet cubicle for 3 hours to try to avoid paying a fare?

Why do you find that hard to believe? Do you know how much train fares cost these days? I wouldn't do it because I'm honest, but if in some bizarre scenario I was legitimately offered a free journey in return for sitting in the cubicle, instead of the carriage, I'd do it.

I doubt I'm the only one because when the trains are standing room only, I've seen people sit on the toilet in preference to standing up for three or more hours.

If they feel ill, they should still only be hogging the toilet if vomiting/nausea or got the shits. Anything else, they can come out and ask for a seat, if none free.

Yanbu imo op.

I don't think it's absurd to suspect that someone who's in the toilet for a long time might have a stomach upset.

I agree, ShamefulBlanket. I wonder how many of those condemning the OP regularly make long train journeys? I'm a non-driver so as far as trains go, I have seen it all.

@TheMemoryLingers I regularly make long train journeys, and think the OP is totally unreasonable. But it's good to know we have such all-knowing wisdom as yours on the thread.

Eckhart Your sarcasm is uncalled for.

Oh come off it! People regularly try to fare dodge on long distance journeys by hiding in the loo! I saw somebody being caught last week.

I suspect that is a more likely explanation than the pious ‘the person in the loo must have had IBS/chemotherapy/a bad period’.

In any event, most people, if they had been occupying the loo on a busy train for a long time, would say something if another passenger knocked on the door or rattled the handle. I’m in and out quickly but if I were taking longer and somebody else wanted to use the loo I’d apologise and say, sorry, I’ll be two minutes or whatever. Because I’d feel bad about hogging a train loo if somebody else needed it, even if I had good reason for taking a long time.

thememorylingers You'd know, having seen it all

How can you be sure that it was the same person for the three hours? Unless you were lurking outside the door like a toilet-womble, with your eyes fixed on the door?

Otherwise, if you only returned every three minutes, that's plenty of time for the first person to finish and leave and another person to go in, a number of times.

It might well have been one person, suffering with a dodgy belly, and the knowledge that they'd made it absolutely reek coupled with somebody rattling the door handle every few minutes might have shamed them into not daring to leave, knowing there was somebody right out there who would smell the aftermath of their strivings the instant they left.

If you hadn't kept doing that, they might have believed the coast was clear for them to emerge unnoticed after a few minutes. Potentially, with a little more patience, you might have got to use the toilet and they could have been spared an embarrassed three hours of confinement in a filthy stinky bog.

Eckhart

My words were as far as trains go, I have seen it all.

'As far as trains go' in that sentence was a qualifier to 'I have seen it all' so your observation is irrelevant.

thememorylingers ok then.

Unless you were lurking outside the door like a toilet-womble, with your eyes fixed on the door?

An engaged sign lights up at the end of the carriage when the toilet is occupied so it can be monitored from your seat.

Eckhart I'm glad we've cleared that one up.

If I was trying to go to the loo and you pulled this stunt I'd be telling you loudly to stop rushing me now piss off I'm having a shit, I've done this too.

Well I have some sympathy OP - there is no harm in letting the person in the loo know that someone is waiting. Presumably if they were unwell and couldn't leave they could have called out something to that effect and you would know to walk up to the next toilet. Unless they were an inconsiderate arse who doesn't care how long they keep people waiting, obviously.

last week in the storm delays my train was cancelled and then the next was delayed. The train was busy - no seats but only a handful of people standing. 1 person locked themselves in the disabled loos for 2 hours - to get a seat and wouldn't respond to anyone knocking.

An engaged sign lights up at the end of the carriage when the toilet is occupied so it can be monitored from your seat.

Ah, OK - I haven't been on a train for ages, but I do remember the old Travellers' Fare cold sausage sandwiches which could well have been the cause of all this in the first place.

Do those signs never go wrong, though?

What, like, loudly calling in a train full of strangers, 'HANG ON, I'VE GOT DIARRHOEA!'?

Do those signs never go wrong, though?

It's more common for the toilet itself to go wrong, which is why you sometimes end up with only one functioning toilet all the way from Penzance to Glasgow Central via Leeds .

@Iamthewombat @ShamefulBlanket

It's neither about piety or trying to make excuses, people just reply according to their own experiences and most people are honest/travel on routes where you need a ticket to get through the platform barriers, therefore only use the toilets for honest reasons, would generally prefer not to use train toilets at all if possible and if they're in the toilet for a long time it's for a medical reason.

Personally I commute daily on a route which has ticket barriers and have only ever used the toilet on the train once - when I had food poisoning - and yes I did have to stay in there a while.

Potentially, with a little more patience, you might have got to use the toilet and they could have been spared an embarrassed three hours of confinement in a filthy stinky bog.

What, so the OP could have the pleasure of the filthy stinky bog instead?