to be staggered by how appalling this is?

[sadpapercourtesan]

My 17yo son was on a Cross Country train yesterday. The buffet car was open and several passengers were removing their masks to eat, so DS1 lowered his to eat a packet of crisps he had with him (it was a long journey and he did need to eat)

Train conductor came through and told him to put it back on, because passengers may only remove their masks to eat food purchased in the buffet car!

WTAF?!

Simon not all diabetics take glucose shots, they might need to eat haribo or other sugar or maybe a piece of bread. but even if they weren't diabetic, they might've needed to eat and if they can eat something they've purcased, they should be able to eat something they've brought with them. train bought food is notoriously expensive and normally quite shit tbh. why should someone feel compelled to purchase it? eating is a basic human right and trains are, esentally public spaces. they're not restaurants (if it were a restaurant i'd completely understand the rule being in place).

@AliMonkey

But isn’t the guard just trying his best to apply the law, which is: Wear in public transport except for various reasons, which include “to eat or drink if reasonably necessary” which I take to mean if needed for medical reasons (so eg diabetic; six hour journey; water if hot, etc) not just “feeling a bit peckish”. Don’t have to wear in restaurant/bar if sitting eating the food/drink purchased there.

So on a train the guard’s interpretation is the most reasonable one to keep you within the law. Doesn’t mean it’s sensible but it’s what the law says.

Clearly the guard has this mentality. Devoid of any trace of common sense. Why would the buffet be serving food if there was some utterly bizarre ruling that you can only eat or drink on a train for “medical reasons”?

@strawberrymilkshakemonkey

Simon not all diabetics take glucose shots, they might need to eat haribo or other sugar or maybe a piece of bread. but even if they weren't diabetic, they might've needed to eat and if they can eat something they've purcased, they should be able to eat something they've brought with them. train bought food is notoriously expensive and normally quite shit tbh. why should someone feel compelled to purchase it? eating is a basic human right and trains are, esentally public spaces. they're not restaurants (if it were a restaurant i'd completely understand the rule being in place).

A diabetic with low blood sugar needs a glucose shot, they don’t need a haribo or another type of sugar, we most certainly don’t need a bit of bread.

It's not a wind-up, it really did happen.

Staggered and appalled were perhaps a little OTT but I was genuinely pretty irate, I've never heard of not being allowed to eat your own food on a train - it's clearly nonsense - and to use the COVID-19 measures as a cynical means of grubbing a bit more money out of passengers seems pretty tawdry to me.

My overreaction was probably fuelled by the fact that DS1 is underweight and needs to eat properly, and has ASD and is very rule-bound so this upset him quite a bit more than it would have upset me (I would have eye-rolled and then eaten the crisps anyway). I realise that's a drip-feed, but tbh I expected the thread to fizzle out after a few posts...

Simon, do you have type 1 diabetes? do you know anyone with it??? the NHS website actually recommends bread or sweets, even jam, for when you're having a hypo. my other half is a t1 diabetic and mainly uses haribo for when he's low. glucagon (the type you inject) is only really used for if your sugars are so low that you're unconscious. hardly any diabetics I know use them for everyday purposes!

I do agree it’s appalling but really, lowering masks on public transport seems very risky to me. I don’t know what the answer is, though.

@strawberrymilkshakemonkey

Simon, do you have type 1 diabetes? do you know anyone with it??? the NHS website actually recommends bread or sweets, even jam, for when you're having a hypo. my other half is a t1 diabetic and mainly uses haribo for when he's low. glucagon (the type you inject) is only really used for if your sugars are so low that you're unconscious. hardly any diabetics I know use them for everyday purposes!

Yes I do, the NHS also recommends a high carb diet for diabetics, NHS dietary advice is truly awf. Glucagon is not a glucose shot.

Simon fair enough if you want to take a glucose shot. i'm not criticising that choice. but there are lots of other options that diabetics can take and if one diabetic prefers/finds it more convenient to have haribo or another form of sugar then that is their choice. :) not every diabetic will use the same methods that you do and it's not ideal to make sweeping statements that 'diabetics need a glucose shot' because ovviously there's always more than one solution to a problem.

I think it's mean young people don't usually have a lot of money to spend and to sit in a buffet car alone! It's getting like the airports.

@SimonJT

My sibling and my friend are both T1
Both very well managed and high functioning.
They belong to a large support networks of T1

What you’re talking about is a last resort and a bit weird tbh. It’s like recommending a bypass for heartburn. I mean most T1 will combat a low with something like a sugary drink or sweets, at a push they pop a couple of dextrose...Glucogen is the thing my mum keeps in the fridge incase my sibling ever passes out and we have to rub it on his gums

[quote Pumpertrumper]@SimonJT

My sibling and my friend are both T1
Both very well managed and high functioning.
They belong to a large support networks of T1

What you’re talking about is a last resort and a bit weird tbh. It’s like recommending a bypass for heartburn. I mean most T1 will combat a low with something like a sugary drink or sweets, at a push they pop a couple of dextrose...Glucogen is the thing my mum keeps in the fridge incase my sibling ever passes out and we have to rub it on his gums [/quote]
You’re saying a shot of glucose is a last resort and a bit weird then you literally suggest doing exactly that by saying having a sugary drink

This is outrageous. This is contagious.

I thought this was going to be able all the missing sex offenders or similar by the title.

OP your point is valid but your intro to it is way way OTT

Appaling is the way the Uighur Muslims are being treated/eradicated in China. This is annoying but hardly note worthy.

I think the use of ‘glucose shot’ is confusing people. My dsis has fruit juice on hand for when she’s low.
My dh and kids had an 8 hr train journey with a closed buffet car last week! Thankfully not diabetic but they got very hungry.

[quote Pumpertrumper]@SimonJT

My sibling and my friend are both T1
Both very well managed and high functioning.
They belong to a large support networks of T1

What you’re talking about is a last resort and a bit weird tbh. It’s like recommending a bypass for heartburn. I mean most T1 will combat a low with something like a sugary drink or sweets, at a push they pop a couple of dextrose...Glucogen is the thing my mum keeps in the fridge incase my sibling ever passes out and we have to rub it on his gums [/quote]
exactly. Simon seems to favour a 'one size fits all' approach. glad your sibling and friend are doing well with t1. it's so hard to strike a balance.

@Watdafark

This is outrageous. This is contagious.

'THEYRE LAUGHING AT MY SONG'.

fellow peep show fan here, hello.

just off to bleach my eyes.

although eyes, bleach.... is that a bad one???

Why do people keep talking about eating in the buffet car? Every train I've ever been on that serves food has a counter or trolley and you consume the food at your normal seat. Unless its a special tourist 'experience' type thing, eating in a buffet car simply isn't possible and clearly its a commercial, not safety decision to say only food purchased on board can be consumed. I agree completely with the pp who said they picked on an easy target.

HughAckmansWife I was wondering that too. I can’t remember being on a train with a “buffet car” ever ... isn’t it a buffet trolley or a buffet bar?!

@AliMonkey

But isn’t the guard just trying his best to apply the law, which is: Wear in public transport except for various reasons, which include “to eat or drink if reasonably necessary” which I take to mean if needed for medical reasons (so eg diabetic; six hour journey; water if hot, etc) not just “feeling a bit peckish”. Don’t have to wear in restaurant/bar if sitting eating the food/drink purchased there.

So on a train the guard’s interpretation is the most reasonable one to keep you within the law. Doesn’t mean it’s sensible but it’s what the law says.

I went on a 4.5 hour train journey a few weeks ago (with GWR, not Cross Country). I checked the govt guidance on masks beforehand, and my interpretation of it was that I could eat on any long journey. It's reasonable and necessary for anyone to eat at a mealtime, not only for medical reasons. My journey took place from 10am - 2.30pm, so most people were eating lunch on the train at some point in the journey (and I brought my own lunch, I never buy from the overpriced buffet), and none of us were challenged. The guard did challenge some people who weren't wearing masks though (when not eating).

Think OP just meant there was food available. Trolleys aren't mobile atm so passengers have to go to the bar or trolley

No, other pp mentioned about eating in the buffet car. In one sense that wouldn't be a terrible idea, easier to 'police' re masks but would be a logistical nightmare giving people slots and you'd never win trying to ban people eating elsewhere on the train if there wasn't space in the BC.

Massively OTT thread title

Only eat food purchased on the train? When did that become common practice? Last time I got a train home from London everyone was stuffing their face with stinky takeaways, even those standing, the train was packed. I’d like to have seen a conductor try to stop them eating their food. These were mainly business/commuters on a 18:00 train. Teenagers seem to be unfairly singled out for behaviours that are ignored if the perpetrator is “a respectable adult”.

Has anybody been on a train that has a separate buffet carriage where you just go to eat? DH says they haven’t existed since the ‘80s and he’s a train nerd. You get them on some of the fancy specialist trains like The Orient Express where you book a table. But otherwise isn’t it just first or second class carriages with a bar type affair in the middle to buy food but not sit down?