To be shocked that the train companies don't enforce social distancing?

[EndemicPanda]

I read a story on the BBC news this morning saying that trains out of London were packed last night and there were announcements over the tannoys saying that social distancing wouldn't be possible and people should get off if they weren't comfortable with that.

AIBU to be shocked by this? I assumed that trains would only be able to operate at a low capacity like cinemas for the time being and would require reservations.

Superspreader express

Lack of imagination.

All available seats were taken-not all seats.

Well I got the LNER service a few times over the summer and in October and seat reservations were mandatory, and they were socially distanced seats. So I don't know what happened yesterday unless there is a lot of bending of the truth going on.

Buses are often rammed!
So I'm not surprised if trains are the same.

The way most trains are operated there isnt a mechanism by which they can enforce social distancing or restrict passanger numbers
I could walk up and buy a ticket for my local line, but not get on the train for another hour.
Half the trains no longer have a guard on board, and even if they did i am not sure how one person would count out all those getting on and off a twelve car train.

I really don’t understand it either.
After the first lockdown lifted, DD and I went to visit my family in July, going from London to Newcastle.
Everyone had to be completely distanced, only booked seats, no standing, etc
I don’t understand why they’ve allowed packed trains now!

I mean, on the part of the train companies.
This just emphasises yet again that we are all on our own--don't expect anyone else to care about protecting you from the virus. Put yourself first at all times.

It's the same when flying. We had to social distance, get on the plane & we're all flung together, get off & social distancing begins again.

I think to be honest it would have taken cancelling all the trains to stop it happening.
People wouldn't have listened even if they'd tried to enforce it, it would have put staff at risk to try, there just aren't the number of staff available, especially not with the few hours heads up they had this was going to happen because of the Christmas turn around. With more time they may have been able to organise something.
I've tried enforcing social distancing during eotho - and that was an utter farce, I was shouted at, pushed, threatened, sworn at and there wasn't as much at stake as last night.
Look at the 10pm curfew, people came out the pubs - and collected in the street, and the government got the blame.
The train companies aren't at fault here, if they were expected to manage other people's poor behaviour then they should have had back up or enough notice to do that, but really the only people to blame are the ones who went and did it anyway, seeing the chaos that was unfolding.

What do you expect them to do exactly? If you tell people not to travel, then 6 get on the train anyway. There aren't enough police to make people move. Short of closing the station altogether, how do you expect them to enforce social distancing when the trains are so full?

Realistically, it comes down to people to obey the guidelines as best they can given the constraints. I've had to use public transport (bus, train) and the majority of people are certainly doing the best they can. However, it's clear that a significant minority don't know or care and behave as if no covid.

For local services, lack of policing to do so. Could be enforced at terminals and the start of the journey but nowhere else. Most stations are not gated.

Really confused last time on a train, loads of empty seats, including 4 tables, I was tucked in a corner. Loads of signs saying keep your distance etc. God knows why they thought they should sit so close to me. Bizarre. They also had a cat which they put in its box on the table.

A couple came and sat opposite me! I was amazed, given their seats weren’t reserved and it was 1st class-they were running up and down the virtually empty train for 15 minutes so obviously weren’t booked into 1st class. The catering guy came up to me and in a whisper, asked if I’d like to move. I did.

But surely if all the passengers are wearing masks and have washed their hands to the tune of Happy Birthday there will be no problem.

I have just asked DH who works in control on the Railways
There is nothing to stop people buying tickets from machines at stations
He said says the guard would have the right to say the train was not safe to run , and would be cancelled.
This however would have left the platform staff to deal with the anger of passengers and would have put them all at risk
The only other thing to do was to call British Transport police to deal with it

I agree to an extent but there is only so much these people can do, like people not wearing masks in restaurants... There is only so much people can do, we really need to take responsibility for ourselves.

Look at the 10pm curfew, people came out the pubs - and collected in the street, and the government got the blame.

Of course the government got the blame. It was responding for allowing pubs to open by introducing the curfew. People who're allowed to gather indoors and who've had a few aren't going to suddenly start distancing because they're outside.

There seems to be a common suggestion on mumsnet that people shouldn’t take personal responsibility and make sensible judgment calls. Why can’t people think of others beyond their own needs? Just because the government says you can do something doesn’t mean it’s the right thing to do. So all those people who will have shoved themselves onto trains, Is that really ok?

It’s been like this for months. I got the train in August to the sea side and it was quite busy. Trains need to make money. Nobody checked our tickets.

Everyone went nuts

Waterloo. St pancreas. They were all nuts the other night. After Boris announcement. Everyone it seems jumped on a train!

@Jangle33

This is exactly what my dr. Who is one of the leading U.K. drs for a certain subject.

He said we all need to take personal responsibility at some point for the new 2 months. This new strain is a super strain. It’s making people sick left and right. Not more sick. Just more people getting sick.

The abuse given to the train staff is quite shocking, there is very little they can do.
DH drives trains but when he has to travel, he has seen some awful behaviour.

It isn’t practical. If social distancing was enforced how would people get to/from work everyday?

It’s hard to enforce.

Who should be doing it? Station guards have been progressively let go over the years. It’s not a olive priority. It’s pretty much left up to people to be sensible, which on the tube I find most people are. But a last train out of London? People will be wanting to get home or see their families. Understandable they’re going to push the boundaries a bit.

The stations were nothing like as busy as the Mail showed either. Really irresponsible reporting. Kings Cross and St Pancras were quieter than normal when the ‘great evacuation’ was apparently taking place. But that doesn’t sell newspapers/get online hits.