Drinking on the Saturday night train?

[Trainbrainpain]

Just took a train home. Absolutely crammed 3 hour journey north. It seems that Saturday night trains have just become a giant travelling pub. Loads of drunk stumbling men (football fans) with bags and bags of alcohol and takeaway food.
People vaping, playing music on speakers, shouting in the aisles , arguing, singing, and everything else you’d expect from a crowded pub on a Saturday night.
But really not a safe or pleasant situation for the families with young children , or people just wanting to travel in peace.
For the price of the ticket, aibu to expect a more regulated experience? I wish they’d ban alcohol consumption on trains.

It's really grim isn't it?

@Trainbrainpain well now you know, you can book an earlier train!

Let people, without kids - or night off from kids, have their fun!

Do remember a night-out when you were younger and without kids - what were you doing?

You’ve just unlocked some fun memories of the night bus and tube in London. Singalongs, weirdos, just a sense of chaotic camaraderie.

I love those trains! Best ones are the trains from Edinburgh to Glasgow after a game at Murrayfield.

Where do people go to the toilet? If I drink I need a toilet very close by😁. Can’t imagine I’d want to use toilets on a train visited by drunken idiots (and similarly, if flying domestically I deliberately dehydrate myself before the flight to get me through).

Yeah i just wouldn't take kids on the late train. Its a good thing they are drinking on the train and not drink driving IMO

I don't think this is a new thing OP? It's not great but can you just book an earlier train next time?

Isn't that what late night Saturday trains have always been like...?
I try to avoid the later trains tbh. Ime they feel okay when packed, but start feeling a bit sketchy as they empty out.

I wish they’d ban alcohol consumption on trains.

Scotrail had an alcohol ban in place for ages, it made no difference. Train staff didn't even enforce it so there was absolutely no point in having it!

It was ever thus!

Fun if you’re having a drink on a Saturday night too, I can see less ideal with small children.

I used to catch the fast train on a Friday evening from Kings Cross to Edinburgh every week (going home for weekend) and all the business folks had the wine out. It was great.

They usually have a family coach and a quiet coach don’t they??

I love a Saturday night train home. Last time I had to console a lady next to me who had a recent and serious cancer diagnosis. I didn't love her situation. But I love that it's the train where people chat openly to those around them.
(I didn't like getting it with young kids after a theatre show and rarely allowed that to happen as it's not really a suitable atmosphere with effing and jeffing and occasionally raised voices.
There were lots of big rugby and football matches yesterday. So may have been more lively than usual.

What a stupid post.

Of course OP knows she can a book an earlier train but she is just entitled to use a later service in peace, like any other paying customer.

You say does OP not remember a night out? Is public transport a venue for a night out? Do all nights out have to involve loud, drunken anti social behaviour?

Your post reads like rage bait.

@Trainbrainpain i completely agree with you. London bridge to Surrey yesterday mid afternoon was ridiculous with all the loud, loutish drunken behaviour.

My DD (12) was very unsettled by it.

Horrible behaviour.

I was travelling back from Sheffield with my youngest son (12 at the time) after going to visit my eldest at uni for the day. The train was packed with drunken football fans. I would say that journey ended up being the best train journey I’ve ever taken. Everyone was in good spirits, people were up for a laugh and a chat and I saw no evidence of disrespect to travellers who didn’t want to partake. They even offered me a drink, which was kind of them (I declined as I rarely drink these days, but appreciated the offer).

I can see how it would be intimidating if you aren’t the sort of person that would just join in, or don’t like to chat to strangers.

Mid-afternoon is a bit much, but on a late-night train it’s to be expected to be honest. People don’t stop being drunk just because they boarded the train home. So it’s best avoid if it’s not your cuppa tea.

This is akin to all the people that visit London during the school holidays - who then take the 5.30pm train home with prams and numerous small kids and are incredulous that it’s packed.

Who would have thought it! People trying to get home from central London at rush hour.

Almost like a like train after football 🙄

Oh yes, the shit faced express! Been like this forever- singing, dancing, fights, late night junk food, people trying to chat you up, people being sick. I try and avoid the train after 11pm if I can help it.

I really would expect a train to be packed with revellers on a Saturday night. This is entirely normal and many a time have I enjoyed a good night out and of course, I’m thankful these drinkers aren’t on the roads. I don’t mind the odd football song and I’m not opposed to fun. This is a change though, this is people using the train as a pub instead of buying drinks in regulated venues. Understandable in a COL crisis but probably a predictable consequence which train companies should have anticipated and made efforts to control. And with no obvious increase in security . Last night on my train there were so many aggressive altercations, people vomiting, litter absolutely everywhere (and I’m talking huge bags of alcohol bottles and kebab meat strewn across the seats), no usable toilets , and men stumbling everywhere yelling and swearing. Totally inappropriate. At one point a man stumbled in the aisle and fell onto me, grabbing my hair for stability. It was truly crazy.

Never noticed any issues myself, lots of fun jollity nothing untoward. It’s one of the nice things about train travel, being able to socialise on board.

I don't like it. I get nervous around drunk people, especially men. No I don't want to get involved in your noisy drunken conversation- we have nothing in common. No I don't need to "relax love", I was perfectly relaxed until you came in here and started shouting and swearing at the tops of your voices. Honestly, you're damned if you interact with them and damned if you don't.

I'd be really pissed off if they ban alcohol on trains though. Not only do I have to suffer obnoxious drunks, I'm to be deprived of my miniature bottle of wine while I read my book? Fuck that.

Yesterday they were lobbing empty beer cans across the aisle at each other in a very full carriage.

My DD and I were just trying to get home from our outing and sitting across from 2 older ladies - older than me I mean. The shouting, swearing, the lobbing of cans, the loud singing - it was really uncomfortable and train so full nowhere else to move to.

Even if you have had a night out (or in this case a daytime bender) it’s really important to be self aware and regulate yourself around other people.

Not everyone wants to chat or sing with randoms.

There were babies in prams and you are lobbing around beer cans in a confined space for a laugh? What if someone had been hit?

It really was awful. In the afternoon. I can’t imagine what the last train would have been like.

YADNBU. People can be really fucking selfish. It must be horrible for staff too.

Sounds like the tourists who bring their big cases onto the Piccadilly line at rush hour & are surprised that it’s crowded.

Sometimes they take up 2 or 3 seats with their luggage & have to be asked to shift it round so someone can sit down.

The Saturday night trains sound like a nightmare though.

Drinking in public and on trains has been banned in Scotland for years. However if people are wanting to drink they will do it. Makes me mad when they start annoying people shouting , being intimidating to others then get off train leaving all their empty cans bottles etc behind.

I don’t know about family coaches but nobody ever bothers to be quiet on quiet coaches & the staff do nothing to enforce the rule. I wish they would.