"CJB" wrote in message
...
Here we go again - BTP PCOs with nothing better to do. Like they could move
on the smokers who stand right next to the numerous 'No Smoking' signs and
who block the main entrance to the Station. But no - that would be real
work. Every day I see the BTP PCOs walk past the smokers on the 'wrong' side
of the road and simply ignore them.

So how do the BTP now occupy their time? Well as just experienced at
Paddington this evening the latest time-wasting seems to be to harass
bona-fide passengers in The Lawn area.

I had just missed the train to Reading, and the next one was the 21.43 to
Didcot (aka Oxford). I had 30 minutes or more to kill - enough to do 15 mins
of emails using NR's / FGW's new wifi service.

So there I was sitting in The Lawn area busy doing emails when these two BTP
PCOs walked in. One of them walked straight up to me and asked me what I was
doing. I explained. Then he said that "no, I couldn't sit there doing
computing," and he accused me of loitering with intent!! Erm - intent to do
what? He then said that I had to leave and he accused me of not being a
bona-fide intending passenger. I offered to show him my ticket and he said
that he didn't want to see it. But he was quite adamant that I was going to
have to leave, and his attitude was unnecessarily aggressive and unpleasant.

I deem this to be harassment of the first order. Its on a par to railway
enthusiasts being stopped from taking photographs of trains in stations.

So be warned. The Lawn area is no longer for bona-fi passengers waiting to
trains. The seating is not to be used by those passengers. The free wifi is
not to be used. Simply - as I found - if you sit there you will be accused
of loitering and will be asked to leave - EVEN IF YOU HAVE A VALID TICKET.

Indeed this evening I got the impression that anyone and everyone using The
Lawn area would also be asked to leave. Unacceptable. Jobsworth is the term
I believe. See:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fz44_Sp0K8A

CJB.


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I'm trying to remember the precise layout at Paddington. As you come off a
train you pass through the gateline into an area that has a few seats (but I
mean a few) and some retail "opportunities". There is the "smokers" exit
towards the left (and yes, I find their presence equally irritating) then
there's the stairs to the Underground and behind that there's the glass
screen. I thought all the seating behind the screen was provided by the
eateries in that area. If that's the case I'd expect their staff to
control the use but I suppose it's possible that they've had problems and
asked for BTP assistance. Still doesn't explain the attitude you report.