"Railist" wrote in message
...
On 8 Jun, 20:55, MarkVarley - MVP
wrote:
On Sun, 8 Jun 2008 17:06:38 +0100, "Batman55"
wrote this gibberish:



Today I had to travel from Bromley South to Denmark Hill accompanied by
my
13yr old grandson, who expressed concerns about safety. I reassured him
and,
as far as Nunhead at least, all was well. There a middle aged drunk got
on,
complete with beer can, and ambled down the carriage with an inane grin
on
his face. He sat down, put his can in the walkway and emptied his pockets
of
various items (one of which appeared to be a Freedom Pass) on the seat
opposite me, then mumbled to a man sitting near him, before rising,
collecting his bits and ambling off the train again at Peckham Rye, still
grinning. Not frightening, but still the sort of thing which causes
concern.

On arrival at Denmark Hill, as we approached the stairs, a girl of around
20
(although her face looked about 60) with beer can in hand stopped to
stare
at a baby in a pram and to question its mother, who hastily declined any
help with the buggy. Similar sort of situation as above.

On my return, alone, I had a 20 minute wait. After a few minutes 3 youths
and a girl arrived, took over one of the benches and by their behaviour
forced the female occupant to move away. They were not threatening to
other
passengers (sorry, customers) but argued amongst themselves. On the
train,
during the journey to Bellingham where they alighted, they passed back
and
forth through the train shouting at each other, which is always of
concern
to anyone with property.

Finally, as we pulled into Ravensbourne, there were 4 teenagers, probably
15-17, with hoods of various types on the platform. They moved past my
window at the start of the rear carriage and I expected to hear them get
on.
A few moments later, there was a sudden shout from the rear of the
carriage:
"****, he's taken my bag". By the time I could see down the fairly full
carriage, they had all disappeared up the adjacent exit. The train then
proceeded to Bromley where I alighted and the female victim went to
report
her loss.

So, nothing happened to me, I wasn't threatened or harassed, I won't be
statistic but no, along with other passengers I didn't enjoy my trip!

MaxB

I've had a few journeys with people I felt a need to keep an eye on,
only had to act on anothers behalf once and 'discourage' people a
couple of times. that might be alot as I've only been in London for 2
years but I often travel late at night so maybe I meet more 'bad'
people than most.

goes with the territory I feel.

--
Mark Varleywww.MarkVarleyPhoto.co.ukwww.TwistedPhotogra phy.co.uk
London, England.

So basically, you made a journey with "the wrong type of passengers"
so you've made all kinds of assumptions about the ne'er do wells you
witnessed. It's a real shame that someone got their back stolen, but
to say that this is the reality of suburban travel is quite a leap of
logic. Mind you... it could be the reality of suburban travel on
SouthEastern.

Whether they are the right or wrong assumptions, and the bag snatch was
certainly real, perception is all. No one will be encouraged to get out of
their cars if they fear, or experience, the actions of the small number but
highly visible louts who travel on trains and buses, in the suburbs in
particular.

A further point, of course, is that no station staff were seen anywhere
between London and Bromley, and the train had no guard.


MaxB