On 11 June, 15:54, Mizter T wrote:
On Jun 11, 2:26*pm, MIG wrote:
much cut

Nevertheless, it would be better if they didn't close it at all.
Revenue protection is nonsense, because there has never been any
interest in revenue protection at any exit from Lewisham, except every
few months when there is a squad of grippers, and I am pretty sure
they only ever turn up on request from the Police when they want the
crowd slowed down to search for someone.

You said this before and I never got round to taking issue with you.
My experience of Lewisham is of RPI teams appearing to mount periodic
blockades of the station which can last a week or indeed longer. I
don't concur with your comments about it being done by police request,
simply because I've come across such blockades without any police
around - or if there are police then they're in the background, not
checking out each and every passenger.

(I'm not suggesting that co-ordinated blockades don't happen - they
do, but my experience of Lewisham is that I saw blockades happening at
other times too.)

Obviously I am not there every day or every time of day, so I don't
see all the checks that may happen. You are right that there was one
period in the last year or two when grippers were there every day for
a few weeks and I am guessing that was a campaign carried out by and
for the operators. I don't remember any other period like that.

Apart from that intensive period, the one-off checks that I can think
of in the last couple of years, usually in the evening, have involved
sniffer dogs. The check slows the crowd down, the dogs sniff them and
the police stand back. There was also a demonstration of scanning
equipment for a while.