500 checked in East Lancs train stations sweep (From Lancashire Telegraph)
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500 checked in East Lancs train stations sweep
9:50am Monday 9th August 2010 in
ALMOST 500 train passengers were scanned for knives and drugs as Lancashire Constabulary and British Transport Police officers carried out checks on commuters at Blackburn, Accrington and Darwen train stations.
Officers working with drug dogs carried out 43 searches and as a result, 14 offences were detected with 12 cannabis warnings given, 1 fixed penalty and 1 reprimand.
40 officers from both forces, plus G4S staff and the LCC Safer Travel Unit, were drafted in to help with the operation.
G4S, who administer the train fares on the network, identified £68.90 of unpaid tickets during a two-hour period.
Inspector Mike Wedderburn, of British Transport Police, said: “This is just one way in which we can show that criminal behaviour will not be tolerated.”
Comments(14)
Ian the Beancounter
says...
1:52pm Mon 9 Aug 10
.
"Officers working with drug dogs carried out 43 searches and as a result, 14 offences were detected with 12 cannabis warnings given, 1 fixed penalty and 1 reprimand."
.
So only 43 were stopped and searched, and of these, 14 (33%!!!) were breaking the law.
whereistedward
says...
1:59pm Mon 9 Aug 10
Normal Simple D
says...
3:58pm Mon 9 Aug 10
whereistedward wrote:Some conductors don't collect fares or check tickets on the Blackpool - Colne line, and when some do check for tickets they quick glance at them rather than checking the ticket properly which is just laziness, anyone could travel with a used ticket off the floor or something thinking they can get away with it, the conductors need to sort their act out.
Similar efforts should be made to actually collect the fares ! No-one collecting fares on the Man Vic-Clitheroe line again yesterday evening. Free journeys are commonplace. The govt can use this as an excuse for not investing in the line i,e, low passenger numbers, - when in reality they don't know the true number of passengers due to Northern Rail's policy of not collecting fares !
BuckoTheMoose
says...
4:56pm Mon 9 Aug 10
Yes they were and can't scan people without Stopping them. The scan is a form of search. Hence, they stopped and searched 500 people.
Ian the Beancounter
says...
10:53pm Mon 9 Aug 10
BuckoTheMoose wrote:Bucko, my dear boy - you walk through a scanner! You're not stopped and searched!
Ian - 500 were scanned. Yes they were and can't scan people without Stopping them. The scan is a form of search. Hence, they stopped and searched 500 people.
Davidoff
says...
1:02am Tue 10 Aug 10
whereistedward wrote:Been like that since 1994, when the line re-opened. It's more than annoying because once you get to Victoria, there is then a back up of people waiting to pay - God forbid you try to pay using a debit/credit card at the barrier, funny how on the train some of the conductors (used to anyway) can't get the card reader to work or make some excuse to 'come back later' then never do) and even funnier how at the G4S payment desk (which looks suspiciously like a mobile burger thing if you look at it in certain angle) they can't get the card reader to accept your card which is perfectly valid but for some unknown reason won't work ...
Similar efforts should be made to actually collect the fares ! No-one collecting fares on the Man Vic-Clitheroe line again yesterday evening. Free journeys are commonplace. The govt can use this as an excuse for not investing in the line i,e, low passenger numbers, - when in reality they don't know the true number of passengers due to Northern Rail's policy of not collecting fares !
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Though in the case of the on board card reader I should imagine it's possibly due to low signal areas between the device and the receiver, just the same as a mobile phone signal goes down in certain parts of the line or in a tunnel.
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But getting back to the point, non-collection of fares just holds up the passenger, if you are needing to get to an urgent appointment and your Metro connection is leaving because you are held up behind 20 people who couldn't pay because no conductor collected it. They've had 16 years to sort this out, so why hasn't it been by now? Also, the outrageous cost of the new all day return ticket - a whopping £3 on the off peak return to Manchester. What a rip off, still same old dirty carriages, whilst more affluent parts of the country get prestine ones - C2C being one out of London, no conductors on those though because everything is automated like the underground is. So why is it after 16 years we are still faced with this old stock like we are?
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As to the scanning, I never saw anyone. But as someone said it is very intrusive and whilst under the guise of or pretense of someone carrying weapons it is still intrusive and, for anyone who hasn't done anything wrong, intimidating I should think and if you say no, no doubt awked off somewhere.
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'If you've nothing to hide then you've nothing to fear' Yeah right, except when you say 'no' because you know you aren't carrying anything ... so that little saying means nothing. It's the fact people in this country aren't allowed to say 'no' to it that is the crux of the matter when they know they've done nothing wrong.
happycyclist
says...
1:16am Tue 10 Aug 10
whereistedward wrote:Completely agree with whereistedward on this one -and Davidoff, too about the ques to pay once you get to Victoria -making your journey time longer.
Similar efforts should be made to actually collect the fares ! No-one collecting fares on the Man Vic-Clitheroe line again yesterday evening. Free journeys are commonplace. The govt can use this as an excuse for not investing in the line i,e, low passenger numbers, - when in reality they don't know the true number of passengers due to Northern Rail's policy of not collecting fares !
I often find getting off a stop earlier at Salford Central is handier for central Manchester anyway, and there's never anyone checking tickets there. One of the train conductors told me that!
And no, I don't do it to evade the fare because I pay on the return journey; I do it for convenience and to avoid queues and hassle at Victoria. But as whereistedward says, nobody knows i made the outward journey -which is why it's often standing room only from Bromley Cross onwards.
Stu036
says...
6:27am Tue 10 Aug 10
Ivor Smallcock
says...
7:14am Tue 10 Aug 10
BuckoTheMoose wrote:I guess your a drug using law breaking scum bag then. Just a presumption. But i think i may be correct ! The simple answer is nothing to hide nothing to worry about, cannabis is an illegal drug, my view would be that 14 drug using scumbags who have the very real possibility that they will become addicted to harder drugs and become thieving burglars and dealers, you know the ones that your type say the police are not doing enough to catch. I mean every smackhead wakes up in a morning and decides to be a...................
500 people were searched by police and private security services in order to identify 14 minor drugs offences? Are you kidding me? Inspector Mike Wedderburn, of British Transport Police, said: “This is just one way in which we can show that criminal behaviour will not be tolerated.” You havent found any criminal behaviour. You have stopped and searched 486 innocent people, going about their business and found 14 other people with cannabis. Score! What a hideously intrusive society we live in. Is there anyone reading who was stopped in these searches? Did anyone say no?
.. smackhead. It all starts somewhere. Families use railway statiuons, would you want your children sat next to a drug user of any type on a train. Get a grip and show some support to attemtps to rid society of drug users and criminals.
BuckoTheMoose
says...
8:43am Tue 10 Aug 10
Ivor - I like the way you assume I am a drug user from my comments. I do not use drugs, I simply think the drug laws are rubbish and I dont beleive stopping and searching 500 people is justified by catching a few with canabis.
The nothing to hide, nothing to fear arguement is invalid, and Stu036, mass intrusion is not justified, just to give people an illusory sense of safety. Crime should be prevented by proper police work and tackling societys problems at the grass roots level.
I find it surprising that people see the fact that I value my privacy (and that of others), must mean that I am a criminal or I have something to hide. It does not. It simply means that as long as I do no harm to others, I want to be left alone by the state and not constantly asked to prove I am not a criminal.
Dai Darwen
says...
11:35am Tue 10 Aug 10
I agree with Bucko entirely......
I find it surprising that people see the fact that I value my privacy (and that of others), must mean that I am a criminal or I have something to hide. It does not. It simply means that as long as I do no harm to others, I want to be left alone by the state and not constantly asked to prove I am not a criminal.
BuckoTheMoose
says...
12:00pm Tue 10 Aug 10
blackburn south
says...
12:49pm Wed 11 Aug 10
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BuckoTheMoose says...
1:45pm Mon 9 Aug 10
Are you kidding me?
Inspector Mike Wedderburn, of British Transport Police, said: “This is just one way in which we can show that criminal behaviour will not be tolerated.”
You havent found any criminal behaviour. You have stopped and searched 486 innocent people, going about their business and found 14 other people with cannabis. Score!
What a hideously intrusive society we live in.
Is there anyone reading who was stopped in these searches? Did anyone say no?