In pursuit of Cu Chulainn, I made him the subject of my dissertation and visits to Ireland.  I made it to Iceland a couple of years later, and this year I sought the Denmark of Beowulf.  This I found not far from Roskilde.

In the mid-eighties, Roskilde Museum excavated a site near the village of Gammel Lejre.  This revealed a mighty ‘Hall of Kings’ – the biggest of its type and time.  If Heorot has a home, this is surely it.

The model pictured is a reconstruction of the 11m x 49m structure in Roskilde Museum.

Without the effort of moving to keep him warm, Moot soon began to feel chilly and as he got colder he began to feel very sorry for himself. Moot felt like crying. But before the first tear could leave his eyes Moot stopped himself, thinking:

‘Is this the kind of behaviour one would expect of a fully-grown Moot? What would people think if every time things got difficult I started to cry? Oh, but, then, as I am the only Moot perhaps that is what Moots do in these situations?’

In thinking these thoughts and in pondering this last question, Moot totally forgot how cold he was and no longer felt like crying. But then, a gust of north wind suddenly howled over and through him, breaking his concentration with its icy breath. A big round tear welled up from each of his eyes and soon tears were chasing each other down his face. They mingled with the rain and Moot could taste their salt in his mouth. Poor Moot shivered, sobbed and shook, but found the warmth and taste of his tears strangely comforting and so plucked up the courage to crawl into some nook out of the wind and, if possible, the rain too.

Moot slowly hauled himself along with rain going pitter-patter all around and over him. The rain took little notice of Moot, but every now and then the wind would mischievously poke and tease little Moot. The wind and the rain seemed able to find Moot wherever he tried to hide, making him thoroughly sick of the game they were playing with him. Eventually Moot looked up angrily and shouted, with tears in his eyes:

‘STOP! STOP! STOP!’

The wind and rain paused, surprised, then they laughed and blew and fell harder than ever.

Now, the wind and the rain are naughty, but they’re not really bad and when they saw that Moot really didn’t want to play anymore, they decided to go and look for someone else to go and have fun with. And so, without Moot noticing, they skipped off together, hand in hand.

After a little while, Moot realised that he could hear himself crying. He stopped to listen, and sure enough there was no more sound of howling, or pattering. When he looked around he saw big droplets hanging from leaves and branches and saw them begin to glimmer as the sun squeezed a few rays through the flabby clouds.

He lay there sniffing, but no longer crying, his spirits rising as he watched all the greys turn quickly into blues and saw life springing back into action with the touch of the sun. Soon the clouds had become skinny and tattered and the full heat of the noonday sun beat down on Moot’s sodden body.

Moot felt the sun run its warm hands up and down his back, sending shivers of pleasure through him. He heaved himself over so that he could feel the sun on his face, and soon his whole body was steaming. A last few shudders shook his little self as the last corners of cold fled from what he called his ‘bones’ though, strictly speaking, he didn’t really have any. Moot was very happy. He was still wet through, to be sure, but he was WARM and slowly and gently Moot drifted into a delightful sleep, during which he dreamed a dream.

In his dream, the sighing of the trees around him turned into the washing of waves in the sea, and so Moot found himself on a boat.

The boat was quite big and seemed old, but the most striking feature was that, at its centre, instead of having a mast and a large canvas sail, it had a great, tall, strong and beautiful Beech tree, in the prime of its life. Each of its myriad green leaves bellied out in the briny breeze and, with these tiny sails, the boat jollied along through the swell. At the top of the tree flew not a pennant, but the moon itself, whose age worn red disc was garlanded with purple clouds.

Moot was enjoying the whole experience, but found himself wondering about the crew, of whom he’d had no sight. Just as he thought this, from somewhere near the front of the boat, a figure started coming towards him, across the dappled deck. This figure was evidently a dog of a most particular kind and as he got closer, and free from the shadows of the fluttering leaves, Moot realised that he was all one colour, even his clothes – everything was a creamy yellow.

The dog was shaggy, had a patch over one eye and had one wooden leg. Sticks of liquorice were tied with ribbons to his beard, and he had a brace of pistols tucked into the bandoleers that criss-crossed his greatcoat. Poking out from below his triangular hat, one ragged ear could be seen, and in this ear was a great gold ring and a pearl hanging from a chain.

Moot was terribly impressed. He stood as still as he could on the rolling deck as the dog approached to inspect him. It came right up to him and sniffed his ears and then, without saying a word, walked round him twice clockwise and once anti-clockwise, until finally sitting a few paces in front and facing Moot. While the dog had been doing all this, Moot had realised something about his host: from the smell and the colour he, the dog, must be made completely from cheese! Moot liked cheese and so felt a new warmth for his host, but I can assure you that the thought of taking a nibble never once entered his little head.

The dog growled warmly:

‘Oo be yer to be stowin’ away on the ship o’ Parmesan, the pirate?’

A pirate! Moot was thrilled and decided to be on his best behaviour:

‘I am Moot, the Moot.’ Said Moot.

‘Aaah,’ the dog said gruffly, ‘Mmmm,’ it rumbled. Moot could see that the dog was thinking deeply.

‘Glad ‘t ‘ave yer aboard. Ha, ha, Woof.’ He eventually said. The dog eyed Moot up and down again:

‘Yer weren’t made fer sea farin’, that’s plain t’ see…Mmm. Will yer join me in a dram o’ rum an’ a bite t’ eat?’

‘Aye, aye Cap’n,’ said Moot enthusiastically, and he could see that the dog appreciated having such a well-mannered crew.

Lunch was a large bowl of dark rum poured from a small keg, accompanied by crackers, pickle and an apple each. During the lunch, Moot learned that the Captain hadn’t always been a full-fat hard cheese, but had started life as an immature soft cheese – a cabin boy. He’d grown up on the tall ships with dreams of becoming a big cheese, and had indeed become the most renowned pirate captain of his day. But, having gone crusty at the edges, the Captain realised that he was no longer as pungent an adversary as he used to be, and so wisely retired to end his days sailing under the stars.

After lunch, the Captain slept and snored. Moot went to the prow and watched the spray. It seemed to Moot that hours passed before he looked up from the roiling water, and when he did he saw that a mass of land had risen to meet them, and that it was coloured purple by the onset of evening. Moot woke the Captain, and the two of them sat together watching the stars begin to peep out from their hiding places in the sky. Where the land met the sea, little yellow lights began to glimmer in imitation of the stars.

Without needing to be told, the boat steered itself up to the town, into its harbour and finally found itself a mooring into which it wriggled itself. Leaving behind the sound of water lapping between the boats, Moot and the Captain walked along the dark cobbled street and into a merry looking tavern.

The air inside was thick with pipe tobacco and the smell of ale; the candlelight reflected unsuccessfully from the yellowed walls and patinated wood, and the floor rustled with loose straw. The tables were cluttered with all manner of drinking vessels and a drinker of some description accompanied most of these. It was early evening and so the patrons were, in the main, conscious and well mannered. The barkeeper welcomed the Captain as an old friend and sent for his drink without needing to be told what it was. The selection was limited and so Moot settled for small-beer (that’s beer and water).

While the Captain was waiting for his drink he told Moot about the arrangement that he had with this tavern. Very soon, a large pewter tankard, brimful of thick creamy milk, was set before the Captain. It was frothy and still warm, having come straight from the cow kept in the back-yard especially for the Captain.

‘Moot-lad, I’m very pleased t’ have yer aboard,’ Moot tried to smile, but the stitching wouldn’t stretch. ‘See, I’m very partial to this ‘ere milk, p’raps a mite too partial, an’ so if yer could see to it that I don’t imbibe more’n three o’ these, I’d be mighty grateful.’ Moot agreed, and the evening progressed pleasantly.

Now, Moot is only little so that, even though he was only drinking small-beer, he soon became rather tipsy. Thus, at some unknown time in the evening, Moot suddenly found himself separated from the Captain and facing a whole table of roughs. For some reason, he had got it into his head that this group of men was, in fact, a dangerous band of plum smugglers and that they had to be kept in the tavern until the authorities could come and deal with them. Obviously, the best way for a small Moot to achieve this was by challenging their fiddle-player to a musical duel, which could not, of course, be refused.

Please excuse Moot, he is a very woolly thinker even at the best of times, and this certainly wasn’t one of those.

The fiddle-player faced Moot and began to ply his bow with infectious charm. Moot was not at all deterred by this, nor by his lack of a fiddle, nor by his inability to play one even if he had had one, nor by his cloth ears, which made his hearing suspect. From somewhere, a bow appeared in his right paw and in his left there appeared, not a fiddle, but a horse’s tail. Moot played his ‘instrument’ with passion, but with little effect.  Indeed, the sounds he failed to make joined all the other sounds that steadily receded, seeped, and ceased taking the colours, shapes, and movement with them.

When Moot awoke, he was no longer in the tavern, or on a boat, and there was no sign of the plumb-smugglers, or Captain Parmesan.  Nor was he outside…Moot looked around.  He hadn’t a clue where he was, which is hardly surprising given that Moots have such curly brains that they can’t remember the day before and so believe that everywhere is somewhere and somewhere must therefore be home.

From the pillow, Moot could see that he was on a big bed, in a big room with high ceilings. The two large windows had wooden shutters that opened upon a view of green and sky.  Through these windows the sun threw crosses.  Moot watched contentedly as time gently swung them across the floor, turned gold to silver and day to night.  Suddenly, into the room, came a girl he didn’t know, who called him by a name that wasn’t his.  Moot was so happy – he was home.

A Leeds academic (missed the name) mentioned that a mother and daughter (missed their names) executed for witchcraft (missed the date and place) were ‘of independent means’ i.e. had no male figures exercising authority over them and, presumably, had their own home/land/possessions and source of income (however modest).

A woman and daughter, quietly living in their own cottage, growing their own vegetables, tending their own animals, making their own wares for market, in no way political, or militant in their views (all assumptions, of course), would not seem to be a threat to anyone.  Yet, the mere fact that women could lead a happy and successful life without the guidance of a man proved, to other women, that life outside male control was possible.  Such daily contradiction of female vulnerability and male superiority would clearly undermine male authority, allowing the women of the area to question, and even to argue against, the male bias of their society.  If left unchecked, such examples of individuality and independence might evolve into an epidemic of challenging behaviour (a revolt).

Indeed, this may already have been happening.  It may have come to the (male) authorities notice that women were secretly gathering and having meetings (covens) where men were excluded.  No doubt, the role and lot of woman was discussed at such meetings and this would almost certainly lead to a sense of injustice and thence to opposition to male dominance.  Women forming self-help empowerment groups would be a threat – generating the seeds for an ideology that could erode male power.  Such an ideology, the groups that generated it, the individuals that formed these groups, would either have to be listened to and the issues fairly addressed, or they’d have to be neutralised, along with their ideas.

Such an ideology could, at this time in history (C16-17^th), have been argued to be a challenge not just to social order but to religious order too.  The men would argue that their dominant role followed Divine order and that any opposition to that status, any ambition by women to be treated equally, was in contravention of God’s will and therefore heretical in Christian terms as well as in socially-conservative terms.

A compelling case, and a lot of support, could be generated by using this two-pronged argument.  For those still not convinced, or more sensitive to supernatural arguments rather than Christian and social-conservative ones, a creative web of calumny could be created, suggesting that these women were not just quietly trying to get by without men, but were agents of the Devil performing every kind of abhorrent act and a threat to all God-fearing people.

Thus, whilst witches (female shamans, story-tellers, herbalists, healers, etc) may have existed for as long as mankind, might it be that the persecution of witches arose more from the threat to male authority, than the stated threat of devil-worship?  Moreover, the passions and fears aroused during a witch-hunt allowed male authority to extend the persecution to any independent-minded woman identified as a problem, unwilling to change, or possessed of property desired by her persecutors.

No doubt, many of the women who were persecuted would have conformed to some of our notions of what a witch is, as to be independent of men required a trade/skill (or wealth) and some of the skills an independent woman might reasonably possess would be healing, herb lore, folk lore, divination, spinning, weaving, etc.  Such a woman would have antagonised male authority in general but would also have made an especial enemy of the Church, which would object to her competing non-Christian/pagan/shamanistic beliefs.

I conjecture that witch-hunts arose as a response by male society to crush any example of female independence – not even equality, just independence: freedom from any direct overseer (not freedom from poor treatment and lower status, which is a further step).  If these terms and this language show remarkable similarities to that used to describe slavery, it is of little wonder.  Women, at this time, were slaves inured to their status after generations of acceptance, and born into a system and role that had evolved to perpetuate inequality.

Laws governing women and their right to ownership and inheritance change over time and differ from place to place.  However, it is obvious that the more sympathetic to women the law, the more likely it is that ‘independent’ women might arise.  Consequently, as well as ‘witch-hunts’ one would expect a tightening of such laws to occur as male society became increasingly threatened and less tolerant of women’s desire/right to independence.

At various times and places, women were forbidden from ‘owning’ land.  So, even if a woman found herself sole heir she might still lose her possessions unless she married.  Such a law removes the ability of women to exist independently of men and thus removes the example, and potential, of such women from society.  Clearly, exceptions and inconsistencies allowed women, like the mother and daughter cited by the Leeds academic, to exist in certain places and at certain times.

Witch-hunts occurred in spates and waves and were not uniformly persecuted across all lands.  The circumstances leading to these waves will have varied but some of the contributing factors that would have to be considered in any attempt to understand the phenomenon would need to include: general economic state (bad times would increase the pressure to seize land from the vulnerable); individual personalities; possessions held by the woman/women; general religious state (tolerance/conservatism); environmental factors (pestilence, famine, war).

I’m going to stop here.  All this conjecture, emerging from a single comment, is all very well but at this stage to go on would really require proper study.  And, frankly, I don’t have the time, or inclination…was interesting/fun though.

Investing over the long-term (18, or 21 years) means that market fluctuations can be evened out.  This, coupled to the fact that shares outperform other forms of investment (in the long-term), means that the obvious option is to put one’s money in a shares based ISA.

However, whilst the ISA eliminates the impact of taxation, one still needs to reduce the growth of the investment by the rate of inflation (UK target is 2%) and the fees levied by whoever is managing the shares (commonly 0.5%).  The long-term averaged rate of growth commonly quoted for shares is 7% meaning that, at best, one can expect an average of 4.5% growth on investment.

Now, this might be acceptable if the market is performing well but 7% seems optimistic if we accept that we have left a golden era of 15+ years of steady market growth and entered a period of global insecurity.  Thus, whilst in the long-term the markets will certainly recover and stabilise (our society is geared toward striving for growth/betterment) I’m not willing to sit out the doldrums ‘investing’ money into the hands of fund managers and seeing it eroded by inflation.  So, what’s the alternative?

Rather than ‘invest’ money for my daughter in a bank, or in shares, which are the usual thing, I came up with the idea of putting this money into our mortgage account as ‘overpayments’.  By doing this the money is not taxed, no fees nibble away at it, nor does inflation make any odds as we are reducing an absolute/fixed/historical capital cost (the mortgage).  Not only that, but we are also reducing the monthly interest charge levied against us upon the loan.  This option also completely eliminates any of the risks involved with market fluctuation.  So, not only do we outperform any commercial savings option but we do so in a guaranteed risk-free manner (N.B. the government Child Trust Fund we have got utterly hammered in the market collapse going from £250 to £160 within weeks of being set up – utter waste of public money).

Other benefits of this option are that in reducing the monthly charge against us we reduce the pressure on our monthly budget.  Also, the overpayments form a separate ‘fund’ that we could draw upon in an emergency.  Both factors are of some comfort in this period of job insecurity and general economic blight.

The benefits to us are clear but how exactly does our daughter benefit?

The advantage to my daughter is that my wife and I will guarantee her 7% APR (the notional rate mentioned above).  Following the most common commercial practice, we will compound this interest and apply it annually.  No commercial option would offer that kind of rate totally risk free and, of course, we certainly won’t be charging any fees!

We’ll pay off our mortgage many years earlier than we might otherwise have done saving thousands of pounds more than would have been earned in interest had we ‘invested’, or ‘saved’ the same money.  In the years after our mortgage is paid and before she comes of age we can use our surplus money to invest/save, in more conventional fashion, thereby building the sum we will need to pay her.  This ought to be a lot easier for us to do then than now as one would hope that our earnings will be a lot higher in 18-21 years time than they are now.

The money stays in the family and benefits the family – no third parties taking a slice – it’s a win win for us and a total no-brainer!

BBC Writer’s Room
10,000 scripts read per year, 200 participants hired since 2000.

THUS:

200 over 10 years = 20 successful people per year.
10,000 / 20 = 1 success for every 500 scripts.

OTHER POINTS OF INTEREST:
‘it’s a place you can send stuff.  There’s nowhere else where you can send stuff.’  – Jack Thorne

Responses to submitted scripts can take up to one-year.

Discussed cameras for me to use on the Irish shoot I’m planning in Oct/Nov.

Based on my description (solo shooter, tripod shots of landscapes, tripod shots of groups (interior), tripod shot interviews (interior), time-lapse) he gravitated to the Canon 5D MkII (£1,700 plus lenses, so add another £3K).  However, when I said I was worried about usability with regard to more mobile shots this did throw up problems only possible to mitigate with extra kit i.e. a shoulder-rig and a screen adapter to create a proper view-finder (Zucato x3 mag £300).  It’s an SLR so it’s wonderful at tripod shots but lousy on the hoof (v. difficult focusing, poor ergonomics).  As it uses a CMOS sensor it (along with all cameras that use these) suffers from ‘rolling shutter’ meaning that, when the camera is moving swiftly, the top of a frame scans faster than the bottom resulting in a slanted image (creates some interesting effects but hardly desirable).  Also, the 5D can’t film interlaced, only progressive.  It also uses a codec that is time consuming to convert for editing (needs powerful crunching).  Other problem is the need for separate sound-recording  kit.  So, the fabulous lenses, low-light, feature-film quality, etc started to pale.

The next camera he suggested was the JVC GY-HM100 (£2,000).  Good all-rounder with detachable handle allowing it to look more discreet/less pro (very small).  With XLR jacks; outputting in FTP format; using SDHC cards; using CCD sensor (so no rolling shutter); image stabilisation; good low-light; capable of 60p (for slo-mo); both progressive and interlaced filming possible…BUT no time-lapse capability and not full HD (thus not strictly modern broadcast quality).

The next one we looked at was the Sony EX1 (£4,500).  This does everything that the above does but better plus time-lapse and films in full HD (although to record at this high bit-rate requires a bit of kit called a ‘nano-flash’).  However, uses CMOS sensor…

Lastly, we looked at the Canon XF305 (£6,000).  As EX1 but better and fully HD.  However, uses CMOS sensor…

Wednesday 21^st July 2010

08:23 from Rugby to Euston

Having embarked at Rugby at 08:25 (2mins late; left station at 08:33) I wriggled through the already packed train from coach D to the train manger, Noormohammad, in first-class (coach J).

1^st CONTACT

ME: Are you going to deregulate the trains?  There are no seats in Standard and lots of people standing in the vestibules.  There’s a health and safety issue.

NOORMOHAMMAD: I will take a look but first-class is very busy too.

ME: first-class is half empty – I’ve just been through it.

NOORMOHAMMAD: I’ll look into it.  [walks away to make announcement]

ANOUNCEMENT: Train from…to…If you have baggage on your seat, please remove it to make room for other passengers.

At this point I spoke with a couple of fellow passengers, also in the vestibule.  They stated that other services had been cancelled due to overhead-cables having been stolen.  I made the point that the train operators should, therefore, have been able to anticipate overcrowding and should have taken appropriate action, like instructing staff to deregulate first-class.

2^nd CONTACT

ME: So you’re not going to deregulate?  There are no seats in Standard.

NOORMOHAMMAD: I’ll take a look.

ME: well I’m going to go through the train and count how many are standing and how many seats are available.

NOORMOHAMMAD: As you like.

I then made my way from the front of the train and worked my way back:

Coach K (First-class) 9 seats taken; 9 seats free

Coach J (First-class) 23 seats taken; 23 seats free

Coach H (First-class) 28 seats taken; 18 seats free

Coach G (First-class) 28 seats taken; 18 seats free

Total of 78 seats free in first-class

In STANDARD CLASS

I was only able to get as far as coach B as that coach was so full of people standing in the aisles that I couldn’t get through to coach A.  From where I was stood I counted 20 but know there were more mingled in the bodies at the end.

On my way to coach B, I counted 28 people loitering in the door vestibules with another 22 standing in the coach aisles.

So, in total that’s 70 people not seated PLUS whatever carnage was occurring in coach A.

As you can imagine, there were no seats with merely baggage on…

I returned to first-class where the train manager was still checking tickets.

3^rd CONTACT

ME: I’ve just been through the train as far as coach B.  It’s packed – I couldn’t even get through coach B for people standing in the aisle.  There are no seats.  Are you going to deregulate first-class?

NOORMOHAMMAD: Customer charter states that we will get you from A-B but cannot guarantee a seat.

ME: Yes, I know about the Customer Charter but what about health and safety – the train is packed, what if the train were to stop suddenly?

NOORMOHAMMAD: If I asked them [the passengers] to get out [having stopped somewhere] they wouldn’t get out.  They could’ve got onto a later train – they run every 20 minutes.

ME: But how would they know the train was so full?  They’d need to be told by someone…someone like the train manager…

NOORMOHAMMAD: There is liaison at the station.

ME: Really?  I’ve never heard an announcement telling people not to board due to overcrowding.  Look, there are plenty of seats in first-class, you can deregulate the train.

NOORMOHAMMAD: They can ask for compensation.

ME: Really, how do they do that?  What about the safety issue?  Are you going to deregulate?

NOORMOHAMMAD: I’m going through the train now and finding people seats.

I took a seat in first.  I watched for a little while and realised that he wasn’t going to make any announcement regarding deregulating, so approached him again.

ME: Are you going to make an announcement?  By the time you make it to standard-class it’ll be too late.

By this point I could see NOORMOHAMMAD was getting pissed off.

NOORMOHAMMAD: If you have a complaint, take it to customer services.

I didn’t take it any further.  There were no further announcements of any kind.  The badly overcrowded train arrived at Euston, a bad start to the day for hundreds of Virgin Train customers, many paying hundreds of pounds for the experience…‘service’.

At Euston, I went to the Virgin office to ask about compensation for overcrowding.  They were unaware of any such scheme but said I could fill in a ‘Comments Form’.

See related blog articles for other examples of overcrowding on Virgin Trains as well as a digest of related regulations.

Wednesday 5^th May 2010

08:23 from Rugby to Euston

Train arrived at 08:45 (22mins late).

I ran from coach A (the last coach) down the train looking for vestibules not already crowded with people.  The first clear one was at coach H (second coach from the front) – a first-class coach.

Very good announcement from train manager: apologies for overcrowding; reason given (cancellations of other services); remedy (deregulation of 1st-class).

Very atypical but exactly as it should be.

VIRGIN TRAINS OVERCROWDING

Tuesday 16^th March 2010

07:23 from Rugby to Euston

I embarked on the 07:23 pendolino non-stop service from Rugby to Euston. Due, perhaps, to an earlier train cancellation, or delay, the train was unusually busy. This resulted in ALL the seats in standard class being taken, forcing 30-40 people to stand and perch in the corridors, links, and vestibules. Some people, including myself, moved to seats in first-class. First class had plenty of spare seats and, as the train would be making no further stops, these seats would remain unoccupied.

Just prior to arriving in Euston the train manager (Mohammad) asked to see my ticket, which was for standard class. He then charged me the excess to upgrade my ticket to first-class (note: I did not take any of the food/drink offered as part of first-class). I questioned him regarding his reasons, arguing that the train was overcrowded and unsafe. He stated that there were seats and that there were only around five people stood in the aisles. This was such a palpable lie (I’d negotiated all the carriages to get to first-class) that I was roused enough to ask him (calmly, politely, reasonably) to define when a train was deemed ‘overcrowded’ and to define when it was deemed ‘unsafe’. His response was: ‘I do not have to give you an answer’. I was amazed. I asked him to confirm that he was refusing to answer my questions. He merely repeated this negative response and walked away.

On disembarking at Euston I attempted to speak with standard-class ticket holders as they left the train. One lady complained of paying £120 and still not getting a seat, another that the lack of a seat and her ‘bad leg’ meant she had also sat in first-class and been charged the excess. I also spoke with a man who had sat in first-class but had simply refused to pay the excess with no further action taken by the train manager – very inconsistent behaviour.

Once of the train, I immediately went to Virgin’s station office. There, I asked Rashid for a copy of the Virgin passenger’s charter. After being questioned as to why I wanted it, I was given a copy of the latest charter (2007). I also asked for the quarterly independent market research cited in section 1.3 of the charter as being published and available at ‘all major stations used by Virgin Trains’. Rashid had no idea what I was talking about and could not supply it. He also could not supply a copy of the National Rail Conditions of Carriage (NRCOC) but did suggest I try the ticket office.

At the ticket office, Kim (Virgin staff) also had no idea about the market research but went away to find out more and to find a copy of the NRCOC. She returned to tell me that the market research was available on posters around the station. She also supplied me with an out-of-date (2006) copy of the NRCOC (all they had) advising me to look online for the latest edition.

It is interesting to note that passenger safety is given a nod in the Virgin Passenger Charter and the National Rail Conditions of Carriage but never defined explicitly.  So, no mention of overcrowding or how this might be defined and responded to.  However, there is, of course, plenty of attention given to defining and dealing with passengers who travel first-class on standard-class tickets.  Clearly a more important issue than passenger safety and defining the obligations due to the passenger by the operator.  Both documents are badly weighted in favour of the operators and against the passengers.

THE VIRGIN PASSENGER CHARTER 2007 (yes this is the most up-to-date version) states:

1.1

‘…our commitment to give you the safe [my bold], high quality service you have the right to expect.’

‘…clean and safe trains…’

1.2

‘…make every reasonable effort to deal effectively with customer problems on the spot.’

2.3

‘We will make every effort to match seats to demand…’

5.0

‘…[Virgin] will do their best to ensure that the service meets and, we hope, surpasses expectations and Passenger’s Charter standards.’

‘…most importantly we promise always to treat all our customers with care and respect.’

NATIONAL RAIL CONDITIONS OF CARRIAGE 2009

(p.16) 39. Travelling in first class accommodation with a standard class ticket If you have a standard class ticket (other than a Season Ticket), no standard class accommodation is available, and ticket staff on that train give their permission [my bold], then you may travel in first class accommodation (or the equivalent) where this is available without extra charge.

On-train ticket staff will not give you permission to use first class accommodation (or the equivalent) unless they are satisfied that it is not required by anyone with a first class ticket and the standard class accommodation on the train is full. This permission may be withdrawn if a person holding a first class ticket requires the accommodation during your journey or standard class accommodation becomes available.

If you have a standard class ticket and you travel in first class accommodation without permission (which includes occupying seats or standing in any part of the carriage), you will have to pay…

OTHER SOURCES

Daily Telegraph Article, 15 Oct 2008

The Department for Transport seems to have some interest in overcrowding, though most of the links are to archive and therefore old resources.  What little I found didn’t answer my questions.

The National Rail Regulator makes no mention of passenger safety in their ‘goals’.

Passenger Focus (an independent public body set up by the Government to protect the interests of passengers) also makes no mention of passenger safety in their ‘goals’.

The Consumer Protection from Unfair Trading Regulations 2008 from the Office Of Public Sector Information (OPSI) prohibit some practices outright, such as misleading advertising and contain a general ban on ‘practices which contravene the requirements of professional diligence’.

The Railways and Other Guided Transport Systems (Safety) Regulations 2006 (ROGS) contain much of the safety regulation for railways and other guided transport modes.

Direct.Gov mentions ‘crowded trains’ in first sentence on page but this is not followed up in any way further on…