Banned wagon
A weekly survey of the things our rulers want to prohibit THOSE following the investigation into the Hatfield rail crash have been sur- prised to learn that trains were allowed to run at full speed along a stretch of track which Railtrack knew to be faulty. Are there no safety rules concerning this sort of thing? The good news is that the railway system does have plen- ty of rules; it is just that most of them seem to be targeted at maximising the inconvenience to passengers.
A friend who recently bought a ticket to Cambridge inquired whether the train stopped at Shepreth, one of the village stations just short of the city. Although he needed to travel back from Cambridge, it would be more con- venient for him to get off a stop early. The response from the ticket man was swift. 'Not technically allowed to do that, sir. You're supposed to buy a return to Shepreth; then, when you come back, buy a single from Cam- bridge to Shepreth.'
But how on earth could it be an offence to get off a train a stop early? If you order a three-course meal at a restaurant, you don't get fined for leav- ing the pudding. The ticket man was unimpressed. 'Rules is rules, sir.'
Although British Rail was notorious for its silly rules, matters have got worse since privatisation as ticketing has got ever more complex, though there is evidence that a few brave souls are prepared to rebel against the ridicu- lous rules they .are supposed to enforce. While buying a ticket to Birmingham recently, I was told — wink, wink that if I was prepared to buy a ticket to Birmingham International and get off one stop early, I would get the ticket at half-price.
In rail travel you see the true makings of an authoritarian bureaucracy: so many little rules that almost everyone, wittingly or unwittingly, becomes a criminal.
Ross Clark
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