How Dare You Tell Me I Have To Change My Behaviour!

'We would like to see more emphasis on suitable calming measures to alert cyclists of the need for a change in behaviour, to slow down and give way to pedestrians. 'There are points in the guidance where it almost seems that cyclists should not be inconvenienced by such measures.'

This is the revelation that the government tried to squash a review into 'floating' bus stops by their own disabled persons transport advisory committee (DPTAC).

The DPTAC's report from 2025, which was marked as 'official - sensitive', was the group's response to draft government guidance on floating bus stops. However, it was uncovered last month through a Freedom of Information request - and has been seen by the Daily Mail.

Last November, the Government ordered a pause on the installation of stops, where people getting off a bus have to step onto a live cycle lane. However, Sarah Gayton, of the National Federation of the Blind of the UK, which uncovered the report, has called for an immediate halt to all floating bus stops. 'This is supposed to be the Labour party but they treat disabled people with contempt.'

Oh Sarah, you're not special, they treat everone with contempt. 

The Guide Dogs for the Blind Association has called for the roll-out of all forms of floating bus stop to be halted until they can be proven safe. It previously found through testing that trained guide dogs are naturally predisposed to avoid floating bus stops because they don't think they are safe for their handler.

The dogs figured it out, why can't the people with all the qualifications in government? 

A Failure Of Training? Or Just 'Wales'?

Not to tread on Longrider's turf here, but this story caught my eye in the week...

A fatal train crash could have been avoided if a driver had used an emergency system designed to reduce speed, an investigation has found.

They stated it had “not occurred to them” to use their train’s manually operated sander, according to a report into a head-on collision between two trains in mid Wales on October 21 2024.

Eh? 

It happened near Talerddig in Powys on a rural section of the Cambrian line, which is predominantly single track with loops to allow trains travelling in opposite directions to pass each other.Despite braking, a westbound Transport for Wales (TfW) train failed to stop as intended inside a loop and rejoined the single line too soon, crashing into an oncoming train run by the same operator.

Slippery leaves on the line was the main cause, but not the only one. 

The RAIB revealed in an interim report in April last year that the westbound train’s automatic system did not work in the moments before the crash because of several failures, including blocked hoses, electrical faults and incorrectly installed plates measuring the flow rate of sand.

Oh dear... 

The RAIB said a rule book for TfW drivers states they should deploy the emergency sander “when a train is unable to stop in the usual distance” and its use may avoid a collision.

But the driver – who was not identified in the report – did not recall “any training” on the system and had not previously used it, according to the report.

I tend to think that at the moment you realise a crash is inevitable, you'd be pressing/pulling anything you felt might help! 

An RAIB survey of other TfW drivers after the accident “revealed a lack of clarity” about the circumstances requiring the system to be used, investigators said.

And this is the country that demands people take training courses before buying a pet rabbit. 

It's As Effective As Attempts To Halt Any Other Crime, Then...

Two young men convicted over the cyber-attack that crippled Transport for London (TfL) in 2024 had long histories of cyber-offending and were both known to law enforcement bodies, the BBC has learnt.

What a shocker. 

Owen Flowers, 18, from Walsall, and Thalha Jubair, 20, from east London, pleaded guilty on Monday to carrying out the attack. The breach disrupted TfL services for months, affected the personal data of millions of people and left all 28,000 TfL employees needing to reset their passwords in person.

It left me unable to top up my Oyster card online for a fortnight, it could only ne done at the machines in Tube stations, and I was unable to check the balance.

The BBC has discovered the authorities made frequent attempts to curb Flowers and Jubair's offending - raising questions over the effectiveness of such interventions with young cyber-criminals.

Locking the little shits up where they had no access to computers should have been the first option. not the last, 

Experts have told the BBC the case also indicates that perpetrators of cyber-attacks often do not appear to understand the real world consequences of their actions.

Or could it be that they just don't care, like all criminals? 

The National Crime Agency (NCA) says it highlights the need for its officers to be given additional powers.

Of course they do.  

... the BBC has learned Flowers initially came to the attention of police shortly after he turned 16 years old. In October 2023 he was caught carrying out low-level cyber-crime and visited by West Midland's Regional Cyber Crime Unit prevent officers. Police say that during the visit Flowers did not engage with officers and was given a cease and desist order to deter him from further offending.

Why the soft touch?  

During the investigation, NCA officers uncovered evidence that computer systems belonging to two US healthcare organisations, SSM Health and Sutter Health, had also been infiltrated and damaged. Flowers later pleaded guilty to offences relating to those hacks. He is still wanted in the US. After being charged, Flowers was released on bail under strict conditions. He breached those conditions twice, in March 2025 and May 2025.

Jubair has 22 previous convictions in total and began offending at 14 years old. He is also wanted in the US in connection with cyber-crimes that allegedly stole and extorted $87m (£66.1m) from victims.

They should just let the Americans have them both, they have no patience with this sort of thing and sentences are far more realistic. 

Both Jubair and Flowers have been diagnosed with autism and the court heard that Jubair has depression and a severe mood disorder.

How convenient. 

Why Do We Need These?

Calls for bleed kits to be installed in every major bus station and on bus routes in areas affected by serious violence have been backed by the London Assembly.

These kits were designed for warzones - that they are wanted in transport hubs tells you all you need to know about the safety of public transport in London these days.

Assembly Members unanimously passed a motion requesting that Transport for London (TfL) to work with the London Ambulance Service (LAS) to ensure the kits will be made available across the network. Bleed control kits help stem severe bleeding from deep wounds before emergency services arrive – a "potentially valuable method of saving lives".

Is it saving valuable lives though? 

The motion is non-binding, which means the mayor is not obliged to implement the recommendation.

Well, surely they’ll agree, since they won’t want their oh-so-valuable diversity killing one another off… 

Elly Baker, Labour's transport spokesperson proposed the motion. "I've heard too often from young people that they don't always feel as safe as they should do travelling," she said. "Passing this motion will show that we are listening to young people and backing the investigation of a potentially valuable method of saving lives."

Yes, let’s not find ways of stopping the stabbing, let’s just make it less potentially lethal when they do it. 

Coming Over Here, Picking The Pockets Our Home Grown Artful Dodgers Won't Pick....

A Chilean pickpocket who preyed on Tube commuters was caught carrying a contactless card reader in the first case of its kind. Daniel Maldonado Paulson, 35, had only been in the UK for two weeks when he carried out his “ghost tapping” crime spree at South Kensington London Underground station.

Hurrah! Isn't it nice to read a 'good news story' about crime in London for once?  

Plain-clothes British Transport Police spotted Maldonado Paulson scouting the Piccadilly line for victims at 7.30pm on February 7. They swooped when the thief displayed behaviour typical of a professional pickpocket and stopped him on the platform.As police escorted him up the escalator, Maldonado Paulson attempted to flee but was subsequently arrested and handcuffed. He was found to have Sophie Halford’s £1,300 phone which had been reported stolen just 20 minutes earlier and an electronic card reading device.

They haven't said exactly how this worked so presumably, they don't want to encourage copycats. 

The handset was returned to Ms Halford just two hours after Maldonado Paulson took it.

Lucky lady. Let's hope the courts did their part!  

At Westminster Magistrates’ Court on February 13, Maldonado Paulson pleaded guilty to two counts of handling stolen goods and resisting arrest by PC Alison Levi. The defendant, of Alvey Street, Southwark, was jailed for six months.

*sigh* 

Close Enough ForGovernment Work...I Guess

 All the competence you experct from a Labour politician...

They quickly realised they'd become a laughing stock and hastily deleted it.

The ambitious project was announced on Tuesday (January 13), promising significant investment in northern transport infrastructure. Key features include a new Liverpool-Manchester line, major developments for an underground Piccadilly station, and the re-establishment of a Manchester-Birmingham route. Regrettably, the erroneous graphic failed to accurately represent these plans, reports the Manchester Evening News.

That's one way of putting it!  

Writing on social media, Mayor Brabin said: "The government has today committed to upgrade and electrify key rail links across Yorkshire, fix capacity at Leeds, and build a new Bradford station. As Mayors, we worked with Lord Blunkett, to make the case for Yorkshire's Plan for Rail and the government has listened to us."

Did they let Blunkett draw the map, perchance?  

Titans Of Twitter Clash!

TV presenter Kirstie Allsopp has become embroiled in a social media row with children's author Michael Rosen after accusing some users of a free London public transport travel pass for pensioners of 'bankrupting our country'.

The 54-year-old Location, Location, Location presenter hit out at 79-year-old We're Going On A Bear Hunt author Mr Rosen on X, after he took to the social media platform to say that his Transport for London (TfL) Freedom Pass was not working and that he could not get a replacement.

Gosh.... 

I don't know about you, Reader, but I couldn't be less interested in this if I tried....

Probably Right, So How About Locking Up Mental Patients Instead?

 

A member of train staff who intervened to protect passengers as the service approached Huntingdon in Cambridgeshire remained critically ill in hospital but his condition was now stable, Heidi Alexander said. She said there was no evidence of a terrorist motivation, adding that she could not be drawn on the possible mental health of the 32-year-old suspect after witnesses to his arrest recounted him talking about the devil. One witness said the suspect had asked the police to kill him. Alexander said there would be visible patrols of British Transport Police officers at stations for the next few days to reassure passengers, but rejected the idea of security scanners or arches.

For once, a Minister isn’t taking a knee-jerk approach, because it’s clearly a non-starter. So much so even a Labour dimwit can see it.

“We have thousands of railway stations across the UK, and those stations have multiple entrances, multiple platforms. What we can’t do is make life impossible for everyone, but we do need to take sensible and proportionate steps to make the public transport network safe.”

So how about making life - free and part of society - impossible for the perpetrators of such rampages, who appear to be overwhelmingly black and often have had several run ins with the authorities before they launch their final attack? No? Didn’t think so!

About Those 'Untouchable' Black Fare Evaders In London ...

We all know the ones. Wondering why nothing is ever done about it, as you and your fellow commuters pay ever higher fares to TfL year on year? Wonder no more.

The girl and her friend were seen pushing through the barriers after a station employee refused to let them pass for free.

A station employee no doubt of the same ethnic origin? 

An Independent Office for Police Conduct spokesperson said: “The court heard that on 22 September 2024, BTP officers responded to a request for assistance from railway staff after a child pushed their way through ticket barriers at Camden Road overground station.

And that was a mistake, because they weren’t thanked for it.

“After PC Young approached the child, CCTV footage showed the officer restraining her by placing her in a headlock. The child remained in a headlock for approximately 30 seconds before PC Young pushed her back through the ticket barrier and placed his hand around her throat while pushing her up against a ticket machine.

“PC Young handcuffed and arrested the child, and she was later de-arrested at the scene.”

Why? Well, one can only wonder. 

PC Young will also face a gross misconduct hearing for breaching the police standards of professional behaviour and is due to be sentenced on 13 November.

This is a disgrace. 

What Are The Chances They’ve Just Forgotten To Be Considerate?

They are the scourge of the modern commute: passengers who play music or videos out loud. But amid widespread disapproval from fellow travellers, Transport for London (TfL) is trying to appeal to the better nature of “headphone dodgers” by asking them to “be considerate” and plug in.

As opposed to simply being the sort of passengers that don't care about being considerate, in fact, those that view disturbing others as a goal. 

Can we see the sort of people they are talking about? 

"Oy, mate! Keep the Mantovani down to a dull roar!" 

The new posters, which will start to appear on the Elizabeth line this week – and on other TfL services, including London buses, in the autumn – remind travellers to use headphones when listening to music or making calls.

Oh, posters! Well, they solve everything, don’t they? 

Seb Dance, the deputy mayor for transport, said: “The small minority who play music or videos out loud can be a real nuisance to other passengers.” The new posters would encourage Londoners “to always be considerate of other passengers”, he added.

I’m sure they’ll be every bit as successful as the ones telling people to always buy a ticket, and not drink alcohol or sexually harass anyone…. 

Reporting The News, Or Manipulating It?

 I'm sure you've all scene the story from Friday's 'Daily Mail' about the lunatic who exposed himself on a Tube Train in East London, before being bundle off on to the platform by outraged passengers and arrested by a passenger who happened to be an off duty police officer.

But have you seen how one 'journalist' chosre to frame that news?

But no, there's no agenda here, is there ?

H/T : Far-Right Nan via Twitter

Advertising (Double) Standards

The mayor of London, Sadiq Khan, has stepped in to reverse a ban on adverts on the London transport network calling for abortion to be decriminalised.

Yes Reader, the same Sadiq Khan who previously banned swimwear adverts... 

It is understood that the mayor is seeking an “urgent review” of a Transport for London (TfL) decision to ban the adverts from the British Pregnancy Advisory Service (Bpas) charity on the grounds they may bring the Metropolitan police into disrepute.

As if that were possible.... 

The campaign posters feature the anonymised stories of real women who have been investigated by police and in some cases prosecuted after a termination or pregnancy loss.

The decision to ban the ads came despite TfL previously allowing pro-choice campaign material on buses across London, sponsored by Doctors for Choice and Abortion Talk and featuring the slogan “abortion is healthcare, not a crime”.

But the very law of our land states that under some circumstances, it can indeed be a crime. 

But then, it appears a bit of killing goes down well at TfL's advertising department:

Last year, campaign material on assisted dying from Dignity in Dying was also approved to run on the network, including in Westminster tube station.

What a wretched organisation, happy to flaunt its inversion of societal norms while it fleeces the customer blind. 

Someone Never Learned You Catch More Flies With Honey Than With Vinegar...

Anna Landre, a wheelchair user, was set to travel from London's Liverpool Street station on May 18. Arriving 'several minutes before' her train was due to depart, the 25-year-old said that she had enquired with members of staff about a ramp, vital in order for her to be able to board the train.

I’m not a wheelchair user, nor do I know anyone who is, and even I am fully aware that these things have to be booked in advance.

However, Ms Landre, who lives with spinal muscular atrophy, a rare genetic disease, was immediately informed that was deemed to be of 'lower priority' than other passengers who had pre-booked a form of assistance.

Describing the interaction as 'very abled-mansplaining', Ms Landre took to X to outline the stressful ordeal, adding: 'I firmly but politely told him that I know the law and did not need a lecture.

 I think we can all imagine how that conversation diatribe went, can’t we, Reader?

'He continued on and I repeated myself and said I was just looking to the next train since they'd failed to bring the ramp for the original one.' To Ms Landre's dismay, the member of staff then outright refused to assist her any further, branding her as 'rude'.

Then, after speaking with another, she presumed to be more senior staff member, the American activist was told that, given accusations of her 'rude' nature, she would be denied ramp assistance by 'any' staff member in the station.

So she’s American, and doesn’t know our customs? Should she get a break? 

Ms Landre, who moved to the UK three years ago …

 That’s a ‘NO’ then!

…after studying in Washington DC, was banned from boarding any trains from Liverpool Street Station and eventually forced to return home. Firmly denying any allegations of rudeness, Ms Landre added: 'I believe this able bodied man did not enjoy a young disabled woman speaking assertively back to him in the same tone he was using.

'And regardless, "rudeness" is not the standard for denial of ramp assistance. Abusiveness is, and I was certainly not that.'

Well, the railway staff in question may have a different view, so maybe we should get their side, eh? 

Yes More Bus Carnage Leniency...

A bus driver who failed to brake and killed a 77-year-old woman has avoided jail as her sister pays a heartbreaking tribute. Almena Amica was using a pedestrian crossing to cross the road in the centre of Manchester when the bus accelerated and collided into her.

A further 11 people – a mixture of pedestrians and passengers - escaped with minor injuries as the single decker bus smashed into a café in Piccadilly Gardens on October 16, 2023.

I guess by this point, no-one's going to be surprised that no-one's seeing jail time...

Bus driver Khalid Mahmood was arrested at the scene a and while in custody maintained that the incident was as a result of a defected vehicle. A specialist forensic reconstruction officer conducted an extensive investigation and identified that this was not the case, with his report concluding that it was in fact a result of failure to apply the brakes.

He has today received a two year suspended sentence and has been disqualified from driving for five years.

He should have got more for lying alone. 

Sergeant Louise Warhurst from our Serious Collision Investigation Unit said: 'The impact of Mahmood's dangerous actions on Mena's family have been truly devastating and our thoughts are with her loved ones.'

My thoughts would have been more along the lines of 'What the hell is the point of this bloody job'... 

Here's Why We Have That 'Stereotypical View', Rachel....

Remember this story? Well...

The bus driver who admitted being under the influence of drugs when he killed nine-year-old Ada Bicakci in a crash in Bexleyheath has been pictured for the first time.

Oh? Let's see then! 

I'm shocked, Reader. I'm sure you are too...

Police have released a custody image of Martin Asolo-Agogua after he pleaded guilty to causing death by dangerous driving and driving whilst unfit through drugs (cannabis) on Tuesday, April 22. The 23-year-old from Nunhead had been up all night at a social event when he crashed the bus into Ada and her five-year-old brother on Watling Street on the morning of August 3 last year, a court heard.

The only real surprise here is that he pleaded guilty. Perhaps his brief fancies his chances with the new Home Office directions?

Asolo-Agogua was warned that he faces a prison sentence when he is sentenced in June. Judge Ben Gumpert KC said: “Looking at the sentencing guidelines, whether this is in the highest or middle level of culpability, even if that decision went in favour of the defendant the starting point would be a sentence of six years in prison.

And is that all? Well, maybe not... 

“And there are, it seems to me, considerable aggravating features because he was driving a bus, under the influence of cannabis, and that he hadn’t slept the night before having been, as I understand it, at a social event.”

Oh dear, a rare judge indeed, this one. Let's have more like him! 

The Diversity Doesn't Always Stay In The Inner City...

It has been reported that more than 50 youths armed with knives and machetes ran into Elm Park Primary School's hall, in Havering, Essex, at around 9pm on Saturday.

Yes, Elm Park. I'm very familiar with it. It's my end of the District Line, after all. Not the place you'd expect the inner city diversity to be in great numbers, until you realise this was a birthday party. For diverse youth. The sort of thing that tends to blow up into just this sort of disorder. 

The fighting allegedly lasted until 11pm before three teenagers were arrested on suspicion of assaulting emergency workers.

 Only three?

Footage from the scene shows dozens of children fleeing the hall screaming, as individuals at the back of the room can be seen raising weapons above their heads.

 'Individuals'...

One local resident told the Havering Daily: 'It was total chaos. We saw between 40-50 youths, running through the streets.

'We think they had knives as they were seen dropping weapons in people's drive ways and running away. They were attacking the police and there were so many of them that the police had to just disperse them. We couldn't believe what we saw. They were all aged 16 and over and they were not from here.

'Not from here' in more than one sense, of course.  

'Our road is normally so quiet, things like this don't happen here. This is why we are all so shocked at what has happened.

'We saw the police running after the youths, but due to the large number of them, the only choice they had was to disperse them.

'Our road was closed off for ages due to this and we were told that a serious incident had happened.'

And it'll keep happening, thanks to the transport system that allows the diversity to reach the nicer places.. 

The Wheels On The Bus Go Round And Round...

An elderly driver has avoided jail after killing an 83-year-old woman as she crossed the road.

No, this isn't another story about elderly car drivers - the missing words here are 'in his London bus'. Because if you think this story has the ring of familiarity, Reader, you're not wrong.... 

Partially deaf Ozdemir Zia, 77, hit Edna McLean when she was crossing Vincent Road outside Woolwich Arsenal station in southeast London on September 11, 2021.

Zia, who uses a hearing loop, had been allowed to continue work despite a previous conviction for crashing into another bus and six other incidents of bad driving.

Incredibly, it seems being deaf and having an appalling record behind the wheel is no bar to being a London bus driver! 

The jury was not told about Zia's previous conviction for careless driving in 2018 when he injured passengers by crashing into another bus. He was fired by Stagecoach, one of the operators of Transport for London buses, because of his conviction. But he was back behind the wheel again after he applied for a job with Go Ahead, a different provider.

If this was America, a host of sharp-toothed lawyers would now descend on Go Ahead and strip it bare.  

Why We Can’t Have Nice Things Pt 542867

Free libraries and book exchanges are one of life’s little joys. So we’re sad to say that all book swaps at London Underground stations have been removed.

Apparently, they are a fire hazard. Which is strange, because I travel by Tube, and every station has a little container of free newspapers, the 'Metro', which despite being made of paper, don't appear to be the same risk.

Maybe because TfL employees count as newspaper staff? Who knows? 

*Checks Calendar* Nope, Still Winter

 I got this on Friday when I checked my Tube app:

'Leaf fall'? What leaves are left that haven't already fallen? 

At Least He Was Intelligible

...which puts him one up on a lot of the London Tube staff:

A ticket inspector’s bilingual greeting to a Flemish train passenger has created a political war of words – and an official complaint – in language-divided Belgium. The country’s language watchdog is investigating after a Dutch-speaking commuter protested a conductor’s use of “bonjour” – French for “good morning” – to welcome him onboard during a rush-hour train from Mechelen, in Flanders, to the capital, Brussels, in October. Writing on Facebook, Ilyass Alba, the French-speaking conductor, said that on the day in question he greeted passengers entering his carriage with a resounding “goeiemorgen, bonjour”.

And this is a big thing over there! 

The use of both the Dutch and French greetings was not good enough for one Dutch-speaking passenger, who told him off, saying: “We’re not in Brussels yet, you have to use Dutch only!”

That told him!  

The passenger was technically right, as under Belgium’s complex language rules conductors should in theory use both languages only in Brussels and a few other bilingual regions. “The file is under review,” the Permanent Commission for Linguistic Control said, adding it would ask the national railway operator, SNCB, for more information on its enforcement of language policies.

Ah, if only that was the only thing other country's transport systems had to worry about....