West Somerset Railway General Discussion

Might I suggest checking out the Bluebells pithily named Cash For Cover drive? They have forms floating the tinternets which says a simple mission statement of where the cash goes.


http://bluebell-railway.co.uk/bluebell/trust/appeal/about.html

Change for coaches, maybe?

 

It does say tear off the slip and put it in the envelope, and to hand the envelope to the ticket inspector on the train or to the ticket office. Same as the WSR one - hand it to a member of staff.

 

It may well say that - but are you daft enough to be willing to hand over all those financial details to some random person? Does the railway indemnify you against fraud? No wonder so many naiive people get scammed out of thousands of pounds - and then go crying to their bank.

 

I administer Gift Aid for a church. The onus is on me to ensure that the declarations meet HMRC requirements, and to retain suitable records.

For online donation schemes, the record keeping is all online (Easyfundraising, for example, take the declarations) and I benefit from that work. However, a large part of my work administering Gift Aid is processing ad hoc envelopes from visitors to the church. The cost of envelopes is trivial by comparison.

That does require a chunk of effort, but with my time free as a volunteer, every penny counts. My church experience is that people are willing to make the effort, especially where we only ask for the bare minimum of details. That is for visitors either attending services or just visiting the building. I’ve little doubt that people will be willing to make the effort while sat on a journey.

As for security, I would have no qualms about using a fold out sheet as shown for KESR. My concerns are as much about my name and address as the card details; if the railway have gone to the lengths of being able to process cardholder not present, they will have processes capable of maintaining confidentiality. Especially as GDPR fines would exceed any likely return if details weren’t protected appropriately.


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The railway may have processes - but what about individuals who harvest the envelopes and Credit Card details - including the all important 3 digit security code from the rear of the card?

Does your church harvest these details?

I am a Treasurer of a Charitable Trust relating to churches - we are glad to receive envelopes containing cash and referencing addresses for Gift Aid Reclaim - but no way would we ever ask for Credit Card security answers.

 

Well, I did a round trip on the 1415 from BL today.

The weather was glorious, 53808 ran enthusiastically and dead on time, I enjoyed coffee, cake & ice cream from The Buffer Stop (Dont tell Domestic Facilities Management)

It was also interesting to see the crowd gathered at Washford for the opening of the new section of The Steam Coast path.

The clouds had gathered by the time a well filled last train left and as you can see it was decidedly autumnal at Williton - certainly recreating the past

 

What use is a USB port on a dmu. Is it to plug the sat nav in?

 

If by ‘Harvesting’ you mean keeping and recording after the initial processing of a card security code, that would not be GDPR compliant.

I am assuming that anyone expressing such extreme views would never make an on line transaction using their credit card?

Best to calm down a little on the polemics.

Robin

 

That is certainly true. But at 25mph you get five times the opportunity to spot a train coming and at 10mph (a more likely speed, given virtually all trains stop at Washford and/or it is a line summit for other workings) you get 12.5 times as long. For up trains stopping in the station, the relevant speed is probably around 1mph as the loco stops adjacent to the crossing.

And then a big proportion of trains are steam which can be heard approaching long before they get to Washford.

And then there is only a single line, so no opportunity for one train to be masked by another on an adjacent line.

And then the line is straight for a considerable distance leading away from the crossing at Washford in both directions.

And then the present crossing is regularly used entirely unsupervised by the public at the moment with out incident, as it was, for example, at the 40’s weekend...

And then the daily average trains passing is probably 6 in each direction per day averaged over the year.

A few important realities to consider, which would serve to maintain the risk of continuing to use the existing crossing at a very low level even if ‘non-rail’ traffic over it increased significantly.

Just a personal opinion, of course.

Robin

 

And don't you 'hand over' all this information every time you make a purchase over the phone (cardholder not present) or even better, write out a cheque, which has all your bank details and even your signature? The only way to really eliminate the risk is to make all payments in cash. Then you'd probably get mugged for carrying so much cash around.
Personally, I can't see any practical use for the three digit security code that is there to prove you have the card. Once you have given it out, it is in the public domain.

 

We don’t process card payments*, so many of those issues don’t apply to us. If we did, we would be subject to the card issuers’ standards and GDPR, so would have to have secure means of handling and where necessary disposing of sensitive details once no longer needed. And when I say “us”, I mean the organisation including the staff and volunteers.

* - we do have an iZettle machine that we use for sales at major events, but those are all cardholder present transactions for which we don’t retain any details.


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To let the driver keep their phone topped up to play Candy Crush when waiting for their next turn!

 

Polemics? It wouldn't be a WSR thread without them.

 

"Cash for cover drive"? Surely that should be the name for the KESR cricket poster.

 

How is it in the public domain? The retailer keys it in but does not retain it. Of course a dishonets employee could take the details but that will always be a problem.

 

Following on from Big Al's comments it needs to be remembered that not everyone had perfect hearing - some people have none at all. Likewise not everyone has good sight - again, some non at all. The only way such folk know of a trains approach will, most likely, be the grounds vibrations they feel as the train approaches. Another factor is excitable children who make quick movements, frequently spontaneous. The railway has a duty of care to all users of their line.

 

I think we'll have to agree to disagree @Big Al - maybe some of the pro-crossing commentators here do not fully understand the issues at Washford (for example it is not a single line of railway but also a yard; trains may run at any time and some do not stop at the station; and who is going to pay for more appropriate gates and a proper surfaced pathway across those tracks). I agree access to the new path may well be desirable but an alternative route would be better. Perhaps an improved route via the accommodation bridge (Halscombe Bridge) might be a better proposition. Given the WSR has in the past dealt with fatalities, I like to think the more sensible WSR folk have no wish to increase the risk of further sad events.

Steve

 

Some 30+ adults went across yesterday, some escorted, others not. Very few were observant enough to notice the standard warning signs and act accordingly, parents that were carrying the kiddies bikes struggled to close the gates single-handed. Initially people were refused entry and sent down the mineral line but by early afternoon they were allowed access after it was explained that it was for one day only.
Admiralscorner has part one of the day on youtube.