GCR Ending of Lineside Passes, ex-Bridge that Gap: Great Central Railway News

Other railways seem to manage to get away with asking working volunteers to remove their hi-viz in public places without narking their volunteers off. Must be something to do with the attitude of the management or volunteers or both.

 

Agreed. Joe Public is spending quite a lot of money, and doesn't necessarily like his/her photos to be spoiled by orange jackets, whether worn by arrogant photters or staff too lazy to take off said jackets.

 

I found a copy of the actual gala leaflet, in the "other information section on the last page.
High Visibility Clothing
High visibility clothing must NOT be worn on station
platforms or in other public places.

 

Getting back to the original subject...has there been any further info on the suggestion that a 'favoured few' will be retaining their GCR LPP's?

 

Railway Magazine says a limited number of permits will continue to be issued to a very small group of 'preferred photographers who have loyally supported the railway over the years and who have conducted themselves safely'

 

Why should "Joe Public" be treated favourably in comparison to linesiders whose financial support is vital to the continuing viability of the railway, heritage owes far more to them paying £1000s in than occasional random visits by the public.

 

A missing '' perhaps?

Steven

 

Whilst I have not seen this reportt in RM, I sincerely hope this is not a direct quote from the railway? Otherwise there will be a large number of;..."preferred, loyal and safe".... photographers who will be seriously 'dis-chuffed' at being considered disloyal and potentially unsafe? Or am I being too sensitive??

 

The “preferred, loyal, safe” statement is within quotation marks . . .

 

The Winter Steam Gala will probably tell us if there are any "favoured few".

 

GCR need to be honest & transparent on this issue. They do need to issue a policy/statement of some sort reflecting their new stance/rules.

To selectively remove previously given rights without such a document is clearly an act of discrimination & if someone should choose to take this down a legal route the railway will be in trouble.

 

Why? Discrimination is tightly defined in law, and distinct from favouritism, which appears to be what is being alleged.


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The suggestion that a legal course of action could be taken against the GCR caused me to reflect that it is principally due to possible legal actions being taken against them that the GCR have acted in the way they have regarding lineside passes.

 

As Steven has hinted at, I can only assume that this post is either deliberately ironic or playing devil's advocate?

Surely nobody - not even the most blinkered train spotter - still believes the fantasy that the income from camera-toting railway enthusiasts at any heritage/preserved line is anywhere near comparable to what the public spends?

 

Sorry, what 'rights' are these which were 'previously given'? As far as I can see these were 'priviledges' which are not the same thing at all.

Also good luck with your legal challenge, as no court is ever going to rule against a railway company controlling access to its running lines.

 

One could always volunteer for the P.Way Dept. , do the PTS, don the hi-vis and actually work at the lineside - just sayin'.
Ray.

 

Surely they were privileges, not rights. Having had to deal with issues surrounding lineside photographers and the risk they pose, I find it difficult to understand how almost any railway would allow access other than for the collection of promotional photographs by a very small group of photographers who were both trained and supervised. The view - provided in the form of 'strong advice' - from HMRI/ORR was that taking a photograph was not just 'walking in a trackside area', and therefore required the presence of a lookout just as much as any lineside work did. It would be a brave senior manager who ignored that and had to defend it later. For anyone trying to say that this is an overreaction and 'H&S gone mad' needs to understand the perspective from the footplate when a driver encounters an idiot not paying attention. Sorry if the realities of running a safe railway are catching up...

 

Please let's keep the lawyers out of this! I don't want to see the efforts of preservationists being ruined in litigation. Remember how the 6024 society lost 500K in a silly libel case.

 

In the days of regular steam on BR, only a few lineside permits were issued to recognised photographers, and you certainly couldn't pay a tenner and then gain the right to walk all over the place in an orange jacket taking photos and spoiling other people's photos. It only takes some idiot to get run over and steam will be in jeopardy. I'd scrap all lineside permits and only the railway's publicity department would have access to the lineside for photography. There are plenty of photos that you can take from bridges and platforms. Station shops usually sell perfectly good postcards! I would ban orange jackets being worn by anyone on railway premises except staff working on the track. Thank goodness I'm unlikely to be elected as a dictator!