I wondered how this happened

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I wondered how this happened

by Fentyke @ 02/04/2009 – 09:54:15

When we all turned up on Monday morning, this is how the main entrance/exit to the platform at P'boro station looked. Given that Peterborough played Leicester on Saturday and POSH won, I assumed the Leicester city fans had done it and then I saw this report in yesterdays P'boro ET -

'A BOOZE-FUELLED man who smashed up Peterborough railway station's concourse with a breeze block after being told he had missed his last train has been jailed.
Security staff were so terrified by the unfolding events, they ran into their office and locked the door while watching Robert Clancy's rampage on CCTV.

His wrecking spree caused £5,500 in damage to the concourse.

The booking office remained closed for a day, and parts of the station are still not fully functional, causing disruption to commuters.

Clancy (46) was jailed for 20 weeks after admitting criminal damage, and told to pay compensation of £5,000 by city magistrates.

He has lodged an appeal against the sentence.

After knocking back the equivalent of 17 pints of cider during the previous 24 hours, Clancy, from Bromley, in Kent, boarded a train from King's Cross in London to Peterborough at just after midnight, on Friday, March 27.

When he got to the city's station, he was intending to catch another train back to London again.

But when he was told by platform staff that he had missed the last train, it sparked a shocking chain of events.

At about 2.20am he ran outside and picked up a breeze block before rushing inside the concourse, intending to "smash everything up", he told British Transport Police (BTP) officers in his interview.'

Click the link below to read the full report.

http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/news/Man-in-railway-station-wrecking.5128677.jp

If you read the the full report you'll see that the security staff were so scared, they locked themselves in the office. I thought security staff were there to deal with any threats to security but obviously I was wrong. It now appears their job is to spot threats to security and call BTP to come and deal with it for them. You couldn;t make it up could you? Priceless.
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- peterborough
- nxec

13 Comments to I wondered how this happened

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- Staff (Visitor)
- http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:01:19
Well yes security are there to protect the station, but they aren't paid to tackle nutters with breeze blocks. The damage this man did was really quite bad. Breeze blocks aren't small either. What if this man had turned on the security staff and thrown it at them? In situations like that, it's best to let the guy get on with it and call the police. You can replace a ticket machine and a pane of glass, you can't replace a life.
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- technomist
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:07:06
I would have thought that is exactly what 'security' staff are paid to do. Aren't they trained professionals? Otherwise, what is the point of them?
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- Fentyke
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:09:12
Sorry mate but that doesn't ring quite true. Did he have pockets full of Breeze block ammunition? Worse still, I've yet to meet anyone capable of throwing a breeze block at such a speed that a human target wouldn't be able to dodge out of the way. This bloke was obviously a nutter but I can't see why the so called security staff couldn't have jumped on him when he ran out of ammunition.
- - technomist
  - 02/04/2009 @ 10:14:11
  I am not quite clear what it is that doesn't ring true about my comment.
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- Fentyke
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:18:53
Not your comment mate. Staffs. We just posted at the same time so the thread didn't follow true.
- - technomist
  - 02/04/2009 @ 10:24:14
  You could try commenting on the right comment. That will prevent you making the threads confusing and enable you to look more polite. .
  - - Fentyke
    - 02/04/2009 @ 10:37:32
    Thanks for the advice. LOL. I'll take that on board.
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- Staff (Visitor)
- http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:21:07
Well i'm told that there are only two members of staff on duty at night at the station. One was the security guard. The other a member of station staff, which I believe was a lady that night. I am also told that there was another bloke there, not throwing a breeze block but who did give staff a hard time. Im sure if the security guard had tried to tackle the drunk, the other bloke may well have attacked the guard, just because he can. Do you expect the lady member of staff to try to deal with two full grown men, one of which is clearly an nutter? I dont really see that as a fair fight. The most important thing in that situation is surely the safety of staff and passengers (although luckily there didnt appear to be any passengers there that night)? Im sure there was only one breeze block involved, but from what i've heard he kept picking the same one up and throwing that around. I also heard he broke into the travel centre with it, which would explain why the travel centre was closed for the length of time it was. The security guards at Peterborough at night are there to ensure all terminating trains are emtpied of passengers, and to see that all passengers exit the station whilst it's closed. They are there primarily for the safety of the station staff, of which there is just one on nights.
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- Fentyke
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:35:47
I don't expect anyone other than secirity staff to deal with security, least of all ladies. Safety has to be paramount but even so, I would expect NXEC to have addequate security on site, which they obviously don't. It seems to me that security isn't very secure if all it takes is 2 pissed up nutters to take over the entire station building. It's laughable mate. Even you must see that. How can they ensure terminating trains and the station are emptied. What do they do if somebody turns round and goes 'make me'? It looks like they run, hide and call plod.
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- Staff (Visitor)
- http://www.dft.gov.uk/pgr/rail/legislation/regs/railwaysbyelaws.pdf
- 02/04/2009 @ 10:58:32
You are right, NXEC don't have adequate staff on an nights. But to be fair, neither did GNER, as this set up was carried over from them. Yes when you look at it, it is ridiculous. Perhaps NX should be reviewing their staffing levels at night. Well thats what they are employed to do. For the most part, staff who work nights have told me most people leave the station without fuss, you occasionaly get one or two who argue the toss, call you an obcsenity and then go. I can't honestly say what they would do if someone said 'make me' to them. Guess it depends on the guard. There used to be a big scottish bloke working as a security guard there a few years ago, and he was good. Had he been there I suspect the bloke wouldv'e been wearing the breeze block, rather than throwing it about.
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- badwolf (Visitor)
- 03/04/2009 @ 00:26:35
First of all its staff security singluar not plural we dont have a bevvy of bouncers locked in the cupboard for any passing nutters.

i know we can all look at this objectively because we are not in this situation, but you don't know what this person was capable of, what if he had over overpowered security staff then laid into them with the breeze block would you still think it was "priceless"

what about if he had a knife on him? and believe me i have come across passengers who have carried them when been arrested by BTP and i also know of colleagues who have experienced the same, would you still think it priceless if one of the staff got fattaly injured or god forbid killed?

far as im concerned they put their conflict training into good use, the end of the day their still here to tell the tale.
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- Dave H (Visitor)
- http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/NXECservice/
- 03/04/2009 @ 04:57:53
What I think is bad is this person only got locked up for 20 weeks and the amount of fines he has to pay is less than the cost of the damage caused.

I personally can't blame the staff for hiding, they obviously didn't have the resources to deal with the nutter. What's worrying about the station being understaffed is there could have been other passengers in the station, that might not have been able to easily get out the way particularly if they were elderly or disabled (OK, unlikely at this time of night, but it's still a possibility).

NXEC will need to decide whether they need to hire more security staff and whether the existing ones need more training. They have to consider what could have happened if there were other passengers in the station.

Odd this is not letting me post using my usual username - perhaps it verifies against my IP address.
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- Staff (Visitor)
- 03/04/2009 @ 07:14:46
Thank you BW, couldn't have said it better myself. There is only ONE security staff memeber and ONE platform staff member on nights, and like I already said, it was a young lady. This man was clearly several sandwiches short of a picnic. I'm told (like I said) that there was also another man there, unrelated but abusive. What if HE had been carrying a weapon? You just don't know these days. Security staff aren't armed, they aren't allowed to be. The police have pepper spray and batons. That man could easily have taken that breeze block with him and smashed his way into the office and hurt the members of staff inside. Yes there were two members of staff, but they didn't have a breeze block or anything else to defend themselves with did they? I dont want to sound like a broken record(though I fear I already do!) but you CAN replace equipment, you CANT replace a life. I think the staff acted in the correct manner.
Dave H- It would be great if NX reviewed this, I believe they use a contractor to hire in security staff, so perhaps they need to meet with whoever they use and review standards? Lets hope so.
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