02.11.12
ScotRail hails success of night-time alcohol ban
ScotRail has said its ban on night-time drinking on all its services is proving a success so far.
People seem generally to be complying and there have been few arrests, with just five people reported to the procurator fiscal according to The Herald newspaper.
Passenger Focus had worried the ban could prove unenforceable, but said it seemed people had been willing to comply with requests not to drink.
Steve Montgomery, ScotRail's managing director, said: “The ban has been working well, which is partly down to the softly, softly approach we have adopted, but also we shouldn't underestimate the contribution of the travelling public.
“There are fewer people turning up to stations who are not in a fit state to travel due to alcohol and they're not seeing a lot of alcohol on trains.”
Only Caledonian sleeper services are exempt from the new rule.
RTM discussed the reasons for the ban in our August/September 2012 edition, which featured an interview with Chief Superintendent Ellie Bird, area commander for British Transport Police Scotland. She told us: “We’ve been absolutely clear right from the start on whether someone can travel or not and the conditions of travel; that is very much the responsibility of the train operator and our role is to support them.
“We don’t suddenly take over ‘policing’ of who is allowed to get on a train, because that is an agreement between the train operator and the passenger.
“Discretion and common sense is absolutely key throughout all of this. This is not about suddenly delaying all the services because we stopped the train because somebody’s drinking alcohol.”
The full interview is at www.railtechnologymagazine.com/Rail-Industry-Focus-/dry-evenings
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