{"id":144311,"date":"2018-06-21T11:26:36","date_gmt":"2018-06-21T11:26:36","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/angry-commuters-kick-down-gates\/"},"modified":"2018-06-21T11:26:36","modified_gmt":"2018-06-21T11:26:36","slug":"angry-commuters-kick-down-gates","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/english\/angry-commuters-kick-down-gates\/","title":{"rendered":"Angry commuters ‘kick down gates’"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"CrowdedImage copyright Neal Cannell
Image caption Police were spotted at Bedford Railway Station and were brought in to give passengers "reassurance" <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Angry commuters have been "kicking at gates" at a station after signalling problems caused delays to an already troubled line.<\/p>\n

Disruption on East Midlands and Thameslink trains during rush-hour was due to six-mile signalling failure at Luton. <\/p>\n

The delays in and out of London come after four weeks of disruption caused by a new timetable. <\/p>\n

Network Rail has apologised and said no trains could run south of Bedford.<\/p>\n

Extra patrols were also brought in by British Transport Police (BTP) for "passenger reassurance", they said. <\/p>\n

At St Albans City station, eyewitnesses reported an "absolute fiasco", with "platforms crammed", "barriers closed" and "angry passengers kicking down gates".<\/p>\n

Skip Twitter post by @drpetersaunders <\/p>\n

\n

Absolute fiasco here at @TLRailUK St Albans.Trains cancelled. Platforms crammed. Barriers closed. Staff abusive. Angry passengers kicking down gates. CEO resigned last week.<\/p>\n

\u2014 Peter Saunders (@drpetersaunders) June 21, 2018<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Report <\/p>\n

End of Twitter post by @drpetersaunders<\/p>\n

Dr Peter Saunders said that a gate on platform four had been damaged by "people forcing themselves through".<\/p>\n

"All gates [were] then locked and people diverted to [the] platform one entrance," he said.<\/p>\n

"One guy tried to climb over then started kicking [the] gate as [a] staff member yelled at him."<\/p>\n

Another commuter, Natalie, said: "Absolute chaos at St Albans and no communication.<\/p>\n

"[Thameslink Rail] how do you continuously get away with it? Absolute shambles of an organisation."<\/p>\n

Thameslink said that "for passenger safety we closed the gates for short periods to manage the numbers of people on the platform" and "passenger announcements explained this".<\/p>\n

"Network Rail have now fixed the signalling fault," a spokesman said. <\/p>\n

Image copyright Dr Peter Sanders
Image caption Commuters reported hundreds of angry passengers outside the barriers at St Albans City station due to cancelled trains and crammed platforms <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Commuters at Harpenden station witnessed a train arrive and pull up, but without the doors opening. <\/p>\n

Emily Ketchin said there could have been a "very serious accident as people stepped towards the train" and Charlotte Haklett said "the staff have no idea what's going on. Packed platform, utterly dangerous".<\/p>\n

Image copyright Laura Steele-Perkins
Image caption Commuters at Harpenden railway station there were crowded scenes as there were no "trains for hours" <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Emily Perry, who was travelling from Bedford into London, said: "It is utterly ridiculous with all the train delays that Thameslink are satisfied with cramming more people in and putting their safety at risk that we are paying the privilege for!<\/p>\n

"This has to stop and common sense has to be given."<\/p>\n

Vicky Chadwick, a commuter from Bedford, described the current situation as "absolutely disgraceful".<\/p>\n

"This situation is impacting lives. Our time with our families is being impacted and I'm seriously considering whether I can continue working in London," she said. <\/p>\n

    \n
  • Timetable row rail boss resigns<\/li>\n
  • Rail firm boss delayed by own trains<\/li>\n
  • 'Meltdown Monday' after rail changes<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n
    Image copyright Emily Perry
    Image caption Passengers said trains were "crammed" from Bedford into London <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n
    Image copyright @nataliemaria26
    Image caption Gates were closed at St Albans City station for "passenger safety" <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

    Commuter Neal Cannell said: "If it wasn't for the systemic daily disruption caused by the new timetable I could cope with unplanned issues such as those today.<\/p>\n

    "But when the service is already a shambles every day, additional delays are adding insult to injury."<\/p>\n

    A British Transport Police spokesman said: "There have been extra patrols in place to give passengers reassurance. We have not attended any incidents."<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Image copyright Neal CannellImage caption Police were spotted at Bedford Railway Station and were brought in to give passengers "reassurance" Angry commuters have been "kicking at gates" at a station<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":144312,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-144311","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-english"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144311","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=144311"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/144311\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/144312"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=144311"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=144311"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/freeonlinetranslators.net\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=144311"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}