Train guard practises his comedy on packed train

Last weekend saw me and the rest of my family off to Southampton (not to ship watch this time) but to see the Lion King Musical,which is currently showing at the Mayflower Theatre in Southampton and this was also for my sisters 30th birthday. As there was 7 of us and nobody wanted to drive we decided to take pubic transport and go by train. The train we had booked to get was the 12:25 and on arrival at Chichester station it then became apparent why I always try to avoid taking the train where ever possible – every train was either delayed or being cancelled as there was a broken down train blocking one of the tracks and the train an hour earlier than ours hadn’t got through. Just marvellous, my sister was starting to panic as her birthday day out was going to be ruined and we weren’t going to make the matinee performance we had tickets for. Luckily they suddenly announced there would be a train at 12:05 as this came from a different destination and didn’t go through the affected area.

Once on board we were then on our way to Southampton. The train guard then came through the carriages checking tickets and issuing any that hadn’t brought some.  After clearing through ours he went into the next carriage and suddenly came over the tannoy advising the rest of the train to make their way down to carriage number one where there was a comedy act on board who hadn’t got any tickets and were refusing to buy any. Also if there were any police, undercover agents on board or anyone who wanted to make a citizens arrest to please make their way forward and known to the comedy act.

This made the whole train laugh and was a good way for the train guard to avoid any nasty confrontation. We then pulled into Swanwick station where the guard then came back over the tannoy and announced he was sorry but there would be a delay in the departure of the train from this station, as the fare dodgers either had to buy a ticket or leave the train and he was just waiting for the police to arrive.  With this the fare dodgers then got off the train and the train guard then announced that if you looked out of the window on the left you would see the comedy act and to all give them a wave goodbye – which many of the passengers did and the response from the fare dodgers was a two finger salute. The train then pulled out of the station and continued its journey to Southampton.

This was the first time I had anything like this happen to me whilst on the train and was a good way for the guard to get the fare dodgers removed from the train without turning nasty by either party.

On another note the Lion King was absolutely fantastic and was a great day out enjoyed by all and I thought the performance was just as good as when I saw it in the West End. We are of to see Rock of ages in September, again at the Mayflower and will also be going by train again – lets hope we get the same comic train guard.