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Photograph by Islay McLeod
Once upon a time and in a different gender, I used to be a member of the British Transport Police – you know, the lot who are supposed to be policing Scotland’s railways. One may be forgiven for questioning whether they exist or not as they seem to have become a very secretive lot and are rarely seen these days.
They have, so they tell me, 12 police stations throughout Scotland, so if they’re not policing the railways what exactly are they doing? Perhaps Chief Superintendent Ellie Bird would like to step forward and tell us. They’re not making me feel any safer when I travel between Barrhill and Glasgow Central for sure.
Drink and drunks on the railway are nothing new, in fact the two seem to go together. The only way to actually deal with this problem is to have a visible presence on trains during the evening when drink is likely to be consumed. Sticking posters up threatening dire consequences if you’re caught drinking I’m afraid does not work, nor will putting train managers, guards or whatever on a train. The only thing that will is the perception and sure knowledge that you will be arrested by the police if you make a nuisance of yourself. The police may regard this as low-level nuisance crime, however we the passengers pay for their services through our rail fares so we should expect a decent service and a journey free from harassment in return.
I would offer to don my uniform and come back and help. However, back in the 80s, the BTP was a very anti-transgender police force and decidedly unfriendly so would probably not welcome my generous offer.
Carol Mapley
In ‘Is this the most useless ban…’ (26 June) Kenneth Roy chides the justice secretary for introducing an alcohol ban on late night trains noting that the on-train staff may not feel themselves able to police it for reasons of personal safety. This tendency to pass new laws which are ill thought-out, merely cosmetic and effectively unenforced extends way beyond our railway system. Planning, licensing and private rented housing are other areas where ‘light-touch regulation guidelines’ mandated by civil servants means that the law passed by parliament is stymied, government still looks macho but Mr amd Mrs J Public lose out.
Perhaps we should just all ignore provisions 127-132 of the highway code and simply drive on whichever side we like? Didn’t think so – we might hit a ministerial limousine.
Bill Fraser
I read Michael Elcock’s article in the Scottish Review with a lot of interest and lot of respect given that he has spent a career in tourism, took the time to seek me out, took the time to lay out his thinking (twice) and obviously cares deeply about Scotland. However, I think he is too pessimistic about the effect he had on me and my thinking as he did trigger some considerable debate at our end that in turn led to changes back in Scotland. I believe that the definitive word on that should be left to the chairman, Mike Cantlay, and the chief executive, Malcolm Roughead, to whom I am copying on this response.
For me the key point is that the evolution of Scottish tourism needs lots of ideas and lots of people making their contributions at local and national levels in collaboration with VisitScotland and government at a national and local level. And that in turns needs collaborative conversations and trust. As a result, I put that into action when I was tourism minister. Consequently, I do feel that I played a constructive role is listening to the many folk who were sceptical about VisitScotland and indeed of the industry and other industry players in bringing them together to get valid suggestions for improvement into action.
I do believe that the industry now realises that the many players from hospitality to visitor attractions, from activities to transport, are not so much in competition with each other but part of a single system capable of making Scotland one of the most memorable destinations on the planet. That is nevertheless a time-consuming process, but as that outcome crystallises I hope that people will realise that it was the work of many people like Michael Elcock and crucially those who listened, acted and invested that earned us those better results and that this work will never end.
Jim Mather
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