Transport for London (TfL) is targeting the "disruptive behaviour" of passengers who play music and make calls using mobile phone loudspeakers.

TfL said most bus and Tube travellers considered such behaviour "a nuisance" and that some even found the additional noise very stressful.

The new campaign follows TfL research that found 70% of 1,000 passengers surveyed said they found films, music and calls being played on loudspeakers to be a nuisance.

Posters urging passengers to use headphones or hands-free kits with their device will appear on the Elizabeth line from Tuesday and across other services from the autumn.

TfL said it can use its powers to enforce existing by-laws which ban the playing of music or watching content when it causes distress annoyance to others.

During the Monday morning rush hour BBC Radio London spoke to commuters, who backed the message of the campaign.

One said: "It should be banned, definitely. It is not polite to anyone else when you are sat on the Tube in the morning and someone is playing music. That's horrendous. It is not comfortable."

Another said: "Maybe someone might be working or they might be tired so yes I think it should be banned. I personally don't mind but I know that other people are a bit more mindful about that. I guess you have to respect what other people think."

A third commuter said: "Recently on a train there was a woman she was playing quite loud [music] and I was smiling to her trying to give the idea that not everyone could like that music. She didn't care."

Loudspeaker noise can be especially acute for those with heightened sensitivity, such as people with autism.

Emma Strain, TfL's customer director, told BBC Radio London that TfL by-laws prohibit playing music and streaming content out loud without permission. She added: "When our enforcement officers encounter someone doing this they usually ask the person to stop. Most people comply at that stage, but if someone refuses then further enforcement action can be taken, which might include them being asked to leave the service or the station, or being reported for possible prosecution."

The new posters will be accompanied by Instagram posts.

Passengers will also be asked to look up from their screens in case someone else needs their seat more, said TfL.



In February, a man was fined €200 (£172) for making a call on loudspeaker in a designated quiet area of a French train station. The man, named only as David, told French broadcaster BFM TV he was on a call with his sister at Nantes station when an employee from SNCF, the French railway company, approached him. He planned to appeal against the fine. The French Transport Code says those who use "sound devices or instruments" or "disturb the peace of others by noise" in areas used for public transport could face a fine.

It is believed the use of mobiles and other devices has increased on the Tube, as large sections of the network across central London now have 4G or 5G coverage.

Work is under way to expand coverage to major interchange stations such as Green Park and King's Cross St Pancras, and further sections of the Northern, Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines by the end of the year, TfL said.

Work is under way to expand coverage to major interchange stations such as Green Park and King's Cross St Pancras, and further sections of the Northern, Piccadilly, Jubilee and Victoria lines by the end of the year, TfL said.

Some of the footage has a noticeable orange flicker reflecting from the interior surfaces of the train, looking for all the world like light escaping from a firebox.

That it's not just fogging the image rather rules out strong magnetic fields interfering with the camera's CCD - perhaps it's tongues of plasma licking the exterior of the train.

Mark

Thanks Graham. Hopefully it will be running better tomorrow than it did today - RTT shows it arrived at Trowbridge 5 mins late at 07:03, while the Bristol train over the bridge left at 07:04:45. It wouldn't have been a relaxing journey

While I would normally start my commute to Bristol with the 06:32 service from Melksham that ends up in Southampton, tomorrow (first office day this week) the time shown on the National Rail website (and Uber) is 06:49. Same on Thursday and Friday, but back to normal next Monday.

I don't mind the lie-in, although it does mean connecting with the 07:05 at Trowbridge instead of the 06:46, hence ~20 mins later into the office.

Anyone know the reason?

18:37 Westbury to Swindon due 19:21
20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56

20:12 Swindon to Westbury due 20:56 will be cancelled.
This is due to more trains than usual needing repairs at the same time.

16:23 from Westbury and 1735 from Swindon cancelled today (Tues 26th Aug). Reason given is "fault on this train"  (anyone know if that's genuine or shorthand for "unit nicked to cover a failure elsewhere"?)

It's a huge 45t dump truck that can haul 65t (for a combined mass of 110t) of lime and marl off the side of a mountain in Switzerland and take it downhill to a cement factory. The regenerative braking going down provides enough energy to charge the batteries for the climb back up empty.

Being about 20 metres too long for the Caledonian Canal, the Waverley's just passed something called the Stoer peninsula, where the geology records a long-ago event that was extraordinary violent.

She's now heading to round the major navigational landmark, Cape Wrath, after which she can head east for the delightful waters of the Pentland Firth.

Mark

https://www.marinetraffic.com/

Nope. The DfT request the operator to run some services within a set budget; the operator obliges.

We're booked on an evening trip, late August, from Penzance to Falmouth, returning by coach.
Looking forward to it.
Spent many years in Dartmouth, so Dartmouth Castle, Kingswear Castle, Totnes Castle were all local paddle steamers.
A daily sight

Due to the forecast wind and severe swell conditions being predicted at Land’s End Waverley would not be able to proceed from the Clyde to the South West by transiting the Irish Sea and would have likely been delayed until after the weekend. In an attempt to avoid cancelling several South West sailings and disappointing thousands of passengers we have taken the decision to re-position the ship by sailing over the north of Scotland, down the full east coast of Britain and along the South Coast. Waverley is currently making very good progress and we except her to reach the east coast of Scotland by Tuesday evening.

Unfortunately, due to the weather conditions predicted and the length of time to steam her round the UK Thursday’s sailing has been cancelled. We do therefore apologise to those booked to sail from Falmouth and Penzance that we are unable to operate given the weather conditions. Pre-booked passengers will be contacted.

Friday’s sailing on 29th August may be amended but no decision has been made just yet, we will await more certainty in the weather forecast and to see how Waverley performs on her lengthy journey round Great Britain before informing passengers.

We are hopeful that sailings from Saturday will go ahead as planned.

1. is out of GWRs hands - requires funding by the DfT