Fiasco at Bayside Dart this morning

pheasantplucker

Did anyone experience the fiasco at Bayside Dart this morning.. Dart entrance is on one side of tracks and this morning as i stumbled down to dart station from the Baldoyle side for my usual 8.30 dart, a crowd had gathered looking at something.. I couldn't see what until i got closer... the tunnel to go under dart lines and get to entrance at other side was barricaded with Iron Gates and padlocks. There was no way to get to other side to enter Dart station. The only way around is a 2 mile walk without this connecting tunnel... And the crazy thing is.. this had been like this since first Dart that morning and nobody had taken control from IrishRail to call Locksmith or get someone with a tool to cut it .. !! So many people from Baldoyle side of Bayside Dart Station had to get alternative transport into town due to a Locked Gate... Plus, passengers and school kids getting off darts on other side were stuck at other side ... (I am sure the school kids werent too worried all the same... ).

What a mess. Anyone have any info on why the hell gates were locked??

subway

because its bayside?

they lock them gates for no aparent reason all the time.
ive lived here all my lfie and you either learn how to climb through or forget it.

youd mbe surprised at the number of elderly ladies who can clinmb them gates with ease.

MiCr0

pheasantplucker wrote:

Did anyone experience the fiasco at Bayside Dart this morning.. Dart entrance is on one side of tracks and this morning as i stumbled down to dart station from the Baldoyle side for my usual 8.30 dart, a crowd had gathered looking at something.. I couldn't see what until i got closer... the tunnel to go under dart lines and get to entrance at other side was barricaded with Iron Gates and padlocks. There was no way to get to other side to enter Dart station. The only way around is a 2 mile walk without this connecting tunnel... And the crazy thing is.. this had been like this since first Dart that morning and nobody had taken control from IrishRail to call Locksmith or get someone with a tool to cut it .. !! So many people from Baldoyle side of Bayside Dart Station had to get alternative transport into town due to a Locked Gate... Plus, passengers and school kids getting off darts on other side were stuck at other side ... (I am sure the school kids werent too worried all the same... ).

What a mess. Anyone have any info on why the hell gates were locked??

what did irishrail say when you rang them?

highdef

Yeah, I experienced that too before 7am. Really wasn't up to climbing up over the gate at that time of the morning - would only do that if I was coming back from the Bayside Inn with a few pints in me for the extra strength
Ended up walking back to the house (only 3 minutes away) and drove to Sutton and parked there. Missed the following Dart to the one I had planned to take so had to wait another 15 mins. A man on the platform said that the locks had been superglued shut. Whether that is true I dont know.

pheasantplucker

subway wrote:

because its bayside?

they lock them gates for no aparent reason all the time.
ive lived here all my lfie and you either learn how to climb through or forget it.

youd mbe surprised at the number of elderly ladies who can clinmb them gates with ease.

Holy God! So this is a normal occurrence! Mailed Irish Rail early this morning.. No reply yet .. will give them a ring if no reply by 2. Will keep you posted to hear what kind of excuse/explanation they come up with. Should be worth a laugh.

highdef

I've emailed them too so if I dont get a response by this afternoon, I may call too depending on what response you get.

MarkoP11

highdef wrote:

I've emailed them too so if I dont get a response by this afternoon, I may call too depending on what response you get.

Iarnrod Eireann won't reply to emailed complaints, they have a long arsed excuse for this, they have trouble enough dealing with written complaints. Its quite funny at public meetings when managers are challenged. Turnaround in my recent experience is currently looking at 8 weeks

On the other hand. If you want to give out 01-7033592, or if you really feel the need the office is open to walk in on the southbound platform in Pearse (the brown door before the coffee place, up stairs, and don't open the door of the office quickly)

If it was the local vandals with the glue, you won't be getting a locksmith quickly at 7am. IE will have some lame excuse that the station was open and that the passageway not being a right of way does not need to be open. From experience some of the front line staff are decent enough ask them tonight on the way home and get the truth and compare that (in the unlikely event of a response) to IE's excuse a match is rare

Oh yeah the annoying IE PR man lives in Howth remember this for the day he is sitting opposite you

Anyone take a photo, always handy

highdef

Thanks for that info MarkoP11. And all I can say is that is a load of bo%%ocks on IE's part. THey have an email link specifically for costomer enquiries and complaints: http://www.iarnrodeireann.ie/about_us/contact_customer_services.asp
So basically this means nothing. I rarely have anything to complain about to IE and I generally have a lot of praise for them but to hear this really maddens me.
I will ring them after lunch and see what they say and I'll ask the ticket guy later on to see what he has to say too. Well if the security firm are driving around locking and unlocking this gate, you'd think they'd have a bolt cutters in the van with them in case they lose or break a key!!!

Don't have a camera phone, unfortuntely. Just got a new phone but with out a camera.

pheasantplucker

MarkoP11 wrote:

On the other hand. If you want to give out 01-7033592, or if you really feel the need the office is open to walk in on the southbound platform in Pearse (the brown door before the coffee place, up stairs, and don't open the door of the office quickly)

Got through to above number (Thanks MarkoP11) and explanation as follows : During the night Locks were vandalised with Industrial Strength Glue.... Locksmith was called at 7am but they couldn't confirm anyone to come at that time so eventually snips were used to cut locks just after 7.30 am. (Funny as I was stuck there at 8.30am !!!). I told them that was impossible as I was stuck there at 8.30am. He apologised for being mis-informed but assured me that snips will not take up residence at Bayside Dart Station so if it happens again, they will cut locks immediately.
Apparently it happened as well last Friday morning.. I got Dart early on Friday morning and had no problems...

murphaph

Jesus it gets worse not better with IE. Surely IE could send a fitter out and just cut the lock out with a torch. It may seem excessive but it's not, what is excessive is causing those delays to fare paying passengers.

IE seem to love locking things yet it's well known they have chronic fare evasion. If they locked fewer gates and actually ran regular ticket checks the system would be better for all.

MarkoP11

Well I'm told IE read all the emails they get but currently are not in a postiion to reply. There is no obligation to reply to a email, the charter only states written complaints. There is hyped up talk of a new customer services section but don't hold out hope

Good point on the bolt cutters, should be standard issue at all stations, Bayside is a bit unique

This sounds more like a garda issue

Jonny Arson

It's not the first time this has happened at Bayside DART station. I think it was on Halloween night some kids locked the gate on the Baldoyle side of the station. I found quite an amusing photo I took of a boke climbing the gates whcih should give you an insight give you an insight ....



In all seriousness there is absolutely no need to lock those gates at Bayside DART station in the first place. They are known by everyone at that station for being slack and constantly awol so I'm not surprised by this mornings incident. It's totally unacceptabe from IE's part. Also that tunnel is the only route between Bayside and Baldoyle. There has been numerous times after midnight I've found those gates locked and I've had to walk 30 minutes to get home instead of the normal 5 minutes. There may have been a need to lock the gates after midnight when the ticket office was in the tunnel but now with the new station it should remain open 24 hours. Any reason such as ''drinkers'' or ''teenagers hanging out'' is a non-runner as far as I'm concerned. If they won't leave the tunnel open 24 hours then they should build a bridge connecting Bayside and Baldoyle i.e. like the bridge at Kilbarrack station.

DublinWriter

Zane from MTV2 wrote:

It's not the first time this has happened at Bayside DART station.

I think it was around 1990 that the military-wing of the Sutting Perk residents association, in their long-time desire to become a gated-community, heavily lobbied CIE and Dublin County Coucil to have the gates locked at midnight to prevent us Baldoyle oiks from taking their women-folk.

It's been like that ever since.

highdef

Ha ha - Good one Dublin Writer.

And yes, I have climbed the gates before but wasn't up to doing it pre 7am and with a crowd watching every move should I fall or something. It's a fairly tricky procedure and something you can't do if you are a "heavy" person or a lady with big boobies. Pity that one less person could park their car at Sutton Dart station this morning because of me taking up a space there.

daymobrew

MarkoP11 wrote:

Well I'm told IE read all the emails they get but currently are not in a postiion to reply.

Last November I submitted a request via the online form. No answer. A week later I submitted the same request and threatened to write to Dick Fearns CEO. I got a reply from Michael Power a few hours later.:p

pheasantplucker

Are you planning on getting the Dart tomorrow ?? ... Dont forget your climbing gear

MarkoP11

daymobrew wrote:

Last November I submitted a request via the online form. No answer. A week later I submitted the same request and threatened to write to Dick Fearns CEO. I got a reply from Michael Power a few hours later.:p

See what I mean, they do read but couldn't be arsed to reply even a simple form email saying

Thank you for your complaint/comment etc with respect of xxxx

This has been noted blah blah

The fact it was received and noted is half the battle as few of us expect a decent answer

As I said before this is a garda issue, if IE didn't lock the gates whats saying the vandals don't invest in a lock and do it themselves same result. Simplest thing is to do a stakeout a nick them

monument

pheasantplucker wrote:

Are you planning on getting the Dart tomorrow ?? ... Dont forget your climbing gear

Depending on the lock, I think a decent bolt cutters would be cheaper, or maybe even a heavy hammer. I’m sure if someone who lives near by kept breaking the lock they’d stop locking it, not that I’d be advocating such. No, "contact your TD etc" advice might be better...

Slash/ED

monument wrote:

Depending on the lock, I think a decent bolt cutters would be cheaper, or maybe even a heavy hammer. I’m sure if someone who lives near by kept breaking the lock they’d stop locking it, not that I’d be advocating such. No, "contact your TD etc" advice might be better...

I wouldn't be complaining if someone did just that. There is literally no reason to lock those gateses, and as someone who lives in Bayside but like pretty much everyone in Bayside has a lot of mates from Baldoyle (And the other way around for loads of Baldoylers) it is possibley the most irritating thing in the world, just the sheer pointlessness of it now that the ticket office and entrance isn't even under the tunnel. An extra 30 minutes walk in the freezing cold for literally no good reason anytime I'm on the other side at mid night never gets any less irritating.

monument

Slash/ED wrote:

I wouldn't be complaining if someone did just that. There is literally no reason to lock those gateses, and as someone who lives in Bayside but like pretty much everyone in Bayside has a lot of mates from Baldoyle (And the other way around for loads of Baldoylers) it is possibley the most irritating thing in the world, just the sheer pointlessness of it now that the ticket office and entrance isn't even under the tunnel. An extra 30 minutes walk in the freezing cold for literally no good reason anytime I'm on the other side at mid night never gets any less irritating.

Just to repeat, I’m really not advocating such. It wasn’t a serious suggestion.

Anyway this is a classic example of absurd transport planning for anything but cars. I don’t know the station user figures from one side or another, but could you imagine if a small road was similarly blocked for even a third of the amount of the people that use the tunnel, and the car users had to absurdly take a 30min diversion?

highdef

Got a reply from IE regarding this matter:

Dear Mr.Xxxxxxx,

Thank you for your recent e-mail concerning the above.

I would like to express my sincere apologies for the upset and inconvenience caused to you on the occasion in question. On the morning of 03rd April 2006, at 06.30hrs approximately, the Booking Office clerk on arriving for duty discovered when trying to open the gates that the lock had been super glued overnight and could not be opened. An emergency locksmith was contacted immediately and still had not arrived by 09.00hrs. In the meantime, our Travelling Revenue Inspectors had arrived at Bayside and somehow managed to procure bolt cutters, which they used to remove the chain on the gates.

The gates are locked each night by our Security Team at 01.30hrs. The vandalism occurs between the hours of 01.30 and 06.00hrs. In order to protect our property, the Underpass has to be locked overnight. This is due to a minority group of individuals that congregate in the Underpass at night time and if unchecked, would leave the area in a filthy and unfit condition for use by our passengers.

A similar incident occurred last Friday morning, and it would appear that such acts of vandalism are now to be expected at this location. The bolt cutters is to remain in the Booking Office at all times as a precaution against future incidents, as there is no means of ensuring that the gates will be left without being tampered with overnight. It has been suggested that CCTV be used in an effort to catch the culprits, but the problem of where to locate the system without having it pulled down and destroyed remains a problem.

Kind regards,

Customer Services Officer,

DART Services,

Pearse Station.


Well at least they replied.

Right_Side

In fairness that was a refreshingly honest reply!

pheasantplucker

see reply received from IE this morning :

"Thank you for your recent e-mail concerning the above.

I would like to express my sincere apologies for the upset and inconvenience caused to you on the occasion in question. On the morning of 03rd April 2006, at 06.30hrs approximately, the Booking Office clerk on arriving for duty discovered when trying to open the gates that the lock had been super glued overnight and could not be opened. An emergency locksmith was contacted immediately and still had not arrived by 09.00hrs. In the meantime, our Travelling Revenue Inspectors had arrived at Bayside and somehow managed to procure bolt cutters, which they used to remove the chain on the gates.

The gates are locked each night by our Security Team at 01.30hrs. The vandalism occurs between the hours of 01.30 and 06.00hrs. In order to protect our property, the Underpass has to be locked overnight. This is due to a minority group of individuals that congregate in the Underpass at night time and if unchecked, would leave the area in a filthy and unfit condition for use by our passengers.

A similar incident occurred last Friday morning, and it would appear that such acts of vandalism are now to be expected at this location. The bolt cutters is to remain in the Booking Office at all times as a precaution against future incidents, as there is no means of ensuring that the gates will be left without being tampered with overnight. It has been suggested that CCTV be used in an effort to catch the culprits, but the problem of where to locate the system without having it pulled down and destroyed remains a problem.

Kind regards,

Customer Services Officer,
DART Services,
Pearse Station."

pheasantplucker

SNAP! highdev.

MarkoP11

IE do read boards and the P11 message board, post gripe either place and strangely it might be reacted to. There is a face saving operation in place. The fact they got numerous complaints about the same thing made life easy. But and its a big but there is no obligation on them to reply to email

Still though if that had been posted on the IE website it would have saved everyone a lot of hassle, the crew in Belfast manage that kind of customer focus but IE brush everything under the carpet

Slash/ED

pheasantplucker wrote:

The gates are locked each night by our Security Team at 01.30hrs. The vandalism occurs between the hours of 01.30 and 06.00hrs. In order to protect our property, the Underpass has to be locked overnight. This is due to a minority group of individuals that congregate in the Underpass at night time and if unchecked, would leave the area in a filthy and unfit condition for use by our passengers.

That's not really an acceptable reason. They are cutting off the only access between Bayside and Baldoyle (Bar a 30 minute diversion which isnt good in the middle of the night when its freezing and raining) because of a bit of grafiti. Nonsense imo, I'd agree with it if it wasn't the only way to get between the two places but it is and they have no right to be locking it. Either that or build a bridge like in other stations. It's so unbeliveabley stupid that two areas right beside each other and you can't walk from one to the other for around five hours (And tbh I'm pretty sure they close it alot earlier than 1.30 for that matter)

paulm17781

I don't know the area at all.

Is the tunnel IE property? It could be insurance, if someone gets hurt/robbed in it IE could be liable? Just a thought.

Chris_533976

At least they responded

Funny though how this is an Irish solution to a problem.

Other country : "Lets buy a security camera and some lights to monitor the gates to catch the thugs"

Irish solution : "Lets buy a set of bolt cutters so we can keep cutting the locks whenever someone glues it up"

enterprise

Slash/ED wrote:

That's not really an acceptable reason. They are cutting off the only access between Bayside and Baldoyle (Bar a 30 minute diversion which isnt good in the middle of the night when its freezing and raining) because of a bit of grafiti. Nonsense imo, I'd agree with it if it wasn't the only way to get between the two places but it is and they have no right to be locking it. Either that or build a bridge like in other stations. It's so unbeliveabley stupid that two areas right beside each other and you can't walk from one to the other for around five hours (And tbh I'm pretty sure they close it alot earlier than 1.30 for that matter)

Wouldn't the tunnel be private property and if so IE would have every right to lock the gates each night?

Victor

Chris_533976 wrote:

Other country : "Lets buy a security camera and some lights to monitor the gates to catch the thugs"

Irish solution : "Lets buy a set of bolt cutters so we can keep cutting the locks whenever someone glues it up"

Egalitarian option: give everyone a key / bolt cutters.

tribulus

wow im surprised by the amount of baysiders/baldoylers that use boards!!!
I see someone put up a pic of me back in my gate climbing days!!

Seriously though, I really think there needs to be something done about it. It sounds like this will become a frequent occurrence and simply keeping boltcutters in the office will not be a long term solution. I don't see what IE are locking up, its just a tunnel, the only damage as such that could be done would be graffiti and litter and i'd rather deal with that than be late for summer exams:mad: or work for most people

lostexpectation

my bro comes home tonight at about 10.30 arrives in on the middle platform and the new station seems to have have it gates locked up to the bridge so theres just no where to go but hop down and up over tracks, he said he didnt know what the other dozen people did???

and apparently last week a friend of his arrived on one of the last trains to bayside station and it was all locked up and theres nowhere to climb over there theres too much barbwire etc... so he had to phone the gaurds who phoned cie to get someone to get them out.

highdef

dont know about the incident in Bayside but there was a massive fire beside Howth Junction railway station last night involving 15 units of Dublin fire brigade so that may have had something to do with thw building being locked up.