Taxi!

[robpage]

Yesterday , on my way to the Pen & Wig , I crossed London , I was delayed at Waterloo Station , because tragically , an all too common event of a suicide had happened on the Charing Cross to London Victoria train line .

It is estimated that suicides have a current annual industry cost of £50m, of which some £15m alone is paid to train operators for delays caused. In addition, there is the cost of trauma caused to drivers, guards, other railway staff and those who are affected either by witnessing the death or being caught in the aftermath. Drivers, in particular, are prone to such trauma, with some never being able to return to work. Of the fatalities on the railway in 2013/14, seven occurred on a level crossing, 18 involved people trespassing on the railway and 286 were suicide or suspected suicide., that is almost one a day .

So in being tight ! I had booked a defined train ticket that reduced the cost from over £500 to just under £100 , big savings ! and I had almost an hour to cross from one station to another , I have trouble with the steps and escalators on the underground too , so get a taxi . I had now , after the suicide , and no I am not sympathetic because of a conversation I once had with a driver who had hit three suicides and felt victimized , my cross London time halved to thirty minutes . I am not going to make the Virgin train to Lime Street , do I go home , or pay over another £100 to get to the Pen & Wig ? . The Taxi outside Waterloo Station was driven by a traditional cabbie who had been a London Bus Driver in the 1950s , so he has to be almost if not over eighty years old , I ain't going to make it , well I explained my predicament , and we took a very strange route after Waterloo Bridge as the Strand Underpass was shut for more repairs , and did the journey in eight minutes , at Euston he leaps out , used a phone on the wall and got an electric golf style buggy to appear that got me to the train , Now the fare was £14.20 , I gave him £20 and told him to keep the change , he said , now wait for this , no Gov'nor , that is too much and gave me £3 back . For some reason , I felt transported back into a time when people were polite to each other and nice things happened

Sorry Marian , I know this is the wrong forum , but felt that London Cabbies deserved the retelling of that story

[j.sabourn]

#2.... trauma, think may have put up before. Was reading a newspaper after the PA in 1988, there was a story about some seaman on some ship approximately 4 miles away from the disaster area. He was according to the paper claiming for having to watch and being traumatised by the sight. Thank God if true, he wasnt with me on that night would have been a full time job trying to pacify him. Dont know if he got anything or not in way of compensation. Must of been the only seaman that did, apart from those dead. JS

[robpage]

The driver I spoke to was many years ago , whilst going home from the Weymouth - Cherbourg ferry . the incoming train was an hour late , some ex Sealink electrician jumped off the Radipole bridge , his body hit the train as it was full speed , leaving a huge stain across the drivers window and the yellow paint at the front . The driver drove the short distance from Radipole to Weymouth and was waiting for a relief driver to be sent by car to relieve him , I was stood near the Station Master as the driver got out ,When asked how he was , the driver explained he had been on the Portsmouth Eastleigh route , past a local Mental hospital , and had transferred after his second suicide over the fence there . He was actually trembling all over , like the proverbial leaf . he was a certain trauma case , but in the days before compensation and counselling he went to the pub had a few brandies and went home .

Now he would have counselling , a solicitor , a compensation claim , three weeks off , and a packet of chocolate digestives . I don't know which way is the right way , the brandy or the polish , But hen I did a fire course , I was mildly surprised by the black humour the fire brigade had , but that is how they , and motorway cops keep sane .

I have few concerns with why someone would feel they needed to end their life in such a dramatic way , affecting the lives and well being of others , but as the balance of their troubled mind is disturbed , When in Greece a couple of years ago , a young man had been laughed off " Greece's Got Talent " ( yes they have it there too ) . took a shotgun , placed it under his jaw , pressed the trigger . the recoil bounced the gun , he sectioned his jaw , blew his nose , and took a cheek off but lived . Why , he stood on the block of public amusement and amused the masses , Suicide , seems to be a sorry end to me , the rates are stable though , with the highest incidents among people in their 40s . That is 6000 people a year , over twenty a day succeed , and how many try it and don't .

Sad World , but there is always a lawyer that will help you through the trauma

[Keith Tindell]

fully agree with you Rob, apparently now some Fire Brigades have trauma councellors to deal with the worst that they encounter, in my day you got back to the station after the really bad ones, sat round the messroom table with a cup of tea, initially there would be several minutes of silence as everyone had their own thoughts, and then the black humour would kick in. It give s a certain ammount of relief, as after the incident we always ask yourself if you could have done something different that would have helped. I think the ones that need medals are the divers, such as had to go into the wreck of the Costa Concordia and search for bodies weeks afterwards, KT

[Jacyn Wade]

When I was a taxi driver several years back, we had a part-time dispatcher whose full-time job was a Captain at the fire department. He would casually tell me about when they had to recover bodies (or body parts to be more precise) after someone leapt in front of a subway (underground) train. Most who attempt this miss their mark - they either jump too soon and end up relatively unscathed under the train, or they jump too late and bounce off the side of the train, again, relatively unscathed - but for the few that succeed, it must be very hard on the driver. Black humour is most definitely a coping mechanism, at least for the fire fighters, etc.

[Lou Barron]

Could think of better ways to end my life that's to much gin and having a heart failure after a big win a on a horse race (to old for the nice girl sitting on my knee )but it just a thought
So l London as good Taxi Drivers and so does Liverpool


Just testing the Edit function Lou nothing wrong !
This is for the site test only!

[happy daze john in oz]

Here in Melbourne we were getting a large number of suicides with jumpers off the West Gate bridge, a very high bridge with easy access. So the authorities put up railings to stop this. Fine but the number of suicides has not gone down, we get a lot of single car accidents in country areas which the police almost always treat as suicide, those under 35 being in the biggest number.

Many years ago when in my pub in Strood Kent we had a tunnel walker who was a regular. His job to walk the tunnel from Dartford to Rochester looking for faults. On one such inspection he saw a hat on the lines. On picking it up he found a head inside it, the head of a guy he knew. Beside the body not far away an empty Vodka bottle. A very sad and dramatic way to end life,

[Louis the Amigo]

Hi shipmates, Knew a policeman down the old police club {Blue lamp} who was nick named P.C. Death, every time he was on duty dead bodies would show up all types? as he was the person to find them. he spent a lot of time in the courts or at inquest . Part of the job ? he like a pint or two a was a happy sort, not in work...

[Captain Kong]

When I retired from Seafaring I helped Anne in her Flower shop.
We did a lot of Funerals, being next door to the Funeral Parlor, I sometimes helped in there as well if they had a very heavy one to lift, they would call on me.
We had lots of Suicides, mostly young men, who had jumped off multi story Car Parks, Hanging them selves from the stair bannisters, hanging in their garages,that was a slow choking death. one cut his throat and drug overdoses,
We had to deal with the relatives, mothers, fathers siblings and so on. weeping in the shop. we had a special room for their privacy. so sad. that these Selfish people do not think of the trauma they give to their family and friends, I had No Sympathy for the Suicide, only for the ones left behind.
.
Brian.

[Des Taff Jenkins]

Hi John.
Black humor!! He might have been doffing his cap to the driver.
Glad to hear that most suicides are in middle age should leave me out at 82.
Cheers Des