by Len Causton (Inspector BTP Ret.)
I was born in Redruth, Cornwall in the winter of 1945, my parents were both in the Middlesex Fire Service at the time in Wembley, but my mother had gone to stay with her sister in Newquay until I was born. I grew up and went to school in Wembley leaving when I was 16 in 1961.
My first job was as an animal technician with the Chester Beatty Institute, part of the Royal Marsden Hospital in South Kensington for a princely wage of £4 10 shillings a week breeding and looking after mice, rats and hamsters used in the laboratories. I hadn’t been there many months when a new lad joined us doing a similar job to mine, one Ken Livingston, later to become Mayor of London. He was known to us as “Froggy” as he kept a number of frogs, lizards and snakes at home and occasionally at work! In 1964 I went to work for the National Cash Register Company, firstly as a Clerk in their Warehouse at Neasden, then as a Stock Auditor at the Head Office in Marylebone. It paid a little more, but was quite a run of the mill position.
By this time, I had met Janetta through the youth club at St. Andrew’s Presbyterian Church, Wembley which both our families attended. Janetta’s mother reckoned we needed at least £20 a week to live on before we got married, so the search was on for another job. I had always been interested in trains and railways, so it just happened that at this very time an advertisement appeared for anyone interested in becoming a British Transport Police Officer. I applied, had an interview and was accepted, it had a starting salary at a reasonable level plus free and privilege travel into the bargain. I was given a list of where there were vacancies to chose from, and decided on Paddington, where I started on 5th June 1967. The next day I was sworn in as a Constable before the Marylebone Court Stipend Magistrate, someone I would become familiar with over the next few years as we prosecuted and dealt with most of our own cases personally.
My 12 weeks initial course was at Tadworth in Surrey. I passed the course and returned to Paddington where I joined one of the 4 shifts that operated around the clock. I was teamed up with PC Ted Close who would be my mentor, I learned a lot from him, especially about dealing with people and situations. Yes, I had a truncheon, but in those days no radio to call for back up, so you had to think on your feet in a difficult situation and deal with it the best you could. Janetta and I married at St. Andrews Church on 17th February 1968, and travelled on honeymoon to Laycock via Chippenham on a Free Ticket.
Paddington had its fair share of characters from habitual drunks, drug takers and some regular members of the public who passed through. One such character was “Fanny Liechtenstein”, who was I think of German or Austrian Jewish background. She had had some mental problems and her family didn’t want her, so bought her a block of flats in London the rents from which she lived on, so quite a well to do lady. She looked like a down and out with her carrier bags, but turned up every night of the week and bought a first class return ticket to either Bristol or Cardiff, travelled there and back so she would not be alone in her flat overnight. At this time two officers travelled on the Travelling Post Office as far as Taunton, where they were relieved by two Plymouth officers, and travelled on the overnight train back to Paddington. Fanny often joined this train at Bristol on her way back to London. She would seek us out in our compartment, blinds down and lights out, and loudly announce in a loud voice to everyone else on the train “Here they are B……d Police having free rides again and sleeping on the job”. She could swear like a trooper but was not any real problem, a clear case of don’t let what a person looks like deceive you.
We had four Officers on a shift at that time and when you were on nights every other month two of you covered the communications and security on the Travelling Post Office, initially as far as Taunton and back Monday to Thursday when it carried high value mail, sometimes in the millions of pounds. Later this was altered to our travelling right through to Penzance and returning the next night, twice in a week. It left Paddington at about 9.30pm and arrived in Penzance at 7.00 am. We had Bed and Breakfast in a Postman’s house, where we retired to bed after a full English breakfast, getting up again about 1pm and going into town for lunch. We soon found a good restaurant which we used on a regular basis, got to be known by the staff but because of what we did we told them we were commercial travellers. Ted and I were on duty at Paddington one evening about 10pm just before Christmas when a couple of ladies approached us one saying “It is them the little liars, I thought it was the moment I spotted them”. Two of the waitresses from the restaurant who had been on a Christmas Shopping Special from Penzance. Be sure your sins will find you out!
I passed my Sergeants exam at the first sitting, but failed the Promotion Board as I had not performed any Acting Sergeant duties. My then Superintendent was known to the men as “Grandad”, as he had a habit of putting a hand on your shoulder and saying “All right son”. He asked me what had been said at the Board, so I told him why I had not passed. He asked if I would be prepared to go to another station as Acting Sergeant if he could arrange it. I said yes, and the following week I was at Dover Marine covering for a Sergeant who had health problems. A whole new ball game, Ferries, Customs and Immigration to deal with. I was put up in the seaman’s hostel in the town, basic but clean. I worked mainly day shifts, so this enabled me to get most of my meals at work either in a canteen or on a boat, more later.
On one early shift a PC was showing me what they did when a Ferry unloaded its passengers. We had to ensure they all passed through the doors into the Immigration Hall for checking and not wander off along the dockside. Then we had to walk through the passenger areas of the boat to ensure it was empty. As we passed through the bar the PC stopped, called to me and said “These are for us”, two drinks on the corner of the bar! One of our duties was to take custody of those Refused Entry by Immigration and hold them in our cells on the station overnight, we also had to feed them, so I used to escort them onto a BR ferry each evening for their evening meal before they were locked up for the night, so I had my meal with them, quite a good arrangement for me at the time. In the morning they went back to the Immigration Hall.
As there were occasions when I might need to escort someone back to France or Belgium, I had to have a passport. Having been recalled to Paddington after 3 weeks to cover for a Sergeant there and not having used the passport the Officers at Dover arranged for me to travel over to Dunkerque on the French Train Ferry overnight and back, something they did off duty on a regular basis having a good relationship with the Purser and Officers on board. I must say their hospitality was first class, and I left the ferry on my return with presents of bottles of tester Perfume and Cologne for Janetta as well as a sore head.
One night having taken up the Acting Sergeant post at Paddington we received a call from a Plymouth Officer to say the BRB Chairman and his wife we travelling back from Penzance on the overnight sleeper and that on boarding the train the Sleeping Car Attendant had been found intoxicated so he had been sacked on the spot and told to return to Paddington in the seating area of the train. Could we meet it in to ensure that the Chairman wasn’t accosted by the staff member. I met him on arrival and assured him the member of staff had departed already. As his wife had not yet de-trained we chatted for about 10 minutes, then he and his wife departed in his official car. A few months later we had a member of a foreign Royal family arriving, so all the brass were out lined up ready for the official welcome. The BRB Chairman arrived in his car, promptly walked past all the brass straight up to me 20 yards away shook my hand and passed a few minutes in general conversation. The look on the Chief Constables and Superintendents faces was classic, you could see them thinking, “How does Len know the Chairman”!
Another event springs to mind from my time at Paddington, “The Case of the Missing Masonic Clock”.
A dinner was being held in the Great Western Hotel at the front of the station for a retiring Grand Master of one of the Lodges. A large number of Grand Masters from various lodges were present, the chef and his staff were all masons as were the band. The retiring Grand Master was duly presented with a large modern wall clock. It was put on show in the middle of the room for all to see, there was only one door in and out manned by Masonic members, so it was like Fort Knox. We got called about midnight, the clock had disappeared, it had been stolen. We made a number of enquiries, even searched the catering team and the band’s van, all enquiries were negative. The following afternoon when I arrived at the office someone said “You’re popular, there are all these phone calls for you enquiring about the clock”. They were from Police Chiefs, Barristers and the like. I phoned them all back and said that we had found nothing. They all agreed that it would have been impossible for an outsider to gain access to the event and it was embarrassing that it had occurred under the noses of Senior Police Officers and Lawyers. A lot of fuss made and the clock turned out to be not quite as expensive as it looked anyway, we never did find it.
At the next Promotion Board, a year later, I walked in with stripes on my sleeves, a very short interview and I had passed. I was duly appointed Sergeant at St Pancras a few weeks later. My only real memory of working there before transferring to Euston was our regular morning chats with Barbara Castle the then Minister of Transport who would call in for a coffee on her way to Parliament.
End of Part 1
See Part 2
Also see: Memories of the Royal Train