by Len Causton (Inspector BTP Ret.)
Euston was a totally different working environment, a much larger station, more passengers and a lot more Police work, plus a big rise in the number of homeless who tried to call the station home. We had two sergeants on a shift, one in the control room or doing their paperwork, mainly court files, coroner’s papers or general reports. The outside sergeant was on the station with the troops or mobile around the area we covered, sometimes well up into Hertfordshire. One of our big duty days was Saturday, fans from a number of football clubs travelling to the midlands and beyond. The early and night shifts worked 12 hours, the late shift and rest day officers worked on the trains, it was at the height of the football violence period. Up to 500 on a special train and 6 officers, it was a hairy and frightening experience at times. We tried to keep the same officers as far as possible with the same supporter’s groups so we got to know the ring leaders and where possible we prevented them from travelling. One new Chief Inspector tried to re-organise Saturdays so that all the Euston officers worked their 8 hour shifts and any who volunteered for working a rest day did so on the station, the trains being covered by officers from elsewhere often getting a 12 hour rest day working, thereby cutting his overtime bill. He only tried it once, all the rest day men refused to work the Saturday, there were not sufficient officers to work the station effectively so his idea collapsed at the first attempt, needles to say he didn’t try it again.
One Football Special I remember was with fans from one of the big London teams to Coventry for an evening game. It was manned by myself and five officers. The train stock arrived, one coach short and one without lights which we couldn’t get rectified before we left Euston with 450 plus on board, so some had to stand or sit in the corridors. On arrival at Coventry I contacted the Rail Control and asked for an extra coach and the lights to be sorted before the return journey. After the match all the returning fans, including those who had travelled on service trains, arrived on mass and went to the London bound platform. The special stock eventually arrived in the platform still short of a coach and one without lights. Despite being announced for the use of special ticket holders only, it was the first train due to depart for London. All the returning supporters were already on the platform so on they all got. It was all of compartment stock, every seat, floor space, luggage rack and the guard’s brake were filled to capacity. We spaced ourselves out through the train and off we set. The ticket collectors forced their way through the train and collected just short of 1000 tickets. As we pulled into Euston a shower of lightbulbs went out of the windows, nothing we could do about it. As BR bought the lightbulbs in bulk the actual loss cost wise was minimal, but next day the Chief Superintendent put a note in the occurrence book to say he was not happy that damage had occurred on the train. As things were in those days what did he expect, I don’t think he had ever worked on one himself. We had a lot of “ Lively” football specials over the next few years when the football troubles were at their worst!
I did get an arrest mentioned in a London Evening paper one evening, although it did not mention me by name. We had had a spate of 999 hoax or dubious calls from public call phones on the stations, so the control room was fitted with a link to all the stations public phones. As soon as 999 was dialled it flashed up on a screen and indicated which phone was used. It lit up one afternoon and I ran out to it and took the receiver from a male person, previously known to us, who had a limp. I spoke to the operator and confirmed with her that he had asked for an ambulance to take him to hospital. On speaking to him it turned out he was after being taken to hospital so he could hopefully get a bed for the night. He was prosecuted for making a malicious 999 call. In court he pleaded guilty and was given a small fine or a day in custody and a stern warning that he may go to prison if he did it again. The paper, under a regular small feature ‘Today in Court’ which was usually a humorous piece, stated that “Jim entered the court limping, and pleaded guilty to making a malicious 999 call, the officer stated Jim had wanted to go to hospital to get a bed for the night. Jim left the court still looking in need of an ambulance”.
I was at Euston during the height of the IRA bombings in London, and we actually had one in the waiting room on the station one evening, I was not on duty but two colleagues were slightly injured as they tried to clear the area. The Balcombe Street siege was a different matter, I was sent to Marylebone station on 12 hour night shifts with 4 officers, as the flat the two IRA men were holed up in overlooked the railway lines. We had responsibility for that area, as well as the BRB Headquarters which the Metropolitan Police Commanders used as their base, and all the press conferences were held there. The night Commander was a real cockney and wore an old Colombo style rain coat and regularly visited us on his rounds of the area. On one occasion he asked if we had all got a meal for our break, adding that if anyone wanted a hot meal to see the Inspector at the BRB Headquarters. He said “He’s a Graduate on the Rapid Promotion Scheme and he will add your name to the list on his clip board. I’ve given him a job that befits his ability”. I don’t think the Inspector impressed him much!!
An opportunity arose in 1976 for a sergeant at Euston to do a swop with a sergeant from Force Headquarters at Park Royal. I offered to swop and was soon working in the Information Room, monitoring the radio transmissions between officers at the London stations and the mobile units as well. It was the duty of a mobile unit on nights to visit the various London stations and collect the mail for the headquarters, deliver it and collect the return mail. On arrival they would try to contact us on the radio, without success most of the time, although the radio aerial was on the roof above us. They would draw our attention by throwing something up at the window and we would go down to let them in. At that time man was going to the moon, so the comment was made to one of the Chiefs that man could communicate with a man on the moon but they couldn’t raise us from outside the building. The problem was soon sorted.
One of our duties as a sergeant in the Information Room was to arrange the cover for the Royal Train. This usually fell to a Sergeant and PC on whose rest day the journey started. The sergeant would get the details and timings from BRB headquarters, advise the Police Forces the train was to travel through and then man the communications on it, usually anything from one to four days away. One of my first trips on it was to Scotland where the Queen Mother was to re-name a submarine after it’s re-fit. We dropped the Queen Mother off in Dunfermline, then travelled on to our stabling point inside Rosyth dockyard where we spent the afternoon, along with an armed escort who was patrolling the dock area. Running short of milk, we contacted the escort and asked where we could get some. He escorted us along the dockside to the NAFFI, which was closed and the milk machine outside out of order, so he sent a message to the gatehouse, from where milk was duly obtained from the Indian corner shop just down the road. On the way back to the train the escort pointed to an old wooden minesweeper alongside one dock and said “That’s the wooden tub they gave Prince Charles to Command. They gave him that so if he sunk it, it wouldn’t matter “.
That evening there was a dinner party on board for local dignitaries and Naval and Army Officers, the train being stabled on an embankment above Inverkeithing. It was tipping it down and a gale was blowing rocking the old wooden coaches. The local BTP Officers made good use of a nearby hostelry for refreshments and drying out, as it had a good fire going. After dropping the guests off the catering crew passed through to us and BR staff the same meal the guest had had, including a full Scottish salmon.
On another trip using the new coaches we had a visit to our onboard Control Room from the Duke of Edinburgh who wanted to know what our role was and why it still needed 4 coaches on the new train. The train foreman was not around, so we did our best to explain, that he had his own Coach with lounge and bedroom and bathroom, one for his personal staff, Police Officer and catering staff, one for the train staff and ourselves, and if he wanted hot water and electricity a dynamo car at the back to provide it. He left after thanking us for the explanation. On another trip I was contacted by the train foreman, the Queen had enquired of him why the train was travelling faster than normal. We contacted the driver who informed us that he had received a message before departing from up north, asking if he could get to London Euston before 9pm, well ahead of the schedule, so that was what he was attempting to do. The message had originated from the Duke of Edinburgh who wanted to try to attend a function for a group, for which he was patron, before it finished. We did arrive by 9pm, where two cars were awaiting the Royal party. In my time at the Headquarters I visited a good deal of the country, including some Silver Jubilee year trips, and a Prime Ministers Conference Special from Aberdeen to London with a then new High Speed Train, on which we drilled a hole in the front cowling to screw an aerial onto, much to BRs dismay.
I passed the Inspector’s exam and the Board first time, applied for two vacancies and was promoted to District Inspector for the Leicester District, an area covering Leicestershire and Northamptonshire where there were 30 plus officers based. Sometimes I also covered the Derby, Nottingham, Coventry and Peterborough Districts as well. The Districts were part of the Midland Area of the Force and the Area Headquarters were in Birmingham.
Being in charge was another learning curve, learning to deal with your own staff and not just the general public, liaison with the local Police Forces and Railway Management. It was a tough first 6 months, learning the Area Commander’s ways, expectations and foibles. When I went to see him for my first appraisal, he and his wife took me out to lunch, I had made the grade so to speak.
Leicester like most districts had its usual theft, damage and assault cases to deal with, but also a lot of minor offences like trespass and people jumping the red lights at level crossings. The Magistrates at Oakham asked for a meeting following a case of a person driving a car over the crossing there on the red lights who claimed he could not see the lights in the direction from which he travelled. The meeting was also attended by the, a Leicestershire Police traffic officer, a representative of the Highways Department and British Rail. They checked all the signs and the lights, all were as specified in the Ministry of Transport Crossing Order, all were clearly visible. They then watched a couple of operations of the lights and noted that as soon as the amber lights came on, cars were heard to accelerate and pass over the crossing even when the amber lights had changed to red and the barriers had started to descend. One of our officers had noted all the offending car numbers and subsequently the drivers were all prosecuted. The Magistrate present asked for the cases to be put into the court on a day he was there. We had no more complaints about that or any other crossing in the district.
End of Part 2
See Part 1 Part 3
Also see: Memories of the Royal Train