This is a Glossary of terms used within BTP and the railway over the years. It is not definitive and if you have any additions, corrections, or find any errors, please use the Contact Form to let us know.
Thanks to Tony Bennett for compiling this list from the large number of contributions submitted by members.
Such was the number of contributions that we have produced two more tables – Railway Terms and Graffiti Terms.
Please Note – These terms are a reflection of police history and culture spanning decades and not necessarily a reflection of today’s terminology.
TERM | MEANING |
---|---|
35 IS REQUIRED AT PLATFORM 2 | A tannoy anouncement for police required. Each department on the station had its own number. Preston term. |
5.3.A | A call to a ticket fraud job. |
609's | Metropolitan Police previous convictions form - mainly used by London BTP officers. BTP versions (created with a plain paper copier and a bit of headed notepaper) carried the same reference number. Later the official BTP form had a BR number. |
A SECTION 5 | A football disorder arrest. |
A82 | Call sign of the central London vehicle that carried special equipment to deal with unattended items. Staffed by officers from the three London Areas (as they were at the time). Later absorbed into a larger FHQ department. |
ACROSS THE PAVEMENT | Armed robbery - firearms enabled. |
ADVICE GIVEN | A phrase seen in Summary Offences Books - a wonderfully vague term.?? |
ANGLESEY DEPORTATION | If the local Magistrates didn’t like a defendant after being dealt with, BTP officers would be ordered to put them back on the ship to Ireland. Docks term. |
AREA SEARCHED NO TRACE | Lineside/scene searched - no sign of offenders. |
AUTO/AUTO PHONE | Internal London Transport telephone network. These phones were labelled 999 London Transport Police for at least 30 years after the force became part of BTP. |
BACK DOOR 30 SECONDS | An imminent arrest is due at the custody entrance any time soon. London Euston term. |
BADGER TRAFFIC | A silver bullion coming up from Southampton. Waterloo term from the 1960's. |
BANANA BOAT | The Fyffes ship. A Southampton Docks term. |
BE THERE PRESENTLY | A term used by BTP officers to indicate they will arrive at a location as soon as they were able - really a self mocking phrase. |
BOAT PEOPLE | A nickname for officers displaced from the docks. |
BofE ESCORTS | This involved escorting trucks from the city to Freightliner depots where cash was transferred in containers. |
BONGO | Booked on Never Goes Out - often whispered of Sergeants. |
BRENDA | The call sign of bullion trains (giving rise to the notorious radio transaction, BX BX this is Brenda…). |
BULLET TAGUS | Short for containers of cash, believed to have been taken from railway telegraphic code. |
BUSTLE PUNCHER | Someone indecently assaulting a female, usually on an escalator but also a crowded tube train. 1970's term. |
BX | Call sign of the FHQ control room. |
BX REQUEST TALK THROUGH | BX from (call sign) request talk through with mobiles/PRs. (BX had the ability to transfer personal radio messages to other callsigns). |
BYE-LAW 17 | A Railway Bye-law which covered everything from a riot through to wilfully interfering with the comfort or convenience of passengers. Now replaced by Railway Bye-law No 6 which is composed in less forthright terms. |
CFW CALL | Radio call when there was a concern for the welfare of an officer or member of the public. Officers working on their own were subject to ‘welfare calls’ often made by telephone, especially for district posts. |
CIVIL POLICE | Local police forces, more used by the industry than by BTP. Implies that BTP were either military or lacked civility. |
CLAUSE FORM | Internal correspondence between police stations requesting that investigations be made locally, etc. |
COUNCIL POLICE | Home Office Police Forces. |
D FOR P | The practice of offering a discount on goods purchased by police officers. Sometimes a formal and declared arrangement and otherwise a form of corruption. |
DIP | A pickpocket, especially on the London Underground. |
DIP SQUAD | A squad of officers dedicated to the detection of DIPS, i.e. the detection of offences of ‘theft from person’. There has been such a squad since before the formation of the LTP, probably extending to the period before the Great War. |
DOCK HOUSE | BTDB main Offices. Southampton Docks term. |
DOUBLE BACK | The point in a roster where there would only be a gap of eight hours between finishing one shift and starting another. For example moving from nights to lates on the same day. |
DOUBLE SHUFFLE | A person evading their fare by approaching the automatic ticket barriers close behind the person in front and push through before they close. London Underground term. |
DUCK SHOVE | A job passed on by a less enthusiastic colleague. |
ELEPHANTS GRAVEYARD | A description of FHQ used by the Sunday Times and in popular use for a while in the London area. A reference to the number of retired officers from Home Department Forces who spent their post twilight years as BTP senior officers. |
FINGER OF JUSTICE | When one couldn't physically restrain - finger pointing into a suspects chest. |
FLASH REPORTS | One page reports of parcels missing in transit. In theory each was investigated and crimed. |
FOOTBALL CHARTER | Normally a whole train booked by a group of football supporters. |
FOOTBALL SPECIAL | A BR train to try and keep supporters off normal trains and generally non-stop point to point. |
FOXTROT CHARLIE | Radio call for Fish & Chips, anyone want any? Birmingham term. |
FRAGGLE ROCK | BTP Force Headquarters. |
GO's | General Orders. Published weekly and providing the definitive listing of who had been suspended, sacked, posted and promoted. Eagerly read by all officers and staff. Part 2 orders, under the title: Crime, Operations and Kindred Matters, included details of new legislation etc. Mainly read by officers seeking promotion. |
GREEN MINUTES | From 1920s onwards agreements between the Force (s) and the Federation were known as Green Minutes. Sacred texts. |
GRIPPER | A ticket inspector. |
GURKHA | An officer who shared with that great regiment a reputation for ‘taking no prisoners’. |
GUVNOR OR BOSS | Inspector or above (if you liked them). |
HOOP SEALS | The metal ‘hoop seals’ which were put through the hasps of goods wagons doors, ostensibly to protect valuable cargo contained therin. Some vans even had padlocks so there were duplicate keys held by BR staff at the departure and arrival depots. |
IN THE BIN | A person in custody. |
JDP | An abbreviation for John Dennis Purcell a lovely old Stipendiary Magistrate at Clerkenwell Court. He referred to BTP as “his officers” as many BTP officers were sworn in before him in the 1970’s. |
KNIFE AND FORK SQUAD | The FHQ CID team that specialised in dining car staff, theft and frauds and also on ship restaurants. |
LISBON | Travelling Post Office train (TPO) call sign on the Holyhead/Crewe route. |
LOCKING AND SEALING | The checking of metal ‘hoop seals’ which were put through the hasps of goods wagons doors, ostensibly to protect valuable cargo contained therin. |
MAIL BAG SQUAD | Mail bag squad. |
MARKETING | The practice of seeking out a public house that held a ‘market licence’ allowing it to open early in the morning thus allowing officers to visit at the conclusion of a night shift for the purposes of debriefing operational activities. Smithfield and Borough Markets in London being such locations. |
MICC | Management Information and Communications Centre. FHQ control, although to call it that would have elicited a rebuke. |
MOLES | Officers posted to the London Transport Division. |
MR BROOKE FROM THE BOND IS IN THE OFFICE TO SEE YOU | Tanoy anouncement stating the tea is on in the office. Birmingham term. |
MR LOCKE’S STAFF ARE REQUIRED AT THE TICKET BARRIER | Tannoy anouncement for Police required. Crewe term. |
OB | Occurrence book. Used in other police forces but lasted for a long time in BTP. |
OBB | The other boards book. Used to record time spent by officers whose primary duty was to police one part of the jurisdiction e.g. rail, when policing another part e.g. Sealink. |
OCS | On company's service. Endorsement required on letters sent via BR mail system. |
OLYMPIC TORCH | Often whispered of Sergeants who never went out of the office. |
ON THE CUSHIONS | Probably a railway term but in BTP normally used to describe travelling to a distant location to 'bring back' football fans who had travelled to an away match. |
ONE UNDER | Fatality on the railway, someone run over by a train. |
ONE VAGRANT/DRUNK ERECTED AND EJECTED | Removing a vagrant from the area. |
ONW | Oil on navigable waters. A subject that seemed to come up at Tadworth an awful lot, even after the withdrawal from the docks and of little interest to railway based officers. Docks Term. |
OPERATION SOLFIRE | Term used by the emergency services including the BTP for a Major Incident involving Southampton Docks, Fawley Oil Refinery and Ships en route to Southampton. SOL refers to The Solent. Local term to the Hampshire area. |
PADDY KELLY | Words uttered/shouted out by dockers to warn their hard-working colleagues who were smoking in the dock sheds when they spotted a BTP uniform officer approaching. It was an offence under the dock byelaws to smoke there and led to many fines. Hull Docks term |
PARIS & MADRID | Call signs used on the TPO’s out of Euston in the 1970’s. There were numerous other call signs allocated to the other services across the country. London Euston term |
PAVEMENT ARTIST | Someone who specialised in armed robbery. |
PINS | The BTP force computer system. Ahead of its time. It stood for Police INformation System. |
PLOD | The much envied command and control system used by the LTIR, London Transport Information Room and the LT division. Police Logistics and Operations Database. |
PR&D | Forms used to track property. Property Recovered and Disposal Forms. Several sheets of carbon paper were required and there always seemed to be forms left over. |
PUGGS HOLE | Name given to Ebury Bridge Custody, the name actually given to the adjacent sidings. London term. |
PUT | Person under train. The abbreviation and main phrase reflecting (1920’s onwards) the presence of a suicide pit at many locations. A phrase used mainly by London Transport to describe persons struck by trains. |
PUTTING THE FRIGHTENERS ON | Asserting ones authority. |
QUICK CHANGE AROUND | The point in a roster where there would only be a gap of eight hours between finishing one shift and starting another. For example moving from nights to lates on the same day. |
RAIL | A command and control system. Resource Allocation and Incident Logging. |
RART | L Division Response and Recovery Team. Later merged as per A82. |
RDW | Rest Day Working. Morale boosting feature on a roster. |
RED DEVIL | Arrest report as the template was in red and had to be typed in triplicate. |
RED PERIL | The arrest sheet which had to be filled in especially overnight ones. |
RUMMAGE CREWS | Teams of Customs Officers employed searching ships. Southampton Docks term. |
SARBUT | An Informant. Birmingham CID term from the 1960's. |
SB | Special Branch. In BTP this title was used to describe CID in the early years of the force. Later the description was used in the traditional police sense. |
SELECTS | Mnemonic employed to remember the areas covered by S55 BTC Act 1949 trespass. Sidings, electrical apparatus used for, or in connection with the railway, lines of railway, embankments, cuttings, tunnels and similar works. |
SERVICE TRAIN | Regular scheduled train with football supporters on board. |
SET OF TEETH | A police dog. |
SKIPPER OR SKIP | Police Sergeant. |
SOB | Summary Offences Book. |
SO's | Standing Orders. A mighty book detailing everything from the preferred method of saluting through to the procedure for sickness absence. Scrapped as too big and bulky and replaced with policies, standard operating procedures and guidance all available electronically and around 50 times larger than the original book of Standing Orders. |
SPECIAL MOVEMENT | Movement of special trains, people and materials, including the Royal Train, spent fuel flasks etc. |
STEVIES | Referred to Stevedores. Southampton Docks term. |
STIPE | Abbreviation for Stipendiary Magistrate, now known as District Judge. |
SUIT | CID Officer |
SUPPLEMENTARY | An allowance that in the end became controversial. |
TADDERS | Tadworth BTP training centre |
TAXI TOUTS | Normally mini cab drivers, sometimes black cabs, who tried to pick off punters before they got to the rank. Generally then charged huge sums, especially from foreign tourists. |
TEMPORIES | Stevedores employed on a as-required basis. Southampton docks term. |
THE BOND | The Bonded Store that were goods sheds for wines, spirits, etc. awaiting attention by Customs & Excise. Checking it was always a vital part of a patrolling officers beat because of its vulnerability. |
THE CAPE BOAT | Term for the Union Castle ships to and from South Africa. Southampton Docks term. |
THE CIVIC | The City Civic Centre police station in Southampton. Southampton Docks term. |
THE COLLEGE OF KNOWLEDGE | BTP training school, in particular Tadworth. |
THE DAIRY | FHQ when at Tavistock Place. The former HQ of Express Dairies. |
THE DREAM FACTORY | BTP training school. |
THE FIFTH EMERGENCY SERVICE | Derived from vehicles without blue lights at a time, whilst the AA were advertising themselves as the the fourth emergency service. |
THE HOSPITAL RUN | A code for an officer to pick up a load of freebie newspapers from the paper trains at Euston some of which were then delivered to the hospital staff at nearby University College Hospital. London Euston term from the 1970’s |
THE POOL | Term used for the area opposite 2 Gate where men would stand waiting for a days work. Southampton Docks term. |
THE QUEEN'S OWN BUFFET HIGHLANDERS | Originating in a TV sketch in a different form but employed in Force to describe escorting Scottish Regiments when they travelled home from barracks in England. Defending the buffet being the main function of the escorts. |
THE RAT | The Bell public house in the woods near BTP training centre Tadworth |
THE RATTLER | London Underground train and the policing thereof. A short lived newsletter also carried this title. |
THORNY’S | Referred to staff employed by Thornycroft Ship Builders. Southampton Docks term. |
THREE FAILS | A reference to rail staff power of detention in S5 Regulation Railways Act 1889. |
THURSDAY CLUB | Early shift finish before long weekend and starting nights (usually ending up in a local P/H from 1500hrs). |
TI | A call to a ticket job. |
TMB | Telephone Message book. Used in other forces but lasted for a long time in BTP. |
TOM | A common prostitute, soliciting or loitering for the purposes of prostitution in public areas of railway land or docks. The origin of the phrase is unclear, this is probably a good thing. The working girls at King’s Cross were always willing to write out their own charge sheets to speed the detention process but they would never include the word ‘common’ as originally required by s1 Street Offences Act 1959. The Act has now been updated (in 2009) and the word and the accompanying gender discrimination has, thankfully, been removed. |
TPO | Travelling Post Office train introduced after the great train robbery in 1964. Police by BTP officers across the length & breadth of England, Scotland and Wales. BTP ceased policing them in 1973 but Royal Mail continued running them until the last ran in January 2004 when the Post Office switched its transportation of mail to the roads. |
TWA | Transport and Works Act 1992. Only one chapter in one part of this Act is of direct concern to BTP and it relates to offences arising from the consumption of drink or drugs by certain railway staff. Most BTP officers know of the generality of the provision but the detail requires the hasty consultation of textbooks. A set of offences that provoke awe and wonder on arrival at Home Department police stations. |
TWOC | Taking a vehicle without owners consent |
UPSIDE AND DOWNSIDE | UPSIDE and DOWNSIDE were the London Platforms at Southampton Central Railway Station. Southampton Docks term. |
VAN DRAGGING | Following BR parcel delivery drivers for either jump up thieves or drivers involved in stealing parcels. |
VOMIT COMET | A term used to express the horrors of travelling on the last train from Liverpool Street to the Essex hinterland on a Friday night. Probably in use at other locations. |
WARSAW | Travelling Post Office train (TPO) call sign on the Holyhead/Crewe route. |
WAS IT YOU LETTER | A letter sent out to suspects reported by railway staff for minor offences seeking confirmation of identity. A denial normally meant no further action. |
WOMBLES | Used to describe Lundon Underground officers as they were ‘underground overground….’, the beginning of The Wombles song. 1970's Term. |
WP | With permission - An entry seen in duty books to excuse an early departure of an officer. |
WTRQ | Wilful trespass and refuse to quit -S16 Railway Regulation Act 1840. |