June 9th - Left high and dry aboard LNER's Aberdeen service

Simon Calder's Independent Travel Podcast

The Independent

Places & Travel, Leisure, Society & Culture

3.6 • 628 Ratings

🗓️ 9 June 2023

⏱️ 6 minutes

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Summary

I’m on the 9.52am train from Aberdeen to London King's Cross – the only one in the LNER timetable on which alcohol is banned, and then only as far south as Newcastle. “We expect a number of large groups to be travelling on this train,” says the train operator. “So to help make it a pleasant experience for everyone, we'll be operating an alcohol-free policy for part of the journey.” But drinking is banned on every ScotRail train, and at every Scottish station. In Northern Ireland, the legality of alcohol depends on what sort of train you are on. And on all public transport in London, drinking has been illegal for 15 years.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	Hello and welcome to today's independent travel podcast with me Simon Calder and I'm on the
0:08.7	952 from Aberdeen to London Kings Cross which is an unusual train it is the only train on the
0:20.3	East Coast mainline run by LNER, where alcohol is banned.
0:27.6	Yes, it is, and it is banned between Aberdeen and Newcastle.
0:33.5	Fortunately, for people who like a drink, well, it's now just left Newcastle at one minute past two, and that means that the drinks can be brought out again.
0:46.4	The reason appears to be, well this is quoting LN-E-R, we expect a large number of large groups to be travelling on this train, so to help it make it a pleasant experience for everyone, we'll be operating an alcohol-free policy for part of the journey. And so, yes, you can't bring alcohol on to the train between Aberdeen and Newcastle or buy any on board
1:15.6	and they are not going to give you alcoholic drinks in first class as they do generally
1:24.6	and they possibly might even do from now onwards.
1:28.3	It's a reflection of the fact of, well, unfortunately, anti-social behaviour.
1:35.3	And while it's the only LNER train to do this, it does apply all the way from Aberdeen down through eastern Scotland and Edinburgh to Newcastle
1:49.0	and it kind of coincides with a ban which came into effect in 2020 at the height of the
1:57.6	COVID pandemic on ScotRail.
2:01.8	And they said that this was November, the 18th, 2020.
2:08.6	From then, alcohol will not be allowed in our stations and on our trains.
2:13.5	And people showing signs of intoxication will not be permitted to travel.
2:18.6	The reasons were very, very much COVID-focused, and Scott Rale said at the time,
2:24.6	over the past few months we found that people who are extremely drunk or acting in a disorderly
2:30.4	manner show complete disregard towards COVID-19 precautions precautions such as wearing a mask or keeping a physical distance from others.
2:41.2	You might have thought that the alcohol ban would be relaxed, but it hasn't done and Scottrail insists our alcohol ban is in place 24 hours a day and means no alcohol
2:54.5	can be drunk at any station in Scotland. So that's an interesting point for instance the people
3:02.1	who may be at Edinburgh Waverly or Glasgow Central want to have a drink before their train.
3:07.0	You won't do that except at a pub outside the station. Alcohol cannot be drunk on board any Scott Rail
	...

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