For crying out loud, throw water at it.
Genuine question: why don’t they just start the train? Best case, the cat jumps off. Worst case, it dies but the train continues. Is there something else? Is the presence of the cat on the roof a safety issue?
Edit: I’m asking from the train operator’s perspective. Obviously we want the cat to be safe and well, but a train company with a timetable doesn’t care about that, so I wondered what’s actually stopping them from just starting the train and potentially killing the cat.
Yeah because them killing the cat is going to play sooo well for their reputation.
I just really don’t think that they would care. It’s easier to spin it as, “We didn’t know the cat was there, what a tragedy” than to appease all the passengers who are now late and frustrated.
Why do you hate train drivers so much!?
A small delay for a single train, on a network of thousands, is not enough for the “evil train company” employees, that you seem to think that they all for some reason.
The world isn’t quite as black and white as you seem to believe it is!
Even if killing cats for any reason, either deliberately or accidentally, is legal in the UK there are still two potential problems with starting the train: Terrible PR when the story gets out and opening your company up to potential civil litigation from the cat’s human as well as anyone else traumatised actually witnessing or contractually obliged to participate in (e.g. Driver) said death of cat. In summary, your brand takes a hit and you may lose money. As an added bonus a late train is less newsworthy in the UK than a funny cat so by delaying the train you might even generate good PR at no cost.
Those are all fair points. Still unfortunate that it’s still down to money even in your explanation, but it makes sense.
This could lead to traumatized customers and a bad image as heartless company.
(or be a total win if the cat stays on top and became the new mascot; but guess they don’t want to take the risk)
So you think it’s acceptable to kill an animal so people aren’t late?
Should the cat know better? I’m not sure cats comprehend timetables.
No, I don’t think it’s acceptable. But my question wasn’t about me, nor about ethics. There’s no way a train operator with a timetable cares about animal well-being or any other question of ethics. I’m curious what the real reason is.
My assumption is our laws don’t allow endangering animals, so perhaps they don’t care from a moral standpoint but they will care about repercussions from the law and also the optics of it.
Also, if you’ve never been on Uk trains, we don’t need a reason for them being late. They’re oft late.
Why on earth would a train operator care about timetables over basic ethics? They are human beings, not robots, you know?
The controller and driver both get paid either way, and I’m sure the train driver is used getting home late on occasion - and I expect they get overtime pay, so he may well be laughing anyway.
And the controller, or whatever they’re called, will just be seeing it as a PR issue. The slight lost money on the refunds (that passengers actually bother to put through) is easily worth the good PR.
Edit: Missed random words, impatient brain running too fast for fingers.
As Denmark’s queen abdicated and Frederik X became (hopefully our last) king, I was forwarding this in the family group chat with the comment “more important things are also happening in the world right now”
I did this as a bus driver. Homeless people would fall asleep and not wake up. We weren’t allowed to touch them. So I would go outside the bus and smack the window. 99% of the time the jumped up.
If you’re talking about the end of the day and you need everyone off the bus, ignore this post.
However, if you’re talking about regular day operation and you’re trying to remove someone from the bus who is doing no harm, then you’re an asshole. They have it hard enough already, leave them alone.
So the driver should just go to the depot, lock the bus up at night with the person fast asleep inside? At some point, paying passengers have to leave the bus.
You don’t understand how bus driving works. The end of the run doesn’t mean you stay and do the same thing all day long. You routinely need to deadhead to another spot and it may be the only time that they have to eat or use the restroom. And then it gets eaten up by someone sleeping and not reacting to the calls on the intercom or anything else.
Imagine having to call your boss and tell them you’re late for work because of some random cat.
