UK RAILWAY MAY BAN CELLPHONES
Railways Africa
Friday, 05 December 2008
Chiltern Railways, one of the companies operating passenger trains in the UK, including the route from London to Birmingham, is considering blocking mobile phone signals in its “designated quiet zonesâ€. It plans to instal special covers on coach windows which would intercept phone signals. "It is a kind of see-through rubber coating which stops signals getting through,†spokesman Michael Scanlon explained to the BBC. "We are watching to see how effective it is and how popular it is with the passengers."
UK railway may block cellphones
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John Ashworth
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Steve Appleton
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Re: UK railway may block cellphones
I am surprised that this is legal. Most developed countries do not permit the deliberate interception or blocking of public telecommunications signals (or mail) except under very special circumstances. I would doubt that a "quiet" railway carriage would be accepted as such a circumstance. This action could prevent a person from receiving an incoming emergency call and possibly lay the railway operators open to prosecution or damages if it could be proved that they deliberately prevented the reception of such a call.
At one time cinemas, theatres and even university examination facilities considered generating a blocking signal to prevent annoying cellphone use therein but were told in no uncertain terms that they could be prosecuted if they did so.
At one time cinemas, theatres and even university examination facilities considered generating a blocking signal to prevent annoying cellphone use therein but were told in no uncertain terms that they could be prosecuted if they did so.
"To train or not to train, that is the question"
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Kevin Wilson-Smith
Re: UK railway may block cellphones
I think you can block in the UK.
Somewhere touristy I went (a cathedral or someplace similar - cannot really remember) had a sign saying cellphone reception was blocked.....
Somewhere touristy I went (a cathedral or someplace similar - cannot really remember) had a sign saying cellphone reception was blocked.....
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John Ashworth
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Re: UK railway may block cellphones
Interesting, Steve. If that is the legal situation, then I echo someone much more famous than me who said that the law is an ass.
Surely if one buys a ticket and enters a train one is accepting all the bye-laws and regulations that go with it? And if one enters a clearly-marked "quiet carriage" one is accepting voluntarily that one's phone should be off? Can I sue an airline that tells me to keep my mobile phone switched off during the duration of the flight? Surely there is a difference between blocking cell phones in public places (ie in the street, for example), and blocking them on private property (a train, or aeroplane, which belongs to a private company, not a parastatal)? Is that law not designed to prevent the malicious blocking of communications rather than a catch-all to prevent any blocking where there are good reasons to do so?
Personally I hate cell phones, while admitting that they are useful, but even more I deplore the fact that there appears to be no established etiquette as to how, when and where to use (and not use) them.
A cynical friend of mine in UK pointed out that in the old days when there were no cellphones you didn't see hundreds of people get off the commuter train in the evening and flock to the line of pay phones at the end of the platform in order to put in their coin and say, "Yes dear, I'm at the station. Yes dear, the train was on time. Yes dear, I'll be home at the normal time", whereas nowadays as you walk through the throng all you hear is that conversation being repeated ad nauseam.
Or the old joke, why are there signs at petrol stations telling you not to use cell phones? Because the petrol pump attendants are sick of hearing people saying, "I'm at the petrol station".
Surely if one buys a ticket and enters a train one is accepting all the bye-laws and regulations that go with it? And if one enters a clearly-marked "quiet carriage" one is accepting voluntarily that one's phone should be off? Can I sue an airline that tells me to keep my mobile phone switched off during the duration of the flight? Surely there is a difference between blocking cell phones in public places (ie in the street, for example), and blocking them on private property (a train, or aeroplane, which belongs to a private company, not a parastatal)? Is that law not designed to prevent the malicious blocking of communications rather than a catch-all to prevent any blocking where there are good reasons to do so?
Personally I hate cell phones, while admitting that they are useful, but even more I deplore the fact that there appears to be no established etiquette as to how, when and where to use (and not use) them.
A cynical friend of mine in UK pointed out that in the old days when there were no cellphones you didn't see hundreds of people get off the commuter train in the evening and flock to the line of pay phones at the end of the platform in order to put in their coin and say, "Yes dear, I'm at the station. Yes dear, the train was on time. Yes dear, I'll be home at the normal time", whereas nowadays as you walk through the throng all you hear is that conversation being repeated ad nauseam.
Or the old joke, why are there signs at petrol stations telling you not to use cell phones? Because the petrol pump attendants are sick of hearing people saying, "I'm at the petrol station".
