Transporting firearms by train in UK?

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varmint223 said:
Short answer is ....NO , your not allowed firearms on trains, however i will speak to HR dept asap to clarify if anything has changed
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I see in your profile you put "Manager-Railway" as your occupation. So, I'll definitely be looking out for your feedback on this now.
 
Perhaps you should have directed this at our mutual Irish friend who does this regularly (Euston - Inverness).

Apparently there is a form ...............
 
kuwinda said:
Perhaps you should have directed this at our mutual Irish friend who does this regularly (Euston - Inverness).

Apparently there is a form ...............
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:D Who would learn anything if I was that boring?

Actually, just now I'm really just irked at Scotrail for making the correct, relevant information so difficult to get at that you you could easily imagiine they don't allow it at all.
 
it's up to the operator if he has a policy on the carriage of weapons on his vehicles, but i have never been questioned having been around the country on the train and coach inc local busses, so NO you may not be breaking the law on firearms but the owner/operator may have a policy on the carrying of weapons. but it's also about using common sense, not drawing attention to the fact that you have weapons on you avoids any questions i have allways taken them either broken down or in a case even at one time putting a rifle and shotgun in with my rods in the rod holdall
 
I cannot see what it has to do with anybody what you carry as long as it isn't used to point out of the window on the way pretending to shoot the Deer seen from the train :roll:
Where would you draw the line at what you disclose to them of the contents of your luggage !!
I have read this post and thought maybe they have introduced X Ray machines like they have at Airports, if they haven't and you have packed your firearm sensibly how are they going to know.
If it is in an 'unusually shaped' package how are they to know whether it isn't fishing tackle, or are you expected to open it it for inspection at the carriage door?
If this is a serious matter being discussed I apologise.
As I haven't travelled on a train since the early sixties, if I were to travel with a firearm today I would have just packed it and travelled.
 
Since I live in West London, don't have a car, and am about to move to an area where the council forbids me to have a parking permit, and so in effect to acquire a car, I've become something of an expert on fieldsports by public transport. It is perfectly legal to carry shotguns or rifles on public tansport: the same principles of "reasonable precaution" apply as everywhere else. I pack my shotgun broken down in a leg-of-mutton slip in my rucksack and just look like a backpacker. I've never attracted a glance as far as I know. If you go to King's Cross or Euston, you'll quite often see people really obviously carrying shotgun cases on their way North. I believe that the Caledonian Sleepers have gun cabinets in the luggage carriage.

On the other hand, train companies can forbid you from carrying anything they like as part of the conditions of carriage. In practice, most of them never have to deal with this issue. Some theoretically require you to inform them 24 hours before you travel, or ask for permission. But in practice, you can't do that because no-one there knows about it, and they certainly don't know who's responsible for it.

Just be dicreet about it. Don't carry your gear in a bag that says "Remington CoreLokt kicks Deer ass!" or wear camo. Change at your destination and just become a part of the crowd. That's all just to avoid attracting attention to yourself and therefore your rifle. Otherwise, the same precautionary principles as everywhere else apply. I've never had any trouble.
 
EMcC said:
I cannot see what it has to do with anybody what you carry as long as it isn't used to point out of the window on the way pretending to shoot the Deer seen from the train :roll:
Where would you draw the line at what you disclose to them of the contents of your luggage !!
I have read this post and thought maybe they have introduced X Ray machines like they have at Airports, if they haven't and you have packed your firearm sensibly how are they going to know.
If it is in an 'unusually shaped' package how are they to know whether it isn't fishing tackle, or are you expected to open it it for inspection at the carriage door?
If this is a serious matter being discussed I apologise.
As I haven't travelled on a train since the early sixties, if I were to travel with a firearm today I would have just packed it and travelled.
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You're probably right and I may well have done the same but I though I'd check. So, I did.

And now... My problem lies with the published information which states that the transport of unloaded guns is NOT permitted. However, this information is also appended with caveat "May be subject to individual Train Company dispensation"

This sort of thing is misleading, discouraging and unhelpful. I suspect it is also unfairly discriminatory. How very dare they. ;)
 
Tamus said:
However, this information is also appended with caveat "May be subject to individual Train Company dispensation"
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That's the problem with all English law. Everything's subject to someone else's discretion, there are very few hard and fast rules, you have to think about the principles behind it, in this case, public safety. Specifically, this is a case where you have to exercise "reasonable precaution", which as we know is subject to the plod's discretion, which should itself be informed by HO "guidelines" but not "rules"...

It's the same with your employment contracts. The chances are that every clause ends with "at your line manager's discretion".
 
Sometimes i think we worry too much, as we all know train stations are very busy places and once on the train in all likely hood all you will be asked for is your ticket.
Cheers
Richard
 
Hi you are definitley not breaking the law but you could be breaking the operators rules which could mean they put you off the train but how many times have you been stopped and ask if you have a gun in your bag (CWMMAN3738 has it right):thumb:
 
dully1963 said:
Hi you are definitley not breaking the law but you could be breaking the operators rules which could mean they put you off the train
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And I would find that a bit bothersome. So, I would prefer to obviate any such problem.


but how many times have you been stopped and ask if you have a gun in your bag
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If the outcome might be expulsion from the train... Even once would be once too often.

I do always wonder at the mentality of people who insist the best course of action is to "keep schtum" and "hope for the best". That kind of thinking is just whistling in the wind hoping to put off the inevitable disasterous event, as far as I can see. If you choose that course you need to also hope for good luck. How about being suitably diplomatic, keeping quiet and being unobtrusive, everything safe and secure (as it should be) but KNOWING you have your "big stick" if you need it? and ... No "luck" required. I'd choose the latter option everytime.
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Well what you risk is being massively inconvenienced by being chucked off a train although it's unlikely to happen. The train staff can throw you out for any number of reasons, a train is private property. What you wouldn't do is fall foul of any firearms law as long as you'd taken reasonable precautions, which includes discretion.

Honestly, people take the train with guns all the time, it's not a problem. From a security perspective, you could argue that telling the whole train company that you're carrying a firearm could be an unnecessary risk.
 
Tamus said:
And I would find that a bit bothersome. So, I would prefer to obviate any such problem.





If the outcome might be expulsion from the train... Even once would be once too often.

I do always wonder at the mentality of people who insist the best course of action is to "keep schtum" and "hope for the best". That kind of thinking is just whistling in the wind hoping to put off the inevitable disasterous event, as far as I can see. If you choose that course you need to also hope for good luck. How about being suitably diplomatic, keeping quiet and being unobtrusive, everything safe and secure (as it should be) but KNOWING you have your "big stick" if you need it? and ... No "luck" required. I'd choose the latter option everytime.
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just stating what might happen not advocating you break the rules if you are that botherd get a bike or pack in shooting (problen solved)
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dully1963 said:
Tamus said:
just stating what might happen not advocating you break the rules if you are that botherd get a bike or pack in shooting (problen solved)
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"I didn't get where I am today" (CJ, Reginald Perrin) .... with that sort of thinking. :D

How about we get the "rules" put right? ... or at least have our own peace of mind in knowing how to get the outcome we want and are actually entitled to under the rules rather than what it might seem we are not allowed under the ambiguously published ones. Or, does that just sound far too Bolshie?
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Tamus said:
dully1963 said:
How about we get the "rules" put right? ... or at least have our own peace of mind in knowing how to get the outcome we want and are actually entitled to under the rules rather than what it might seem we are not allowed under the ambiguously published ones. Or, does that just sound far too Bolshie?
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If we do that Tamus, you would have nothing to complain about and they would have nothing for their bureaucrats to argue with you about. Stop being stingy and get in your environmentally unfriendly tank and enjoy your stalking- you almost sound like a teuchter :rofl:
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last time i had a rifle in a hard case on a train a drunk came and sat by me and says "get it out mate , give us a tune , i love life music me " i told him i wasnt much good and could only get one note out of it
 
Travel on the train with my rifle dozens of times put it in a plane oblong case not the shaped sort.Only been asked once in 8 years what it was by a member of public just said mesuring equipment. I keep the bolt seperate in my pocket.
 
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