"Henry" wrote in message ...
"Chris Small" wrote in message
...
Any idea what happened at Balham station today? No trains were
stopping there this morning and all services were severely delayed (up
to an hour or more). The announcements just mentioned a fatality
without giving any other details.

Chris

From BBC London "News in Brief"

Body found on tracks
A body has been found on the tracks at Balham railway station in south-west
London, it has been confirmed.
A spokesman for British Transport Police said the body was discovered about
0100 GMT on Wednesday.
The body has not yet been identified and it is not known whether the person
is male or female.
The station was closed on Wednesday morning while British Transport Police
investigated the incident.

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!

Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!

Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00 the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

regards

Baloo

--

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message
...

"CIG_BIG_CIG" wrote in message
om...

Male person, scene treated as a crime scene by BTP and body not
recovered until 1300 approx. The lack of a contingency plan by SCT for
the main lines being closed during the peaks meant services ran up to
180 mins late!

Which once again highlights how bloody disgraceful it is that nowadays
the
police are permitted to cause disruption on such a scale to the general
public. Perhaps they should be forced to compensate all of those caught
up
in their incompetence (as everyone else seems to be expected to these
days) - that might focus their minds to get the job done more quickly.
Bearing in mind that this incident allegedly occurred at around 01:00
the
railway should have been cleared and open for operation by 05:00 at the
latest.

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

regards

Baloo


They don't seem to take this amount of time when it's a road accident.
Neither do they take so long on other European railways, four hours being
about the maximum. On SNCF, at least, a member of the equivalent of the
Coroner's staff will accompany the police/fire brigade (the latter cover all
first-line response ambulance duties) to the incident scenre to evaluate the
evidence.
Brian

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made. As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.

In message , Jack Taylor
writes

"Baloo" wrote in message
...

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things take
time, thats a fact of life.

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made.

Before the advances in DNA testing etc., the only thing to do with blood
etc. was wash it away, not sample it and record where that sample was
taken from.


As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.



--
Five Cats
Email to: cats_spam at uk2 dot net

On Sat, 7 Feb 2004 17:49:28 +0000 someone who may be Five Cats
] wrote this:-

Before the advances in DNA testing etc., the only thing to do with blood
etc. was wash it away, not sample it and record where that sample was
taken from.

This helps investigation of the cause in what way precisely?


--
David Hansen, Edinburgh | PGP email preferred-key number F566DA0E
I will always explain revoked keys, unless the UK government
prevents me using the RIP Act 2000.

Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of the
suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police didn't do
everything possible at the scene to detect the offender. These things
take
time, thats a fact of life.

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing
etc.
that have been made. As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road
incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.

Surely the best option would to check CCTV if there is some and if it shows
a push then they can collect the evidence and if there is no CCTV ask the
driver and do the same. They can spend time checking pushes, but if its a
suicide then they should have no reason to collect DNA etc,
--
To reply direct, remove NOSPAM and replace with railwaysonline
For Train Information, The Latest News & Best photos around check out the
Award Winning Railways Online at http://www.railwaysonline.co.uk
"Hating Thames Trains since 2003"

Joe wrote:
Until, of course, its a member of your family that is the victim of
the suspicious death, when you would be asking why the police
didn't do everything possible at the scene to detect the offender.
These things take time, thats a fact of life.

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything
like the ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such
matters. That, despite the significant advances in forensic
technology and DNA testing etc. that have been made. As other
posters have noted: it doesn't take as long anywhere else in
Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident and it
never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.

Surely the best option would to check CCTV if there is some and if it
shows a push then they can collect the evidence and if there is no
CCTV ask the driver and do the same. They can spend time checking
pushes, but if its a suicide then they should have no reason to
collect DNA etc,

Pushes? Suicide? Your post was 4 hours after another in the same thread
which said that the body had a knife wound. In this instance, it does
sound as if a thorough scene-of-crime investigation was justified, whatever
we might feel about other railway accidents.
--
Richard J.
(to e-mail me, swap uk and yon in address)

"Jack Taylor" wrote in message k...

It's only in the last handful of years that it has taken anything like the
ludicrous amounts of time that it now takes to resolve such matters. That,
despite the significant advances in forensic technology and DNA testing etc.
that have been made.

No, it's *because* of those advances. If there is a suspicion of
murder, it's now worth looking for very, very much smaller pieces of
evidence than ten or even five years ago. And that takes longer.

As other posters have noted: it doesn't take as long
anywhere else in Europe, it doesn't take as long to resolve a road incident
and it never used to take as long to resolve railway accidents or suicides
as it does now, suspicious or otherwise.

And if there is a chance that it's not a railway accident, but a
murder victim dumped on the line ... ?

Ian