Train passenger banned from carrying tea back to his seat because of health-and-safety rules

A passenger was banned from carrying a cup of tea back to his seat on a train because of health-and-safety rules. Instead, one of the buffet staff carried Tore Fauske’s drink to his seat for him, walking two steps behind the bemused traveller.

Interpreter and author Mr Fauske was told that carrying the tea back through the carriage would pose a danger to other passengers because buffet car staff did not have a paper bag in which to put the plastic cup. The 79-year-old was returning home to Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, on the 12.30pm service from Birmingham New Street. He said: ‘I use this train service all the time and they normally give you a small paper bag to carry your tea in. But this time they didn’t have any.



‘The lady was very apologetic but she said I couldn’t have a tea because there were no bags. When I asked her why not, she said it was for health-and-safety reasons. She said they wouldn’t be able to let anyone carry a cup of tea without a bag through the train. I thought it was a joke. In the end the member of staff had to walk behind me carrying the tea in case I fell over. This is the first time I’ve had my own personal tea caddy. He walked two steps behind me the whole way back to my seat.’

Mr Fauske said the same thing had happened to other passengers. A spokesman for CrossCountry Trains, which operates the service, said: ‘It was a health-and-safety issue. It’s to prevent customers pouring hot water over themselves or other people on the train. We had run out of paper bags and a member of staff stepped in to help out.’