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Rail employee tells injured cyclist: "Get out of this f*ck*ng station"

Tiki Morackik had asked for first aid kit after falling off bike on way to High Brooms station in Kent

Police are investigating an incident in which a member of staff of Southeastern railway told a cyclist who had fallen off his bike and asked for a first aid kit to “get out of this f*ck*ng station now.”

Tibi Morackik, aged 45, was bleeding and bruised when he arrived at High Brooms station on the outskirts of Tunbridge Wells in Kent last Thursday afternoon having come off his bike on the way there – but instead found himself on the receiving end of a four-letter tirade.

"I came to the station and told him something like 'I need a ticket to London, but firstly please could you help me with a first aid kit? I had an accident on my bike going downhill to the station'," he told Kent Live, which has footage of the incident.

After the member of staff insulted him, he started filming their exchange with his phone, with footage showing him displaying the injuries to his hand and wrist, with the railway employee then telling him to “get out of this f*ck*ng station."

Mr Morackik said: "I called 999 and the British Transport Police came about 20 minutes later.

"The police were nice, they gave me first aid and asked what happened. They were really professional.

"One officer helped me and the other spoke with him and watched the station's CCTV."

Referring to the Southeastern employee, he said: "I was really disappointed from his reaction. He didn't try to help at all. Instead he was angry and aggressive."

"I cannot imagine reacting like that in his shoes," he continued. "It wasn't a bad injury, I just wanted to clean it.

"I work as security in a local pub. Just a few weeks ago I saw a girl with an injury on another side of the road, we helped her to our pub and gave her first aid.

"How somebody can be such antisocial? No empathy at all?"

"I don't want this situation to happen again.

"I hope that the member of staff will be trained properly to give first aid, or he should be moved to different position, where he doesn't have contact with customers."

British Transport Police have appealed for witnesses, with a spokesman saying: "Officers were called to High Brooms station at 3.53pm yesterday (June 12) following a report of an altercation between a man and a member of staff.

"Enquiries into the incident are currently ongoing and anyone who witnessed what happened is asked to contact BTP by texting 61016 or calling 0800 40 50 40 quoting reference 362 of 12/06/19."

A Southeastern spokesman said: "We can’t comment on staff matters but we are investigating this incident as a matter of urgency."

Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.

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19 comments

Avatar
handlebarcam | 4 years ago
1 like

Perhaps the cyclist told him what ASLEF is an anagram of.

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SacramentoFanBoy | 4 years ago
1 like

Might they have been auditioning for a plum job across the pond? Sounds like a top-notch candidate for the Trump administration!

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kingleo | 4 years ago
4 likes

I am 76, I was a bit slow getting on the train with my bike at Barnes station, the guard closed the door on me and knocked me down on to the platform with my bike. The passengers forced the door open, helped me get up and onto the train. At Clapham Junction I got off the train and complained to the guard -  I was told to f@@k off.

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Legin | 4 years ago
0 likes

I had five years as a BR Booking Office clerk; in those days I could totally see this happening with some of my colleagues. Many were ex tradesman from the closed wagon and loco works; totally unsuitable for customer facing roles. Nowadays the majority if staff have elected to do the job so normally there ua provocation!

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Legin | 4 years ago
0 likes

I had five years as a BR Booking Office clerk; in those days I could totally see this happening with some of my colleagues. Many were ex tradesman from the closed wagon and loco works; totally unsuitable for customer facing roles. Nowadays the majority if staff have elected to do the job so normally there ua provocation!

Avatar
Legin | 4 years ago
3 likes

I had five years as a BR Booking Office clerk; in those days I could totally see this happening with some of my colleagues. Many were ex tradesman from the closed wagon and loco works; totally unsuitable for customer facing roles. Nowadays the majority if staff have elected to do the job so normally there ua provocation!

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hawkinspeter | 4 years ago
0 likes

I don't know about SouthEastern, but GWR employees are always polite and helpful and most of them are really friendly too (which is in contrast with the company's anti-cyclist bias). I'd like to hear the other side of the story as this sounds atypical to me.

 

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FluffyKittenofT... | 4 years ago
1 like

Not enough information to say either way.  Might be more to it, might not be.  You do sometimes get peculiar, perma-angry people inexplicably working in public-facing jobs.

 

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OldRidgeback replied to FluffyKittenofTindalos | 4 years ago
2 likes

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Not enough information to say either way.  Might be more to it, might not be.  You do sometimes get peculiar, perma-angry people inexplicably working in public-facing jobs.

 

 

As I said, I've used that station many times in the past. And I do recall a very grumpy person at the ticket counter.

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Mb747 replied to OldRidgeback | 4 years ago
1 like

OldRidgeback wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Not enough information to say either way.  Might be more to it, might not be.  You do sometimes get peculiar, perma-angry people inexplicably working in public-facing jobs.

As I said, I've used that station many times in the past. And I do recall a very grumpy person at the ticket counter.

But transport police aren't going to investigate someone being grumpy, or to wash some grit off a cyclists hands

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brooksby replied to Mb747 | 4 years ago
1 like

Mb747 wrote:

OldRidgeback wrote:

FluffyKittenofTindalos wrote:

Not enough information to say either way.  Might be more to it, might not be.  You do sometimes get peculiar, perma-angry people inexplicably working in public-facing jobs.

As I said, I've used that station many times in the past. And I do recall a very grumpy person at the ticket counter.

But transport police aren't going to investigate someone being grumpy, or to wash some grit off a cyclists hands

Maybe not, but doesn't a reasonable human hope/expect that the office could pass them a plaster and a wipe or something if they've had an accident?  Would Mr Grumpy have preferred that the cyclist left Walking Dead style handprints all over his nice clean (!) station??

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Morgoth985 | 4 years ago
2 likes

I agree it seems odd, so possibly not the whole story.  The trouble is, though, it's not completely inconceivable that this is the whole story after all.

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peted76 | 4 years ago
2 likes

This really doesn't seem like the whole story, as much as I'd like to think that the injured cyclist was acting perfectly normal and the clerk was a raging monster.. it just doesn't sit right.

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Legin | 4 years ago
2 likes

So totally pre-judging the situation:  a rare spelling of a British name x heart of the self entitled St George Flag flying South East = #Brexit Booking Clerk!

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alansmurphy | 4 years ago
7 likes

Trains don't even pay road tax!

 

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OldRidgeback | 4 years ago
3 likes

I've used that station a few times. The person at the ticket office was pretty grumpy the one time I had to get a ticket (as the machine was broken) as I recall. 

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bike_food | 4 years ago
4 likes

Either we're not being given the whole story or that dude needs some anger management training.

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BlindFreddy | 4 years ago
4 likes

If such poor behaviour is normal, the question has to be asked as to whether Southeastern is a fit and proper group to continue to operate this franchise?

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Rapha Nadal | 4 years ago
3 likes

Standard behaviour for High Brooms!

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