@jon To me it seems like a protptypical example of the structural racism that "foreign looking" people have to endure on a daily basis in many, if not most, European countries.
@jon
Me counting how many times I would've already needed to call the Police over abandoned luggage and delaying trains and stuff instead of just taking it to the lost and found. 🙃
But seriously I noticed that some peoples like to dispose their old and broken suitcases in our trains. I've already found 3 empty ones while checking the train at the last stop. 🤔
@jon a lot seems to depend (irrationally) on the bag. Most long distance trains have luggage racks packed with suitcases and no way to associate them with owners.
But when I got on a tube train with an aluminium briefcase (actually a toolbox) and out it down between my legs, there were immediately people eyeing it nervously even though I was standing right there....
@swaldman Right, absolutely. Leave something at the end of the carriage (which also in TGVs are separated by doors from the passenger compartment) and no one would even notice. Above a seat - as this was - and they do.
That's the thing with security theatre - there is no logic or sense to it at all.
@jon slightly relatedly : am I right in thinking there is no point at all in the security screening for Eurostar? Given that one can drive a car or van onto Le Shuttle with merely a small chance of spot checks? Or have I missed something...
I always assumed some civil servant in the 80s thought "going abroad is like an airport, right..." and it went from there...
@swaldman@jon Been in the tunnel with 12kg gas bottle (with Caravan - you can take about 37kg I think), had a 200g campinggaz cartridge confiscated (Eurostar) .
Even more baffling you can travel with the ferry to Santander, with full kitchen (Caravan), but not a small knife (Foot passenger). They do a full luggage check for foot passenders.
Examples everywhere, and none ever make any sense except for the 'doing something', and 'seen to be doing something' ones.
@ekes@swaldman Indeed, exactly the same. Had a penknife confiscated on the Roscoff-Cork ferry as it was a "security risk" but I could have had a kitchen knife in a car.
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