Taking a pony on the train - Only in the Netherlands

[Densha]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D3Z_GGiedGk

 

This 12-year old girl decided to kidnap this pony and take her on the train with her from Sneek to Leeuwarden in the northern regions of the Netherlands.

Even though the train driver (one-man operation without conductor) did notice the girl and the pony entering the train he decided not to take action because he did not want to disrupt train services. After arriving in the terminus Leeuwarden the girl and the pony quickly disappeared before the driver could take any action.

Meanwhile the police in Sneek was notified because the girl and the pony were missing. A while later the police in Leeuwarden found them taking a stroll in the city centre and both the girl and the pony were taken home to Sneek.

 

The girl and the woman (just a random passenger) talk in the video about the train being unstable for the pony to stand, particularly the last part the girl says is interesting: "The train will take a lot of curves in Leeuwarden, so the pony will probably trample everything then." So far I know it luckily did not.

 

 

Interesting is also that the train driver appears to be driven by the same stress as Japanese train drivers do; to arrive on time punctually or else they will be punished or at least get warned. Looks like it is getting worse in the Netherlands by the year. I also notice it locally with tram and bus schedules being squeezed as tightly as possible, which often leads to drivers having to skip their breaks to catch up any delay they arrived with at the terminus. Definitely not a good development.

[bikkuri bahn]

How come the driver didn't contact control and have staff/police meet the girl and pony at the next stop?

[Davo Dentetsu]

Such a misleading title, this thread.  Someone in Wales tried this trick some years ago if my already senility-struck mind serves me correctly?

But still, the human race really does produce some bizarre bloody things, I swear.  :D

Edited June 10, 2015 by Azumanga Davo

[disturbman]

Not only. :)

[SIG442]

Hello, I am the person who made that video. Unfortunately the news mentioned fake facts.

 

She did not get on at station Sneek, but station IJlst. It's 1 station before Sneek. It seems all news broadcasters have this small fact wrong although I do mention it clearly in the description. 

 

The train driver was indeed alone, the train just was a 2 car long train. There is no real need here for a conductor to be here all the time. Although this girl may proof the exception to the rule of course. He did notice the girl getting on with the pony, he did report it and he cleaned the mess himself after arriving at Leeuwarden which is the last station on that route. 

 

The police did find the girl and the pony in Leeuwarden city, where they separated them. The girl got taken home to her parents, the pony had a free trip in a police horsebox back to his owner. To what punishment was given is unknown. Likely she is no longer allowed to get near the pony, but I can not confirm that.

 

The woman with blonde hair standing in the video got in at the same station as I did, she already had more then 24h without sleep. She worked as security for a cheese factory. She did notice something odd and once back to her seat she did call the police. I do not know how the pony arrived, my seat was on the other side of the train. Also why the video is so short, my expansive belongings were still at the other side.

 

And no, these train drivers are not similar to the Japanese train driver. The Japanese train drivers have a real hell going on, these Dutch train drivers actually often come late. You miss your connection to another train or bus often. Yet it is not addressed like in Japan, often they go unpunished or even a mention of it. I however do agree on the schedules being very tight together, in many cases you have just minutes to catch your connecting train, bus or tram. For trams it is usually that they drive every 15 minutes, so no huge loss there. For the bus it gets slightly worse since they often go every 30 minutes to 1 hour. For trains, well... yeah you are easily in trouble there. Trains often get cancelled or something along the tracks is broken. On top of that, the times are very different here as well. In the north you are at least happy with 1 train per hour, where in the middle of the country (Amsterdam, Utrecht, Rotterdam, etc.) you often see many more trains. It is indeed a bad development that drivers more often have to skip their breaks.

EDIT:
@bikkuri bahn: The driver did contact the police, he had to get to Leeuwarden first because of the train schedules for connecting trains. Which is 5 minutes at best for the first train. If you can't catch that train, you will have to wait a full hour. The driver thought about his passengers, not just the pony. He did report it to their HQ and at arrival he did try to find the girl, she was however already gone by the time he got out of his cabin.

Edited June 10, 2015 by SIG442

[Martijn Meerts]

The question is, is it illegal to take a pony on the train? I've seen people take dogs the size of a pony on the train, and no one has any issues with that :)

[kvp]

In hungary it's allowed, but only on trains with combine cars that are mostly used for bicycle transport today. (orginally they were used for small livestock transport to markets) Any mess caused by the animal has to be cleaned up the owner or a large fine has to be paid on the spot, and the animal needs to have a valid animal ticket or monthly pass, recent medical checkup papers and must be kept on a leash. Interesting fact that most brand new suburban sets still have combined passenger/baggage areas, so has to allow animal transportation besides bicycles. For small animals that can be carried in standard carrier boxes, you can ride with them in any 2nd class car and only need one ticket per every two boxes. Guide dogs are free to ride everywhere except on sleeper trains, where a full compartement has to be allocated. For larger groups of horses and other large animals a designated horse car (usually an extra baggage car) has to be ordered which gets added to the train for an extra fee (available on all stops 'slow' trains only). The older cars are high floor, so extra care must be taken to board and alight at stations that have the required equipment (mobile or stationary ramps) or choose cars that have built in lifts (mostly used for wheelchairs, but they can lift larger animals that can't climb stairs and heavier baggage).

(unforunatley most horses in the news end up under the train and not on it and nowdays they are a rare sight even in the country)

[Davo Dentetsu]

That's mad.  Europe never disappoints me.  ;)

[SIG442]

Yes, it is illegal to take a pony on the train in the Netherlands, for one of the obvious reasons can clearly be seen in the video. Another good reason is that the pony could go berserk and kick out the doors or other things. Or for that matter injure commuters. The owner of the train, Arriva Netherlands, clearly stated that it is understandable funny, but not what should happen and actually said it was not allowed. Arriva Netherlands is a company that is known to choose their own money above customer service, but in this case they choose to act for both.

All you can take on the train in the Netherlands are lap dogs if you use the seats, if you stay near the doors you could take a bigger dog. But there have been people who said they god a ticket even by following the rules. For cats, only if they are in a pet carrier so far I know. But please don't quote me on that since I am not sure about that. To my knowledge there is no other pet allowed on the trains here. You are however allowed to take a new pet, such as fish in a plastic bag or rodents in a plastic pet carrier, from A to B. But just as absolute alternative.

[Martijn Meerts]

Guess my parrot won't be coming along to the office anytime soon then =)

[Kitayama]

In 1984 I travelled on a rural line in Poland. I wanted to use the toilet, but a man stopped me. I asked him why (in German) and he slowly opened the toilet door. There was a piglet inside. The other farmers onboard the train kept the piglets in sacks, but this farmer didn't have a sack. Noicy? Yes! Smelly? Yes!

[kvp]

http://m.heraldsun.com.au/news/victoria/well-dressed-goat-goes-for-a-ride-on-melbourne-train/story-fni0fit3-1227389518577

[cteno4]

Ok Aussies, what's the touch on reference in the last line?

 

"Apparently trains are a no-go zone for goats — even if they touch on."

 

Jeff

[Davo Dentetsu]

Ok Aussies, what's the touch on reference in the last line?

 

"Apparently trains are a no-go zone for goats — even if they touch on."

 

Jeff

One of those swipey/blippy card gizmos used instead of cash, I imagine.

[SIG442]

Noticed the goat indeed on other websites, also the German pony a few years ago. Not sure how people come up with these ideas, passenger trains and farm animals don't mix well.

[Bernard]

First off what an incredible Pony! To get on a train without balking!! Next the girl was incredibly foolish and selfish.....not only was she endangering the passengers but the pony as well. I've been around horses most of my life (and still) am....the amount of precaution we take in transporting a horse is intense....their legs are wrapped for protection and they have a head cap to protect their head in case they get frighten and rear. Again, that Pony is "Bomb-proof" I wished the girl was.

 

SIG442 - thanks for the follow up story...it explains a lot

Edited June 11, 2015 by Bernard

[SIG442]

No problem. In the meanwhile I had to press take action since many seem to steal my video, not giving credit or source etc. So I may end up taking it down entirely, thinking about what to do still.

[Davo Dentetsu]

No problem. In the meanwhile I had to press take action since many seem to steal my video, not giving credit or source etc. So I may end up taking it down entirely, thinking about what to do still.

You can make it a link that's viewable to those you provide the link to (so this page for example) as opposed to full public?

[cteno4]

One of those swipey/blippy card gizmos used instead of cash, I imagine.

Thanks Dave!

 

Ok makes sense, I was going for some Aussie rules football sort of move!

 

Jeff

Edited June 12, 2015 by cteno4

[katoftw]

No problem. In the meanwhile I had to press take action since many seem to steal my video, not giving credit or source etc. So I may end up taking it down entirely, thinking about what to do still.

Really?  It is youtube?

[SIG442]

YouTube didn't steal it, many news broadcasters did (including the NOS and NPO which are Dutch broadcasters)

It's on private as of now.

[Kabutoni]

YouTube didn't steal it, many news broadcasters did (including the NOS and NPO which are Dutch broadcasters)

It's on private as of now.

IIRC this is not stealing, but usage under the conception of journalism (public reporting). If I'm correct, the policy of Youtube allows this for videos they host. It's in the user agreement (please correct me if I'm wrong).

[cteno4]

Yes this is the hidden hosting cost that is paid to Internet companies for the free hosting like this. They have blanket agreements with press groups around the world that makes them money to provide content you have sub licensed to them by agreeing to the terms of service. Same goes for photos posted to Facebook. You have to give them the rights to do stuff like this when you post video to YouTube. This gets sticky if you put up a piece you produced with licensed footage in it as you usually dont get a blanket rights to release licensed content to a third party like this. I believe even if it's private YouTube retains its right to do what it wants with it, unless you delete it from YouTube.

 

If you put it up on your own website and stated no distribution and the news channel took it you would have a good case then!

 

Jeff

[Bernard]

Jeff is spot on! I put a few pieces I had produced on the Olympics only to find out that a major sports company put them on their website.....the sport company didn't contact me to ask permission.....so I decided to delete the pieces and it left a big hole in their website.

[cteno4]

Some of this can be thwarted by disabling embedding of the video. This prevents everyone from embedding the YouTube video on their site. If you allow embedding you allow anyone to use the youtube system to embed your video in their site, that's the way it works.

 

But turning off embedding does not negate YouTube rights you have assigned them to use it how they might with a comment partner...

 

Jeff