Crash Bang Wallace

The conductor on a train is responsible for passengers’ safety as well as just checking their tickets. He or she has the job of looking out for suspicious behaviour or dubious parcels, and if anything was to kick off then it is the conductor who would try to handle the situation in a way that would protect the passengers.

How would you feel, then, if the conductor of the train you were sitting on was apparently using Facebook to merrily urge bombings against other parts of the public transport system?

In a tie-in between Crash Bang Wallace and The Sun, we’ve today revealed someone who appears to be doing exactly that.

Given the recent riots and shootings in Northern Ireland, I thought it would be worthwhile looking round the various Republican Facebook groups to see what kind of views were being posted. Sure enough, it took about three clicks to get to “People against Loyalist marches where they’re not wanted“.

I’m not suggesting everyone in that group is an extremist – the vast majority hold legitimate views about the Orange Order marches. My expectation was that a few people might be spreading some extreme views – but largely for them to be usual suspects urging more rioting and violence against the police and army. That would be bad enough, but I had not anticipated this:

Click to enlarge

Nice, eh? So here we have someone claiming to be a train conductor who is apparently wishing for his passengers to be blown up after they make their connection to the ferry.

This is unacceptable. It’s unpleasant that Mark Connor appears to think what happened to Mountbatten (and the 14 year old boy who was blown up in the same attack) was a good thing, but it’s downright disturbing that he apparently wants to see something similar happen to hundreds of innocent civilians. How can he be trusted with the security of these passengers on his train if he wants them dead?

While police officers are putting themselves in the firing line trying to keep order on the streets of Belfast, the last thing they need is someone in a position of responsibility calling for rioting to turn into a terror campaign.

The story is in The Sun today, and ScotRail have confirmed they have suspended and are investigating a member of staff.

Crash Bang Wallace is an opinion blog, but I also intend to dig up and break new stories as regularly as possible. This isn’t just hot air, it’s “Politics with a punch”. It’s good to see the first of those punches land.

PS The original post has been taken down, now, but here’s the full screen grab: