Oh my god! Some of the employees of the NS (Dutch railways) are complete and utter fools. I understand that the job requirements to travel on a train and blow a whistle when it stops cannot be so high, but in some cases the lack of intelligence of NS-employees is striking.

Yesterday we arrived at the Utrecht train station around 4 o clock at night after visiting a very nice concert by Vive la Fête. There was a big fence blocking the way to the platform, but it was possible to easily walk around the fence. Once on the platform an NS employee instructs us that we need to return and wait behind the fence. We need to go back the exact same way we came, even though the person warned us it is really dangerous to pass the fence. On our way back the NS employee tell us that the we will no make the next train that will leave in half an hour.

Ten minutes later the gate opens and everyone can enter the train. Except for us. The stupid employee recognizes us and asked us for our identification. To his opinion he needs to write us a ticket and fine us. This resulted in a very slow process that resulted in a missed train. The result… wait one more hour.

Thanks guys! Very good to see that there is a very strict policy regarding ‘easy pray’.