I've experienced the very best and the very worst service from Britain's railways this month.
First, the good news.
I arrived at Marylebone station last week to get the train home to Seer Green. I discovered chaotic scenes as a signal failure had brought services to a standstill. My train was cancelled, leaving me with a long wait till the next scheduled service. I asked Donald, the station manager, if they could stop one of the other trains for Seer Green travellers. He said he would do what he could. I didn't expect too much, as that train was just minutes from departure. But within moments came the loudspeaker announcement: we'd get our special stop, and 10 grateful people got home 30 minutes earlier than they expected. Great customer service.
Fast forward a week, and I'm returning from Chester to Watford Junction on Virgin Trains. We left Crewe seven minutes late but lost more and more time as we travelled south. The guard said we were being diverted via Stoke but didn't bother to explain why. We finally pulled into Watford 30 minutes late, without an apology or even an acknowledgement of the delay. As I left, an elderly lady was terribly upset as she didn't know what to do as she had missed her connection. I can't imagine Richard Branson accepting that kind of dreadful service if he were on the train...
I wrote to Chiltern Railways managing director Cath Proctor praising her staff. Now, where's Richard Branson's address?
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