Railway Complaint

I've been missing from the Blogosphere for some time due to all sorts of work and personal commitments.

I'm back though to post the text of customer feedback I've sent today to London Midland, concerning a train journey today. Their service (and especially their station staff) are actually pretty good, certainly when compared to their predecessors, Central Trains. Indeed, even what happened today wasn't the biggest catastrophe in transport history.

What managed to get my goat was that they did exactly the same thing last time I had a day out with them and it's starting to make me think it's a regular occurrence about which they don't care. Last time the reply took weeks. I'll keep you posted this time.


Dear Sir,

I took a trip from Sandwell & Dudley today, taking advantage of the Great Escape Offer. I think this is a super idea and had a lovely day out to Liverpool last time you offered it…….marred only by my train unexpectedly missing out Sandwell & Dudley Station on the return leg, with poor ( = virtually non existent) passenger information “given” when that happened.

I wrote to tell you about this then and – after a l-o-n-g delay received a very anodyne reply blaming Network Rail.

Well, I thought naively to myself, these things happen and a train trip can be a very pleasant way of making a journey. So today, Shrewsbury it was.

And guess what happened on the return trip (1547 from Shrewsbury)? Just as we approached Wolverhampton, the guard announced that the train would be proceeding straight to Birmingham and not stopping at Sandwell & Dudley. No advice of what to do, not apology, no concern, just a statement of fact.

This time, I quickly gathered my things together and left the train, managing to find a local train to complete my journey. (Wolverhampton station is curiously devoid of staff but I suppose you’ll tell me that “that’s down to Virgin”.)

Net result? A 40 minute delay to a journey that should only have taken an hour.

I know things go wrong (I heard on the connecting train that there had been vandalism to the signalling system “again”; can’t the railway guard its property in “known trouble spots"?)

As I said last time, whole sections of society, such as the majority of my social circle, simply never use trains because they don’t provide the sort of caring service people are used to today in the world of Waitrose, John Lewis, Lakeland or the hotel trade. I was on a train in Switzerland which caught fire once. Staff moved us onto another train within 10 minutes, our journey was replanned and we arrived on time at our destination. If the railway(s) want more types of people to use their services then they need to behave in a way that shows *care* for customers, not just tell them that what they want ( = need) isn’t happening.

And *don’t* tell me this is Network Rail’s problem. You’re the train operator, you have my money and if you want any more of it you’ll need to show me you actually give a toss.

Looking forward to a sensible, detailed and considered reply. From someone with a clue, please.

Yours faithfully

Ian Jelf