Train travel woes

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 Bottom Clinger 28 Nov 2022

Travelling back from That London and the train broke down near Birmingham. It’s now that late that the station staff at Wigan have gone home, so we have to stay on until Preston and catch a rickshaw back to Wigan. No doubt my car park fees will now include a charge for Monday, that’s assuming we can actually pay and get a ticket to open the barrier. And I’ve hurt my back well bad. 

Moan over. 

 rockcatch 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Hope you get it all sorted. 
 

This summer my flight home was cancelled due to a mechanical issue and I ended up at East Midlands airport instead of Manchester. There were no trains running and I couldn’t find anyone who was driving to Manchester. Always a pain when the transport doesn’t work out. 

In reply to rockcatch:

Ta. We’ve just pulled out of Crewe, the train driver had to ‘reset’ the engine again (turned it on and off a few times).  Last two times I’ve been to Preston was to watch them beat Wigan Latics by four goals each time. 

 Lankyman 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Just be grateful you didn't break down in Yorkshire

 yorkshire_lad2 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

I suspect you know this, but if your train is late, firstly you can claim "Delay Repay" and secondly you may be able to claim for "consequential losses" (i.e. any costs you incur as a result of your train being late e.g. a taxi); see e.g. https://www.which.co.uk/consumer-rights/advice/can-i-claim-compensation-for...

In reply to yorkshire_lad2:

Thanks. My wife actually got an email saying similar whilst we were stuck on the train.  To be fair, we/family travel a lot by train up and down the country and rarely experience any major problems. 

In reply to Lankyman:

> Just be grateful you didn't break down in Yorkshire

Where’s this ‘Yorkshire’ place you speak of?  

 compost 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

> Where’s this ‘Yorkshire’ place you speak of?  

It's at the centre of everything.

In reply to compost:

> It's at the centre of everything.

I’ve actually been to Dunsop Bridge and never saw any signage for ‘Yorkshire’. 

 Siward 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Anybody know why trains out of London to Derby are only available to book up until 22nd December but nothing on the 23rd? 

 Dax H 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

A few weeks ago I arrived at Manchester Airport train station at 22:01 and watched the 22:00 pull out of the station. Next one was 22:45 but that was 10 minutes late. There was a 5 minute breakdown just outside of Leeds, including waiting for the taxi and 15 minute taxi drive home I walked in to my house at 01:30.

3.5 hours to cover a distance I can drive in 45 minutes and including the taxi cost me about £40. Its hardly surprising the railway is suffering. 

In reply to Dax H:

The last time I was at Preston train station was when I was travelling back from Preston to Wigan (12 minute journey) I accidentally got on the London Euston express…

 Lankyman 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

> I’ve actually been to Dunsop Bridge and never saw any signage for ‘Yorkshire’. 

Back in a prehistory (ca 1974) the natives there begged to be saved from a life of squalor and misery and the generous inhabitants of Lancashire moved the limits of civilization a little further eastward.

 78Andy 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Yorkshire .... is that the place you go for Millstone Edge ?

 Dax H 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

How far did you have to travel before you could get off?

Never got on the wrong train but I have missed a stop once and had to wait 1 hour for a train back. 

 flatlandrich 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

I feel your pain. I recently booked three long journeys over the space of two months. One was cancelled completely because of the strikes. The other two were both three hours late arriving. They've had to refund me about two thirds of my ticket costs. Makes you wonder how train companies keep going. 

 jonfun21 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Dax H:

I was on a train to Preston (first stop Warrington Bank Quay) we were just pulling out of Euston when the person opposite me asked how long it would be until we stopped at Milton Keynes…..

 Michael Hood 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

I'm guessing Crewe or Stoke being your turnaround point.

In reply to Dax H:

> How far did you have to travel before you could get off?

All the way to That London. My 12 minutes journey tuned into nearly five hours.  The ticket inspector had to write in my ticket: “stupid guy caught the wrong train, go easy on him”.

Although it did give me an idea of how to get cheap day travel to London…

 Michael Hood 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Now that is a f**k-up with style 😁

Not just the wrong train, one of the few "we're not stopping till we hit the buffers" trains.

Post edited at 20:57
 earlsdonwhu 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

My last trip to London from Coventry saw a girl taken off at Rugby with a panic attack from the crowding .... previous trains had been cancelled. I reckon 150 people couldn't physically get on the train, that started in Brum , when it stopped in Coventry. So even if the trains are running, the experience can be a nightmare.

 dread-i 28 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

> The last time I was at Preston train station was when I was travelling back from Preston to Wigan (12 minute journey) I accidentally got on the London Euston express…

I used to get the train in the morning to London from Preston. £189 for the 07:18 that gets in at 10:10. Go one stop further north to Lancaster, the train that gets you in at 10:10, costs £76. But it is the same physical train that stops at Preston at 07:18. Enterprising people would buy the ticket from Lancaster and get on at Preston, saving over £100. The ticket inspectors, used to make a killing, as they had hundreds of people, without 'printed at Lancaster' on their ticket. So they would charge them full fair, and get a bonus for each one they caught. Every morning. Day after day. So count yourself lucky.

For those interested, the correct way to save money was to buy the ticket from Lancaster to London. Get on at Preston. But also buy a Preston to Lancaster single for ~£12. That way you have a valid ticket for the entire journey. Rather than starting your journey one stop closer to the destination, and relying on logic.

Its similar going north from London in the evening. Some stations are still at peak, so its cheaper to get a ticket further north to Lancaster, but get off at Preston. You can get off the train and leave the station to 'break your journey', provided you carry on. But you cant actually get off the train, leave the station and bugger off home. That's a crime.

Don't you just love petty little rules designed to milk money from the public and put people off using the service.

 jonfun21 29 Nov 2022
In reply to dread-i:

Split ticket websites are great for this kind of stuff, my regular trip to Reading is £40 with a split at Banbury vs. £100 without. Same train all the way, no need to get off. 

 Brass Nipples 29 Nov 2022
In reply to Lankyman:

> Just be grateful you didn't break down in Yorkshire

I didn’t think the railways had reached Yorkshire yet?

 MG 29 Nov 2022
In reply to jonfun21:

They are but it is absurd they are needed.  Why can't we just buy a ticket at a price rather than all this nonsense?

 mondite 29 Nov 2022
In reply to MG:

> They are but it is absurd they are needed.  Why can't we just buy a ticket at a price rather than all this nonsense?

Because it allowed the companies a)to confuse people into paying higher prices and b)occasionally offer better deals than their competitors. We can but hope the shift from franchises to being operators might result in better pricing. That its being kept as a mess of companies doesnt bode well though.

For the wrong train/missing stops.

Was going to Aviemore from London and as the train was stopped in Edinburgh there was multiple announcements going along the lines of "please note there is a platform change. This is the train to wherever is north of Aviemore and not one going a completely different way".

As it headed into the next station there was an announcement "all those who boarded by mistake please note next train back to Edinburgh on platform x in y minutes". Ton of people then got off.

 MG 29 Nov 2022
In reply to mondite:

> Because it allowed the companies a)to confuse people into paying higher prices and b)occasionally offer better deals than their competitors.

Maybe, but it's a failure of regulations if so.  I think it's also companies don't actually know what they are charging.  For example it's sometimes cheaper to buy return to a more distant station than the one you are travelling to.

 Dax H 29 Nov 2022
In reply to Bottom Clinger:

Damn,  if I had been the inspector I would have written "Northener, what can you do" on your ticket. 


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