Great Western Coffee Shop

'We won't serve you hot water without a tea bag in it': Bizarre stance of train staff

A commuter says she was refused a cup of hot water 'on health and safety grounds' and that the water would have to have a tea bag in it

Commuting can be stressful at the best of times ^ but one worker claims she was refused a morning cup of tea on her train due to ^health and safety reasons^.

Kelly Davies, 35, of Penarth, asked the First Great Western catering assistant from Cardiff to Bournemouth on Tuesday morning if she could have a cup of hot water ^ but she says she was told she would have to drink it with a tea bag for ^health and safety reasons^.

^The woman at the trolley said I would have to pay the full price of a cup of tea for the hot water ^1.90 ^ and said I would have to drink it with a tea bag,^ said Kelly, a PR manager.

^I refused to believe it because it was just so ridiculous. I said, ^No it can^t be?^ And then she refused to serve me completely.^

Kelly wanted the hot water to have with her own decaf tea bag that she had brought with her. The train did not have decaf tea bags for sale.

^I was even willing to pay the ^1.90 for the water,^ she said.

But Kelly^s main concern now isn^t that she was deprived of her morning cuppa.

^What has bothered me more is how head office have dealt with it and how they weren^t willing to answer my questions properly,^ said Kelly, who got into a Twitter row with the train company about the incident she jokingly dubbed ^hot water-gate^.

Staff manning the First Great Western Twitter account said the issue was ^just an unfortunate reality of our wider auditing requirements^ and told Kelly she would have to email the company with her complaint.

But Kelly responded by tweeting: ^No, I want you to take responsibility. Why make me do more stuff? You can feed this back. It^s your company.^

A spokesperson at First Great Western said: ^Health and safety has nothing to do with it and we should have been more honest with the customer.

^While we are more than happy to provide free hot water for medicinal purposes or to warm baby food, we don^t provide hot water for customers to make their own tea on board our trains.^

Kelly wanted the hot water to have with her own decaf tea bag that she had brought with her. The train did not have decaf tea bags for sale.

A spokesperson at First Great Western said: ^... we are more than happy to provide free hot water for medicinal purposes or to warm baby food ...^

Just returning to the original post. When did FGW start running from Cardiff to Bournemouth?

Sounds like yet another case of Jobsworth.

However, one pertinent question might be what would happen if the employee returned to base with the money for one more cup of tea than the number of teabags dispensed?

Perhaps the customer should have asked for a cup of tea but with the teabag served separately?

The comment about "auditing issues" likely refers to the suspicion that employees could sell cups of hot water and pocket the cash.

Do the cups come with the tea bag already inside?  I am fairly sure this is how they are supplied on SWT trolleys when I've purchased my "slightly flavoured overpriced only just warm water" in the past, so it could be reasonable to say that the trolley operative should not be sticking their fingers in the cup to remove it.

Although if this were the case they could easily use a coffee cup which doesn't come with anything inside...

what kind of company trusts its employees so little that it pays another employee to count teabags?

And what kind of company does the above and then kicks up a stink if the "teabag audit" reveals one extra bag - IN THE COMPANY'S favour?

And what kind of company does all the above and then refuses to accept the explanation "she didn't want a teabag" from the employee.

FGW or rail Gourmet of whoever are making themselves look like idiots

if its down then that staff member must account for it or pay for it themselves.