Great Western Coffee Shop

Some Sunday stats ... from a customer travelling from Barnstaple to Melksham yesterday.   He was on the train from the South West due to arrive at 15:51 into Westbury, connect to the 16:04 to Trowbridge and the bus at 16:15  from there to Melksham.     What actually happened was that the 15:51 was 10 minutes late, and by the time he and others ("another 7 or 8 people") had found where to go and made their way through the subway at Westbury, the doors on the "connection" were closing and they were unable to board; it left (according to real time trains) at 16:04. On getting the next available train to Trowbridge, the bus was long gone ... net result, an arrival in Melksham 2 hours late, and a very unhappy customer.   Also to note - the bus eventually caught (18:15) conveyed around 20 people from Trowbridge.    That's a pretty high number for a substitute bus service ...

You can blame John Watts the then Conservative MP for Slough and a junior transport minister at the time of privatisation who said something on the lines connections won't be held under the new regime

Actually I would "blame" a lack of communication between the various Train management/station staff for not (apparently) talking to each other and using a little commonsense and discretion in holding the train for a minute or so if they knew there were passengers on the late running incoming service who needed to make the connection and faced a lengthy wait if they missed it......it would only have taken a couple of minutes max for Goodness' sake.

"More than my jobsworth mate"?