Great Western Coffee Shop

First Great Western apologise to former Gloucester mayor after guard 'banned her from train'

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Lise Noakes

She is a former mayor and sheriff of Gloucester and a standing city councillor, so she makes no apologies for taking pride in the area.

But Lise Noakes was left aghast and upset when that pride led to her being 'banned' from a First Great Western train this morning - because she asked a train guard to pick up a cigarette he had dropped.

First Great Western has apologised and called its employee's behaviour "unacceptable".

She commutes to Bristol one day a week for work and spotted the guard dropping cigarette end near the front entrance of Gloucester Railway Station. "As I went into the station behind them I called out and asked them who is going to pick up the cigarette," she said. "They responded that they would later but this was clearly not going to happen as they carried on into the station. They then spotted that I was heading towards the Bristol train and asked me if I intended to catch it. I replied 'yes' to which they said I wasn't as they could bar me from doing so.

"I was by the station office at this point so spoke to the duty manager and customer services representative who said they could do nothing as it was up to them. I was disgusted. I was so incredibly angry that they had done this."

Mrs Noakes, a mum-of-four from Abbeymead, was forced to travel to Cheltenham to get the next train to Bristol and was late for work. "It was disgraceful behaviour," she said.

The cabinet member for culture and leisure on Gloucester City Council has put in an official complaint and vowed she will never use First Great Western again. She said she made a point of asking for the cigarette to be picked up as she wants the city looking its best at all times, but particularly heading into the Rugby World Cup.

Lise added: "I know not all First Great Western staff have this attitude. I have been a regular traveller from the station over the past eight years and am friends with a number of staff. One did tell me this morning that he was fed up too with the dropped cigarette ends. I also had very friendly chats with guards on that particular train over the years. In a couple of weeks we have the Rugby World Cup coming to Gloucester and it is vital that the station is a clean, tidy, attractive gateway to the city when we expect a lot of visitors."

A First Great Western spokesman said: "We're really sorry. This is unacceptable, and we will be contacting Ms Noakes to apologise directly."

The company also responded to Mrs Noakes' complaint, and said: "To be clear we expect the highest standards from all colleagues, at all times and as you note this means respecting the station environment and certainly not dropping lit cigarette ends on the floor. To then bar you from travelling on our service to Bristol for correctly challenging such behaviour was completely unacceptable and not what we expect from our front-line colleagues. A full report of what happened will be made available to the employee's line manager this afternoon and I can assure you the appropriate action will be taken to ensure there is no repeat of the experience you had.

"We have also passed your comments onto the station manager at Gloucester who I am sure will share your view on the poor impression such litter provides to any visitor to Gloucester. We have a duty of care to ensure the station is clean and tidy and that includes challenging anyone who is littering the station, especially one of our own staff and as you note with the Rugby World Cup not far away now it is critical we offer visitors the best impression possible."

The operator has also offered Mrs Noakes ^70 worth of travel vouchers.

The operator has also offered Mrs Noakes ^70 worth of travel vouchers.

The cabinet member for culture and leisure on Gloucester City Council has put in an official complaint and vowed she will never use First Great Western again.

Strongly suspect the full story isn't being told here.   Are you really going to get banned from a train by asking "who is going to pick up the cigarette"?

If a chap was on duty considers that someone is being "offensive" in how they ask him to do something (e.g. pick up a fag end), they can ask that someone to leave straight away. The bylaws don't allow an appeal.

Does seem a bit of an extreme reaction though doesn't it? ........then again give a little man a hat, a whistle and a little bit of authority...........

"First Great Western has apologised and called its employee's behaviour "unacceptable".

- doesn't suggest that they are disputing it?

Strongly suspect the full story isn't being told here.   Are you really going to get banned from a train by asking "who is going to pick up the cigarette"?

It's made the daily mail, the comments seem to majority say they think the woman should mind her own business and not be such a jobsworth.

Wouldn't the world be a so-much-better place if only it was run by the kind of people who comment on stories published in the online edition of the Daily Mail?  ::)

Wouldn't the world be a so-much-better place if only it was run by the kind of people who comment on stories published in the online edition of the Daily Mail?  ::)

Strongly suspect the full story isn't being told here.   Are you really going to get banned from a train by asking "who is going to pick up the cigarette"?

For all we know he could of been on his break.