Great Western Coffee Shop

I know what they mean ... but don't you just love it when the automated systems make it read silly.


Me thinks that the general use toilet is out of use but the disabled one working ... and I'm sure the disabled one IS available to everyone, and adequate for demand too bearing in mid how thin passenger numbers are at the moment.

Any more "system sillies" you have noticed?

The most irritating automated announcement at stations occurs when a service is cancelled and replaced by another running in the same path.

"We regret to announce the 11:06 service to Penzance is cancelled, the next fastest service is the 11:06 to Penzance"

The number of times that I have looked up at the departure board to see a service cancelled and failed to see the additional service listed immediately below. Customers then asking "I see the 11:06 is cancelled, what is the next available service?"

One that can be very alarming for passengers not familiar with the Cotswold line.
If a down train is delayed but running first at pershore the up train gets held at Norton junction.
When the time that the up train is due at Pershore passes the up train disappears off the platform indicator screen.
The automated system has the up train as having left Worcester on time and there is no automatic updating at Pershore so it just assumes the train has called on time.

As an aside, I find it irritating that we still talk about 'disabled' toilets when we actually mean 'accessible'. To me, the sentence "disabled toilet facilities are available" clearly means "you can come and look at our non-functioning toilet if you find that sort of thing interesting".

At Digby & Sowton I have noticed that the 'The Next Train At Platform 1 Is The hhmm Service To Exmouth' PA announcement often kicks in after the train has departed. 

Well, to be honest, one could equally say that "accessible" is equally silly/irritating - all toilets are accessible (unless they are locked shut), who decided that calling a toilet which a wheel chair user can get into is better called "accessible" rather than "disabled"? It's rather like like asking me if I am "comfortable" - I should answer that I don't know, as no one has ever sat on me and told me whether I am comfortable or not. I have asked my sofa if it is comfortable - but it has never answered me  ;D ;D

Joking aside, it's not just wheelchair users who benefit from accessible toilets. 'Accessible' (which I suppose is shorthand for 'accessible to all') applies to people with sensory impairments and hidden disabilities too. In a perfect world, we wouldn't need to make the distinction...

There have been a number of attempts to come up with a more inclusive symbol for accessible / changing places toilets than the existing one on based around a wheelchair user (which does lead to non-wheelchair users being confronted for using them), but this has the advantage of widespread recognition and compactness. So such a phrase as 'Not all Disabilities are Visible" is often now included as well.

Accessible really doesn't work without some form of clarification, which makes it a poor bit of terminology in much the way that presumably "Disabled" is frowned upon because the toilet isn't itself disabled.  There was for a while a situation where part of some trains was described as having "no accessible toilet" which made it sound as though the loo was in a different carriage with no corridor connection.
...and don't get me started on doors labelled "Accessible toilet" that are locked and need a special key to open. Apart from actually being screwed shut it couldn't really be any less accessible!