Great Western Coffee Shop

I hope that you don't mind me joining your forum but I come from the west country but now live north of the border and work for a sister company where First has it's HQ!
I have to begin with the obligatory comment that any comments made by me on this site will be my own opinions and not those of my train operating company.
I became a conductor a couple of years ago as a middle aged female who has a love of trains...the first toy I can remember getting apart from my teddy was a train set!
We seem to be luckier inasmuchas our delays seem to be much improved during the franchise from the previous one but inevitably they do happen due to points failure/broken down trains/signals/fatalities/animals on the line etc.
Even since I started in the job though I have noticed a huge leap in passenger numbers and there has been no extra rolling stock to make more seats available for them. Having said that most trains that I operate are express trains and passengers with perfectly adequate local trains prefer to stand for an hour on mine and get there faster than get a seat in the local train which makes life difficult for myself and the hospitality team trying to go through the train to do tickets and sell food and drink to the long distance customers and for customers needing to get to and from the toilets. They even prefer in some instances to stand in the doorways and aisles when seats are available because they like to be together. If I cannot get through the train it means that some passengers may then have to queue at the other end for a ticket...or in some cases get away without paying....we do not have any penalty fare system here unfortunately..apparently there is no legal statute for it in Scotland. If I am working on a more local service where there are lots of stations and people with means at the station to buy tickets do not do so and I have to then it means that others who do not have a ticket machine or booking office may have to queue as I may not have time to sell everyone a ticket. I am not supposed to sell cheap tickets on the train or let passengers use railcards if they board without a ticket at a station with those facilities and if they are working but some other conductors do so making life very difficult to enforce this as customers will say that they bought one the day before. Because people do not see the other responsabilities of the job they ask what I am there for if not to sell them tickets. I am more than willing to help them out if they have a genuine reason for not having a ticket or having the wrong ticket but there is  no excuse for most cases that I come across. I had 2 passengers this week with advance tickets for the train before mine and one of them was very rude and aggressive saying that the ticket was valid anytime from 8.41 (she was on the 9.41) but the ticket quite clearly stated booked train only and she is going to complain about me. By contrast passengers with these tickets if they come to speak to me before travelling with a genuine reason for not getting on the right train may if circumstances dictate travel on the wrong train. A nasty attitude does not work with staff and do passengers realise that we are human beings with feelings and one person behaving in a nasty aggressive way towards us can totally ruin our day too because we are there to try to provide a service and to be fair and reasonable to everyone. Can you imagine going onto a plane with the wrong ticket or not having paid for a ticket or being drunk or with excessive luggage? No of course not but certain passengers expect to be able to do this. I have had many problems with drunks on trains...they have no consideration of other passengers and are often loud and aggressive.......even the friendly ones and I have had people who are older or travelling alone come up to me as they get scared even though it is just boisterous behaviour...if you are not used to it then it can be very distressing. I just hate working on trains with football and rugby fans after the match...in my opinion drink and drunks should be banned from trains altogether...the BTP just want then on the train and on the way home as long as they are not physically attacking anyone so we poor conductors just have to cope as best as we can and the poor non supporters just have to put up with it....I am not saying that all supporters are like this of course but the more there are the more problems .

Welcome to the forum, jetice.

Welcome!

Hello, Jetice.

I first became rather more than a passenger who occasionally uses the train to get from M to S or P or B when I bacame aware of a threat - that was carried out - to prune back some services savagely, both in terms of numbers of services and length of trains, under the now-current FGW franchise.  And I have seen - at times - deeply frustrated passengers make life difficult in the extreme for staff; utterly unfair, not to be condoned, but I can understand it in the case of a group who had arrived at the station early, were fully ticketed ... and were then denied boarding because the train was overcrowded.  And it's very easy in the heat of the moment to swear and cuss at the company's representative, rather than the company being represented.

What has truely impressed me, though, has been the positive approach and attitude of the vast majority of FGW staff on the ground through some of these difficult times and out into what is now somewhat calmer waters.   The trains that were cut back to 2 cars have become 3 again, and the people who used to use the services that were cut have now got used to using other services, travel by other means, or have completely changed their lives around - there's no longer the raw unfocused anger.

They always say "the grass is greener on the other side" - and that's what we hear about rail in Scotland with many more resources being invested in it that in the South West of England, and with it growing to make good use of those resources.   Having seen both sides, is that your preception too or are there elements of rail travel in the South West that are the envy of the Scots?

I have to say it is always nice to see some positive feedback for us on 'The Western Front'  ;D.

Every business will no doubt have bad apples, but I can hand-on-heart say that the vast majority of my colleagues that I encounter from both the front line (and those that hide in their locked offices ;) ), really do want to make FGW as successful as possible in terms of Customer Satisfaction, Government Satisfaction and Shareholders Satisfaction.  Remember our lives are so much easier when everything runs smoothly (honest  ;D), but I think it is always important to remember (certainly with Platform Staff), that any mistake we make that could jeapardise safety, could quite possibly cost us our job too, so while I will always do my best to accomodate the fact that you have to get to work/deal-clinching meeting/flight/birth/funeral/party, safety of public and train will always come 'first'.  (No pun intented).

agreed,

safety is paramount so if it means leaving people behind then it has to be done,i do not like doing it but i would be irresponsible if i put people at risk.

what chance would an overcrowded 143 stand confronted by a car on a level crossing or object on track at 75mph?

Hi I was in London for a few days the other week and saw for myself some of the crowding problems when trying to board a train into London from West Drayton and it was well after the rush hour.......they all appeared to be around 20 mins late and we just didn't even attempt to board the first one that came along as it was heaving...one guy was determined to get in and he was rather large to say the least and had no chance...he gave up in the end. We had to stand all the way in the next one so waited almost an hour!

Trains going to Inverness from Glasgow, Edinburgh or Aberdeen are severely crowded as single track sections make it impossible to run many trains and the amount of luggage is a real issue. It really would help if there was a policy on taking luggage that was displayed at stations rather than tucked away in the conditions of carriage and if it didn't allow as much luggage because there is simply not anywhere to put it! All commuter trains are too full even up here but what I witnessed at West Drayton was worse than anything I see here unless a train has been cancelled or there is a big event on like T in the Park or open golf championships, rugby etc.

Welcome jetice.

From what I've seen First Scotrail is not as bad as FGW. I think you govrnment keeps an eye on them.

As regards overcrowding at West Drayton the main problem is shortage of stock. Most trains being 2/3 car turbos when a lot of the time they should be 5/6.

I supect that's part of the problem between Glasgow and Inverness one unit instead of 2 or 3. The Down HST never seemed very full when I observed it Pitlochry several nights in May, running 20 late all three nights. Held at Dunkeld for 2 nights to allow 18:33 Up to depart Pitlochry on time. 3rd night held at Pitlochry for 18:33 running late from Blair Atholl.

If you want to see real overcrowding go to Farringdon in the rush hour and watch the Thameslink Now FCC) trains. All 8 cars packed to the gunnels and that's even with trying to limit casual travel by banning cheap fares between 16. something and 19:00.