Isolated at Melksham Station - any suggestions, anyone?

[whole diary]

[grahame]

19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36
19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Further Information
For more detailed information please contact a member of station staff or make use of the Customer Help Point systems available.
Please allow more time for your intended journey.

No staff at Melksham. Help point not working (even the "Information" button now fails to connect / I have not tried the emergency button)

Problem was reported to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Station Manager on 5th December ... hadn't been fixed when I was at the station at 08:45 this morning (10th December).

Perhaps the suggestion of "use the help point" is a suggestion that frustrated passengers should take out their anger on it ...

I'm getting to my wit's end ... and realistic ideas of advise to customers turning there this evening to catch trains that are cancelled would be appreciated!

[ChrisB]

Give them a call? I think they're open. Disseminate the info.

But the weather situation in Worcester/Malverns is such that if the stock to form those journeys goes anywhere near there today, it may not materialise at later destinations.

I certainly wouldn't expect a quick fix on the helpline equipment, especially if they've failed to pay the mobile connection bill (!). Any fault fixing is undoubtedly contracted-out and therefore subject to a completion time allowance.

You make it sound like you're a special case unfortunately...better get used to the limitations of the railways.....join the club & chill :-)

Btw, journeycheck is still saying that your ticket machine is out of order! Now that is something I'd expect to be repaired by now! Maybe its fault is related to the comms problem with the helpoint?

[grahame]

Give them a call? I think they're open. Disseminate the info.

Awaiting an answer on Twitter ...

I certainly wouldn't expect a quick fix on the helpline equipment, especially if they've failed to pay the mobile connection bill (!). Any fault fixing is undoubtedly contracted-out and therefore subject to a completion time allowance.

Btw, journeycheck is still saying that your ticket machine is out of order! Now that is something I'd expect to be repaired by now! Maybe its fault is related to the comms problem with the helpoint?

Ticket machine is working.  Can't believe everything you read.  Shortage is said to be due to lack of train crew rather than trains stuck in the Malverns.

You make it sound like you're a special case unfortunately...better get used to the limitations of the railways.....join the club & chill :-)

Trying to avoid sounding "special case".  Happy to share our grief with other unstaffed stations with over 50k annual passengers who have their last trains cancelled and are told to use the help point but it's out of order!

Real issue is poor information / advise.  Telling people to do the impossible ... unless of course the help point is being fixed for sure during today 

[ChrisB]

Maybe report ticket machine working but bo helppoint working via twitter too? They can sure get mis-report altered, and help point reported

[grahame]

Here's the Twitter advi[c/s]e

HI there. The 1744 and 1957 services are running so I'd suggest using these in absence of the 1854 and 2019 being reinstated. Phil.

So that's suggesting people leave at 17:44 rather than 20:19 is they're southbound, and 18:54 rather than 19:57 if they're northbound.

Think this makes "never rely on the last train" into GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) policy!

[ChrisB]

Hmmm. I thought running last trains was sacrosanct - such that other transport *had* to be laid on (so bus/taxis) if the last train was cancelled?!

In fact, I'm sure I'm right, unless sonething changed recently? That needs checking. Possibly with Transport Focus.

And 'advice' is the noun, 'advise' is a verb. Easy to remember. You are given advice, by someone that advises you

[IndustryInsider]

Other transport or overnight accommodation has to be offered.

[ChrisB]

What rule or regulation does one quote if refused?

[grahame]

Other transport or overnight accommodation has to be offered.

I wonder if telling people they should have turned up two and a half hours earlier and caught the previous train constitutes an offer of other transport?   Even supposing they can get in touch to be told ...

[grahame]

Other transport or overnight accommodation has to be offered.

I wonder if telling people they should have turned up two and a half hours earlier and caught the previous train constitutes an offer of other transport?   Even supposing they can get in touch to be told ...

And in any case they've just cancelled the previous one that they were suggesting ... so the last Swindon to Westbury of the day has already left!

[IndustryInsider]

What rule or regulation does one quote if refused?

This from the National Rail Conditions of Carriage:

’If disruption caused by circumstances within the control of a Train Company or a Rail Service Company leaves you stranded before you have reached your destination printed on or stored on your ticket, and the Train Company whose trains you are entitled to use is unable to get you to that destination by other means, any Train Company which is in a position to help will, if it reasonably can, either arrange to get you to that destination, or provide overnight accommodation for you.’

[LiskeardRich]

If disruption caused by circumstances within the control of a Train Company

If they cite the snow there is a get out clause there.

[grahame]

If disruption caused by circumstances within the control of a Train Company

If they cite the snow there is a get out clause there.

Yep ... "staff can't get to work because of severe weather" ... the line seems perfectly useable and indeed the 19:57 is still said to be running northbound.  Of course, to quote the words of an old friend from the past that could be to do with the OPERATIONAL CONVENIENCE of not cancelling that one  . Ah Dennis, where are you now that the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) franchise has turned into SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)?

[paul7575]

Ah Dennis, where are you now that the SWT^▸ (South West Trains) franchise has turned into SWR^» (South Western Railway - about)?

I'd hoped he might have been AXED.

Paul

[Bmblbzzz]

19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36
19:53 Swindon to Westbury due 20:36 will be cancelled.
This is due to a shortage of train crew.
Further Information
For more detailed information please contact a member of station staff or make use of the Customer Help Point systems available.
Please allow more time for your intended journey.

No staff at Melksham. Help point not working (even the "Information" button now fails to connect / I have not tried the emergency button)

Problem was reported to GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) Station Manager on 5th December ... hadn't been fixed when I was at the station at 08:45 this morning (10th December).

Perhaps the suggestion of "use the help point" is a suggestion that frustrated passengers should take out their anger on it ...

I'm getting to my wit's end ... and realistic ideas of advise to customers turning there this evening to catch trains that are cancelled would be appreciated!

I have. Or rather, my son pressed it (twice, I think, once at Redland, once at Montpellier!) and once it was answered promptly by someone who didn't seem either annoyed or surprised when I explained what had happened. The other time IIRC^▸ (if I recall/remember/read correctly) it wasn't answered at all; possibly they could see via CCTV^▸ (Closed Circuit Tele Vision) that there was no emergency? Or perhaps there was no connection. Anyway, I should think it just connects to the same people the info button goes to, only with (at least theoretically) more emergency. So it is *probably* cheeky rather than having the level of seriousness that frivolously dialling 999 would have.