INACCURATE FGW CUSTOMER INFO and - FAILURE OF SWT'S WOKINGHAM DUTY MANAGER

[whole diary]

[bigdaz]

Herewith lies a story:

My wife's colleague, a 23 year old girl, was returning last night from her graduation at Plymouth.  She looked to make her connection at Reading into the Gatwick Airport service on the North Downs line.  Now despite most of us knowing from 19H00 that trains were not running due to the lightning strike, she was assured at 22h15 that waiting on 4a/b there would soon be the Gatwick Airport service.  Eventually she was told there was a bustitution!  She made her way to the front of the station, and by now her telephone was flat and she had no money on her.  [It is also worth pointing out that she had only 6 weeks previously left home in Wales and moved to start work in Farnborough.  Hence her geography was not very good.]

On boarding the bus, she was told it was going to Guildford only, but would be stopping at Farnborough.

At 23h00 the bus arrived at Wokingham where upon the driver announced he wasn't doing any more that day and ordered all passengers OFF the buses.  Desperate and without money and no mobile phone, she approached the duty staff at Wokingham station.  Who... completely ignored her, refused to speak to her, slammed the door in her face and wouldn't answer her knocking.

She didn't have a clue in the rain at 23h00 where Wokingham was and couldn't contact anyone.  It was down to the ingenuity of her friends who repeatedly tried to contact FGW^▸ (First Great Western) customer services and eventually traced the supposed route of the bus and found her crying in a heap in the Wokingham car park at 00h45!!

Now, how would this inspire ANYONE to travel by rail.

[Phil]

That's absolutely shocking. I can't even imagine another side to it, as is so often the case with these things. Quite frankly, this is one of the rare occasions I think I'd go to the press with the story and generate as much publicity as I could in order to hopefully prevent anything similar happening again.

[JayMac]

A truly major fupp up by all parties. I'm shocked that such treatment can be given to a fare paying passenger. Some butts need to be seriously kicked.

I trust complaints have been laid at the door of SWT^▸ (South West Trains), FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and so on. It can be a double edged sword but maybe involve the media as well.

[devon_metro]

Sounds like a cowboy coach company to me! There are plenty about.

[bigdaz]

Have just heard she's been awarded ^170 in rail vouchers a compensation.  I looked up and saw that was about double the SVR fare.  It's going to be in vouchers though!

[Chris from Nailsea]

In which case, it may be worth writing a polite but firm reply, pointing out that, in view of her bad experience, she is unlikely to travel by train again, and asking for a cheque instead of vouchers.

[JayMac]

Despite the compo, I'd still suggest approaching the media. The prompt payout may be an attempt by the TOC^▸ (Train Operating Company) to try and nip the story in the bud.

If it's FGW^▸ (First Great Western) offering the payout, then the actions of SWTs^▸ (South West Trains)' staff at Wokingham still need to be addressed. If the payout will be from SWT then FGW's failure to get her to her destination needs addressing.

[Phil]

In which case, it may be worth writing a polite but firm reply, pointing out that, in view of her bad experience, she is unlikely to travel by train again, and asking for a cheque instead of vouchers.

Can I just say that's an EXCELLENT suggestion. Well said, that man!

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

[bigdaz]

Chris is, after all, a man of few words....but those used are always well chosen.    

[Chris from Nailsea]

 

[SDS]

Defo send a letter back saying that the vouchers are useless. I wouldn't want to travel by rail after that experience regardless if its free or not.

If my staff did that during my watch, I would kick some serious **** into them. (I might even leave them in the middle of pewsey station with no money and no phone, oh wait......).

Send letters to both of the MD's.
Mark Hopwood
First Greater Western Limited
Milford House
1 Milford Street
Swindon
SN1 1HL

And
Andy Pitt
South West Trains
Friars Bridge Court
41-45 Blackfriars Road
London
SE1 8NZ

[Ollie]

It's obviously gone very wrong for this person.

From checking, the 22:34 Reading - Gatwick left Reading 43 late and the 23:34 left Reading 19 late - so I cannot understand how she did not get on one of these trains.

Glad she is getting compo though, surprisingly quick.

Do press SWT^▸ (South West Trains) regarding the staff issue at Wokingham, however it's unlikely there would have been a manager on shift at Wokingham - it doesn't have Duty Managers - was probably an unfortunate under pressure member of platform staff.

[Chris from Nailsea]

Thanks very much for that honest assessment of the situation, Ollie. 

[JayMac]

From checking, the 22:34 Reading - Gatwick left Reading 43 late and the 23:34 left Reading 19 late - so I cannot understand how she did not get on one of these trains.

Well, if the OP^▸ (Original Poster / topic starter) is an accurate account of what happened, then we have the scenario of an infrequent user of Reading Station being given advice from a staff member to board a rail-replacement bus. A bus that, as it turned out, wasn't going to her destination.

Most of us here on the forum have the tools and nous at our disposal to check and double check information given to us. It's the less frequent users of the rail network that can end up somewhere other than their destination.