Gloucester - station, facilities, services, events & incidents (merged posts)

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Gloucester Citizen:

"Gloucester railway station is letting the city down and needs a face-lift," says MP^▸ (Member of Parliament) Richard Graham



Gloucester's eyesore rail station could receive a major facelift under plans by city MP Richard Graham.

Changes to the facade, a landscaped forecourt, a new waiting room and covered bridge are just some ideas that Mr Graham has put forward in his submission to a consultation on the future of the First Great Western railway.

He believes the station is letting the city down and will be even more of a blight when the Kings Quarter and bus station projects are complete.

Mr Graham^s vision also includes another entrance and exit from the station onto Metz Way to alleviate the dreaded rush hour tailbacks.

^The travel experience at the moment is not a pleasant one,^ said Mr Graham. ^Trying to get out of the station at rush hour is a nightmare and there is plenty of room for improvement in terms of the appearance of the station. We need a station that we can be proud of and one that will give visitors arriving to enjoy our heritage, and before long our city centre shopping too, a great starting experience. I believe we can show the Government and operators alike that it is time to have more services and better station infrastructure at Gloucester.^

Mr Graham^s plans also include using the empty car park as a long term car park, enabling the forecourt to be used as an open space. He has also proposed better cycling routes out of the station and re-cladding the facade in a classical style similar to the Station Hotel with a new colonnade running the length of the entrance, recycling the slim pillars stored from platform 4.

The idea has been welcomed by commuters in Gloucester.

Tina Edwards said: ^The station looks horrid and drab. With so much going on elsewhere in the city it is about time something was done about the station.^

Steve White has been travelling through the city on his journey from Cheltenham to Newport for the past 25 years. ^In all that time nothing has changed,^ he said. ^It is very run-down and it needs some money spent on it.^

The outcome of the Department for Transport^s consultation will have a bearing on the future of the First Great Western franchise.

^Because not one organisation has responsibility for the train station it needed someone to try to come up with a vision and then fly the flag for something to be done,^ said Mr Graham. ^If reaction is positive we can sit down with the people involved and make a real plan. This will take time, but our case is much stronger now because our passenger growth last year is up 4.2 per cent, ahead of the national average.^

[JayMac]

From the Gloucester Citizen:

Wrong time on Gloucester Train Station parking meters put commuters at risk of fines

COMMUTERS at Gloucester train station were put at risk of large fines when car parking tickets were printed out at the wrong times.

Tickets were printed out incorrectly as the clock on the printing machines was running seven minutes slow.

It meant motorists in the car park faced fines of ^80, even if they had paid correctly for the time they were leaving their cars.

The problem was noticed by commuter Lorna Hardwick, who lives in Eldersfield near Tewkesbury, when she went to collect an advance ticket on Tuesday.

She said: ^Fortunately I only needed to park for 10 minutes while I collected my ticket, but if I stayed any longer I could have faced a charge of ^80.

^There are a lot of threatening notices about penalty charges at the station now and people could have been liable to face these unfair fines.

^There^s even signs up that say cars could be clamped if the ^80 is not paid. It just means that there^s no incentive to use the station anymore and I think people will eventually just give up.

^It^s also quite threatening for older people who think they may have to pay the fine and not know why.

^I think it was a rip-off.^

The contract to handle car parking charges at Gloucester Train Station was recently awarded to APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area), which manages car parks in 15 countries.

Gloucester station^s car park has 244 spaces and daily charges range from ^8.20 on weekdays and ^5.50 on weekends.

Around 200 extra parking spaces will soon be available for motorists visiting Gloucester city centre at the Barbican Site off Ladybellegate, which has been unused for years.

A spokesman from APCOA Parking UK^▸ (United Kingdom) said: ^Following a routine inspection of the parking equipment on Tuesday August 12 and then again on Friday morning, the ticket machine clock at Gloucester Station was found to be running approximately seven minutes slow.

^This matter had been reported to the site office by one of the engineers on Tuesday evening, and the clock was subsequently reset shortly after to display the correct time.

^During this period, no parking charge notices (PCNs) were issued, and customers were given a grace period on their tickets so that their parking experience wasn^t impeded.^

I've done a little editing to correct a glaring spelling error in this articles headline. Currently on the Gloucester Citizen website it reads: "Wrong time on Gloucester Train Station parking metres put commuters at risk of fines". 

[trainer]

Isn't Gloucester time 7 minutes behind London time?  It was the GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) that put an end to that, but perhaps the news didn't make it off the platform.

[ellendune]

Doesn't seem a major issue.  If the parking is for 24 hours like at Swindon 7 minutes is not going to affect many people. And once they noticed it they seem to have allowed the extra 7 minutes.

So what is the problem?

Ah forgot - Its August and there is no real local news in Gloucester

[JayMac]

I'm more concerned about signs mentioning clamping along with charges for breaching the car park terms and conditions. If the car park is operated under Railway Byelaws then clamping is permitted in some limited circumstances. If APCoA are issuing Parking Charge Notices using the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 then clamping is illegal.

Seems like they are trying to have their cake and eat it.

Also I wouldn't trust any Private Parking Company not to issue PCNs after a user has encountered a faulty machine. I've read of cases where charges have been pursued to the steps of court even when it has been acknowledged that a machine wasn't working correctly. A clock that is 7 minutes slow could easily lead to PCN being issued. It takes the flimsiest of reasons for these companies to issue PCNs. They are, after all, a large income stream from folk stupid enough to pay up without a fight.

[LiskeardRich]

I'm more concerned about signs mentioning clamping along with charges for breaching the car park terms and conditions. If the car park is operated under Railway Byelaws then clamping is permitted in some limited circumstances. If APCoA are issuing Parking Charge Notices using the Protection of Freedoms Act 2012 then clamping is illegal.

Seems like they are trying to have their cake and eat it.

Also I wouldn't trust any Private Parking Company not to issue PCNs after a user has encountered a faulty machine. I've read of cases where charges have been pursued to the steps of court even when it has been acknowledged that a machine wasn't working correctly. A clock that is 7 minutes slow could easily lead to PCN being issued. It takes the flimsiest of reasons for these companies to issue PCNs. They are, after all, a large income stream from folk stupid enough to pay up without a fight.

As I understand Clamping is illegal on private land regardless of PCNs being issued or not.

[JayMac]

Clamping/towing is not illegal on land in England and Wales where there is statutory control and Byelaws. Such as airports, ports, harbours and railway land, including the car parks. In these places the Byelaws must include the right to clamp and/or tow. This does not apply in Scotland, where removal of vehicles can only be lawfully carried out under the direction of the police.

Railway Byelaw 14 covers clamping and towing on railway land.

https://www.gov.uk/government/uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/4202/railway-byelaws.pdf#page=12

[thetrout]

I too share BNM's concerns on the timing of the machines resulting in tickets being issued.

PPCs are no better at customer services than Civil Recovery Firms, Debt Collection Agencies and the likes. Sad but true.

I'm not sure I 100% agree with ellendune's comment on 7 minutes for several reasons and bitter personal experience.

Trains do tend to have this awful ability to run behind scheduled times. So 7 minutes could make a huge difference. Whilst I don't know the setup at GCR^» (Gloucester - next trains). If the carpark is controlled by ANPR Cameras. It doesn't matter if it's 7 minutes or 70 minutes over. You'd get a ticket in the post automatically.

Considering that 7 minutes is the minimum time to change trains at Bath Spa, Using an expression (Nothing at all personal ellendune, and apologies if it looks otherwise, it's me being pedantic) "not affecting many people" is an attitude that makes my blood start to boil.

A while back Somerset County Council pulled the funding for rural bus services in the East Somerset Area. We lost several services completely, had one slashed by 50% frequency and so on. The argument from the council being "It won't affect many people who will have other transport choices" - Well I am one of those many who it does affect.

What I am trying to explain is the principle is the same. I believe I have told this story before on the forum regarding a PPC at a Supermarket. Where I was doing Christmas Food Shopping with a friend. We arrived by car, had lunch in the cafe, did the shopping and it took forever to go through the checkouts because the store were short staffed. Once shopping was loaded into the car, I returned to the store to use the toilets before leaving. The time I took in the toilets and returning to the car, which my friend by this time had moved to the pickup point, caused us to go over the maximum stay limit by a few minutes. She received a lovely invoice in the post from an ANPR device on the exit of the car.

Needless to say I dealt with the matter on her behalf and made it clear in no uncertain terms that no payment or offer of payment was ever going to be made. Letters exchanged back and fourth and the PPC offered to waive the charge as a "Gesture of Goodwill" if I could prove my medical condition caused the overstay. They received a copy of the results of a [was then] recent medical examination which makes very grim reading and included photographs from the investigations as well...

If a PPC is going to threaten a friend with court action, home visits from collection agencies, for something that was in no way her fault, then I will make them suffer. I finished the letter with the following line:

"Enjoy you lunch"

Whilst going down the POPLA route may have been the better option using the classic "does not represent a pre-estimated loss to the organisation" and for the time overstayed the vehicle was in a pickup point waiting to pick up a passenger so was not occupying a space. May have been the better and more mature option, But I sometimes feel that if a company is going to try borderline immoral practices to gain money, then the "customer" also has the right to play a rough ball game...


Finally, Clamping on private land is I believe unlawful. There are very, very few cases where this is not the case. But for a private car park violation then clamping is almost certainly unlawful. Put it this way, If I had a car and came back to it at 1AM to find it clamped over an overstay in the carpark, I would make no hesitation to taking an angle grinder to the clamp. Or getting a friend to tow the car and remove the clamp by taking off the wheel in a vehicle repair station. I know people who have done the former and the latter when they've been clamped illegally.

Another case a friend removed the clamp, took it over 200 miles away to another vehicle repair station and wrote to the "clampers" telling them where they could collect their clamps in person.

I should also point out that I am not in any way a legally qualified professional and anything said above is considered E&OE and should be taken as such. Think that just about absolves me

[ellendune]

At Swindon the parking tickets from the machine are all up to midnight. If that is the case at Gloucester then not many people would be around at midnight.  If it is otherwise then more people would be affected.

[LiskeardRich]

Put it this way, If I had a car and came back to it at 1AM to find it clamped over an overstay in the carpark, I would make no hesitation to taking an angle grinder to the clamp. Or getting a friend to tow the car and remove the clamp by taking off the wheel in a vehicle repair station. I know people who have done the former and the latter when they've been clamped illegally.

Another case a friend removed the clamp, took it over 200 miles away to another vehicle repair station and wrote to the "clampers" telling them where they could collect their clamps in person.

I should also point out that I am not in any way a legally qualified professional and anything said above is considered E&OE and should be taken as such. Think that just about absolves me

You can legally remove the clamp yourself as long as you don't cause damage to the clamp, and leave it where it can reasonably be collected by the clamping firm.
They are fairly easy to remove without causing damage, plenty of guides can be found on internet search engines. If you damage the clamp, you can be pursued for criminal damage, and if you don't leave it behind you can be done for theft.
If you remove it yourself the fee is not applicable, as the fee charged for clamping is normally called a removal fee. A charge for them to remove the clamp.

[JayMac]

From FGW^▸ (First Great Western) JourneyCheck:

Cancellations to services at Gloucester Due to a person hit by a train at Gloucester all lines are blocked.

Impact:
Train services running through this station may be cancelled, delayed or diverted. An estimate for the resumption of normal services will be provided as soon as the problem has been fully assessed.

Customer Advice:
Cross Country are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

From the Gloucester Citizen:

Station closed after person hit by train in Gloucester

Gloucester train station has been closed off after a person was hit by a train.

Trains are currently running, but no services will stop there. Alternative road transport is being arranged.

Services by road are being provided between Cheltenham and Gloucester, and Gloucester and Bristol Parkway.

Emergency services are currently attending and will advice operator First Great Western when it is safe to re-open the station.

First Great Western issued a brief message on Twitter at 11.26am today (Tuesday).

A bad day in our region. This incident follows the double fatality earlier at Slough. Thoughts, as always, to those involved, especially the drivers.

[JayMac]

This incident at Gloucester station has now been deemed non-suspicious by the BTP^▸ (British Transport Police).

[JayMac]

Gloucester station has now reopened as at 1301. Knock on delays, diversions and cancellations may still occur.

Customer Advice:
Cross Country are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

Stagecoach West Buses 46 Gloucester - Stroud, Stagecoach West Buses 93 Cheltenham Spa - Stroud, Stagecoach West Bus 51 Cheltenham via Cirencester - Swindon, Stagecoach Bus 94 Cheltenham Spa - Gloucester and Stagecoach West Buses 10, 94, 97 & 98 Gloucester - Cheltenham Spa are conveying passengers via any reasonable route until further notice. Arrangements have been made for First Great Western rail tickets to be accepted for these journeys.

[JayMac]

The RAIB^▸ (Rail Accident Investigation Branch) has now released its report into this incident.

Full report can be downloaded at: http://www.raib.gov.uk/publications/investigation_reports/reports_2014/report202014.cfm

Summary:

At about 20:15 hrs on 15 October 2013, a freight train operated by Direct Rail Services, which was carrying containers, derailed about 4 miles (6.4 km) south west of Gloucester station on the railway line from Newport via Lydney. It was travelling at 69 mph (111 km/h) when the rear wheelset of the last wagon in the train derailed on track with regularly spaced dips in both rails, a phenomenon known as cyclic top. The train continued to Gloucester station where it was stopped by the signaller, who had become aware of a possible problem with the train through damage to the signalling system. By the time the train stopped, the rear wagon was severely damaged, the empty container it was carrying had fallen off, and there was damage to four miles of track, signalling cables, four level crossings and two bridges.

The immediate cause of the accident was a cyclic top track defect which caused a wagon that was susceptible to this type of track defect to derail. The dips in the track had formed due to water flowing underneath the track and although the local Network Rail track maintenance team had identified the cyclic top track defect, the repairs it carried out were ineffective. The severity of the dips required immediate action by Network Rail, including the imposition of a speed restriction for the trains passing over it, but no such restriction had been put in place. Speed restrictions had repeatedly been imposed since December 2011 but were removed each time repair work was completed; on each occasion, such work subsequently proved to be ineffective.

The type of wagon that derailed was found to be susceptible to wheel unloading when responding to these dips in the track, especially when loaded with the type of empty container it was carrying. This susceptibility was not identified when the wagon was tested or approved for use on Network Rail^s infrastructure.

The RAIB also observes: the local Network Rail track maintenance team had a shortfall in its manpower resources; and design guidance for the distance between the wheelsets on two-axle wagons could also be applied to the distance between the centres of the bogies on bogie wagons.

The RAIB has made seven recommendations. Four are directed to Network Rail and cover reviewing the drainage in the area where the train derailed, revising processes for managing emergency speed restrictions for cyclic top track defects, providing track maintenance staff with a way of measuring cyclic top after completing repairs, and investigating how cyclic top on steel sleeper track can be effectively repaired. Two are directed to RSSB^▸ (Rail Safety and Standards Board) and cover reviewing how a vehicle^s response to cyclic top is assessed and amending guidance on the design of freight wagons. One is directed to Direct Rail Services and covers mitigating the susceptibility of this type of wagon to cyclic top.

[paul7575]

Just read the report, I definitely know a lot more about 'cyclic top' now...   

Interesting that they seem to be writing off 'steel sleepers' due to the difficult of maintaining track level with manual tools or 'stone blowers', and they suggest they were the wrong choice for this secondary line in the first place, because although secondary as a passenger line no-one seems to have thought of the freight traffic.

Another part of the analysis concerns the suspension performance of the container wagons when empty or lightly loaded - they and their testing and certification come in for a fair amount of criticism.

Paul