[Anonymous]

[PilotAddict]

Having had the most appalling service from my train operator (SouthEastern) for the first quarter of this year, I wonder if we will ever get down to the real reasons the trains have been so delayed / cancelled.

Coming into London this week I was told the reason we were late (once again) was because someone had pulled the passenger alarm.

A few minutes later while sitting at Waterloo we asked a member of staff on the platform. “Waiting for a signal. Signalling problems” we were told.

A few minutes later, the conductor announced that the reasons we were late was because there was a fault on the train and he hoped it would be fixed soon. It was rather embarrassing at this point because the train pulled out of the station and limped into Charing Cross. The fault on the train was miraculously fixed.

Now who was telling the truth? If you are going to make things up then at least tell everyone the same story. Or was it a terrible coincidence that all three events actually happened to my train?

Do train companies have to report the reasons for their delays or can they always get away with the 10 minute buffer zone meaning they are never “late”?.

[NTarrant]

Interesting question PilotAddict, but essentally the answer is no they don’t have to give specific information, annoying as it is. My advice would be to complain everytime if you don’t get a suitable answer.

Sometimes it is easy for platform staff to give an off the cuff answer which will get the traveller away from them, in most cases it works, they may well be right and the other person wrong.

[PilotAddict]

Thanks NTarrant, I do complain – I am a season ticket holder and so I complain a lot!
Southeastern recently ruled that my route may be able to compensate Season ticket holders for the awful delays we have had but then they probably realised how much money they would lose because suddenly it was only people who had bought individual tickets for specific cancelled trains who got refunds. Not a great way to treat regular passengers, but then they have us over a barrel.
Anyway i just wondered if there was any independent body which could make sure train operator’s can’t just get away with ‘signal failure’ all the time. If there are so many signal failures why don’t the train operators complain to the rail contractor’s and get them to give them a refund? which they could then pass onto the long suffering commuters?

[NTarrant]

You should get the compensation normally associated with annual season tickets. That is in the franchise agreement and they are bound by the rules.

There is an “independent” body called Passenger Focus, but it is as useful as a chocolate teapot and run by a bunch of muppets who don’t have a clue about train travel. If you complain to Southeastern and go back to them and say you are not satisfied with a response eventually you can take the complaint to PF. My experience is that they are on the rail company side. A friend of mine was on the previous body Rail Passenger Committee and he would say things from a passenger perspective and was always dismissed as not possible!

[Author]

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