National Express East Coast.

Lemonade_Pockets

Just thought instead of the usual whinge i'd post to commend excellent service.

On friday i was doing my usual trip u north from essex.
Due to Liverpool street station been shut down for an hour because of another copy cat flash mob, i missed my 8pm train to darlington.

National express kindly allowed me to travel on the 9pm even tho i had booked an advanced ticket specifically for 8pm - to be honest i would of expected this.

When i finally arrived in Darlington (after midnight) i had missed the connecting train, after checking out my story with London the station master paid for my taxi (£25) to my final destination. I'm of the if you don't ask you don't get mentality but non the less i'm surprised National express Coast footed the bill for this bit since it was Liverpool street stations fault and nothing to do with them or any of the other train companies.

So thumbs up from me!!!

So the money saving slant is if in doubt ask. I did and it saved me £25

FARE-COP

Isn't it really nice to hear someone just say they have just had what they considered exceptionally good service somewhere for a change.

I wonder if your choice of words also had anything to do with it?

The word 'ask' rather than 'demand' often brings the best out in people.

Lemonade_Pockets

FARE-COP wrote: »

Isn't it really nice to hear someone just say they have just had what they considered exceptionally good service somewhere for a change.

My sentiments exactly. I'm glad someone is one the same wave length as me!

gner_ex

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

National express kindly allowed me to travel on the 9pm even tho i had booked an advanced ticket specifically for 8pm - to be honest i would of expected this.

This is something you are automatically entitled to - you had (presumably) two or three seperate tickets, but which made up your complete journey - it is considered as one journey if things go wrong on other trains.

Ditto them not leaving you stranded given you had missed your last connecting train - its all in the passengers charter/national rail conditions of carriage.

Good to hear that the former GNER folks looked after you properly though.

Networkguy

I use National Express East Coast a few times each week from Peterborough into London and of course used GNER before that.

Since National Express took over this service has really started to shine and the service is now something I can rely on. On top of this, things like free wifi just make the service even better.

Of course when things go wrong (like last week) they go spectacularly wrong (why are the overhead wires so flaky near Stevenage) but this is now the exception rather than the norm.

It's just a pity my local train operator (East Midlands Trains) can't tell one end of a train from the other so I have to drive all the way into Peterborough in the first place rather than leave my car at home and catch connecting service.

Lemonade_Pockets

gner_ex wrote: »

This is something you are automatically entitled to - you had (presumably) two or three seperate tickets, but which made up your complete journey - it is considered as one journey if things go wrong on other trains.

Ditto them not leaving you stranded given you had missed your last connecting train - its all in the passengers charter/national rail conditions of carriage.

Good to hear that the former GNER folks looked after you properly though.

I just had the one ticket + a seat reservation for the whole journey. I knew this was the case there had been a problem with the train i.e. if my first train was late which caused me to miss a connecting train. But all my trains were on time it was just that the undeground station that shut (the circle line was still running i just couldn't get to it at liverpool street) i wasn't so sure but thought i'd ask anyway. If in these circumstances it is still mandatory then i'll remember for future reference. But still i'm glad they didn't try fob me off regardless.

addcoff

help me please
i am trying to find the best deal for train travel on 16th feb from Warminster,Wilts to Rugby. I keep loosing the plot and my mind with ticket splitting

gner_ex

Networkguy wrote: »

Of course when things go wrong (like last week) they go spectacularly wrong (why are the overhead wires so flaky near Stevenage) but this is now the exception rather than the norm.

They were done on the cheap. Take a look at this picture - http://petervickers.fotopic.net/p56317464.html

You'll see there are posts at either side (of all four tracks) with tensioned wires from one to the other, instead of a big solid girder - girders were used on the West Coast Main Line in the 1960s - see http://www.garyschofields-railwaypics.fotopic.net/p40038855.html

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

I just had the one ticket + a seat reservation for the whole journey. I knew this was the case there had been a problem with the train i.e. if my first train was late which caused me to miss a connecting train. But all my trains were on time it was just that the undeground station that shut (the circle line was still running i just couldn't get to it at liverpool street) i wasn't so sure but thought i'd ask anyway. If in these circumstances it is still mandatory then i'll remember for future reference. But still i'm glad they didn't try fob me off regardless.

My fault - I assumed that you entered Liverpool Street by rail, then had a tube connection, and then your journey out of Kings Cross. If your journey actually started at Liverpool Street then I'm not sure in all honesty as it isn't two rail journeys, it is a rail journey and a tube journey. 205 bus next time!

omelette451

Lemonade_Pockets wrote: »

i'm surprised National express Coast footed the bill for this bit since it was Liverpool street stations fault and nothing to do with them or any of the other train companies.

It's likely NX then claimed the money back from whichever company's fault it was (as is standard practice across all rail companies). Not that I'm belittling them of course - it's great that you were treated so well, - I just thought I'd point it out.