To anyone travelling south towards London on Thameslink 21/03

frivolous_fay

I'm going to be sending the following letter to Thameslink after my journey this morning. I intend to get a voucher out of this. I would advise anyone who has been on a train that didn't stop at their intended station to clarify with staff exactly what happened, then make a fuss!

Dear Sirs

Yet again the thoughtlessness of Thameslink astounds me.

This morning I was bemused to see St Albans flashing past, as I sat on my regular train (the 8.28 from Luton) having intended to alight at St Albans to go to work. I thought perhaps I had missed an announcement telling me it would not stop there today. I ground my teeth and resigned myself to getting off at the next stop. Might it have been Radlett? No! That wouldn’t have been inconvenient enough! That train had to go all the way to Kings Cross Thameslink; what joy!

My irritation turned to anger only on the return train, the 9.10 service from Kings Cross (at this point a mere ten minutes late for work.) A ticket inspector passed through the train, so I offered my season ticket and started to explain that my train hadn’t stopped at St Albans. He was clearly au fait with the situation, and interrupted me, apologising that there had been no announcements. I asked what had been the reason behind the change to the timetable; he answered that it had been a health and safety decision as the train had been shorter than usual today.

So, if I understand this correctly, the policy was to not stop at a busy station, as the train was already fuller than usual. Did none of the health and safety staff consider the crush as the people who had wanted to get off at St Albans alighted all at once at Kings Cross instead, which, you may be aware, is an extremely busy station? Finally, why did no-one extend your paying customers the basic courtesy of explaining what was going on, allowing them the chance to make changes to their journey in order to prevent being an hour late for work? I can assure you this is no joke when you are paid by the hour.

As someone who has experienced the rammed trains on ‘emergency timetable’ days, I can only feel derision that Thameslink experiences a moment’s concern about moderate over-crowding on a single train. The inept bureaucratic attempts to resolve this morning’s minor problem, backed up by train staff’s clear contempt for their customers have yet again left me reeling in disbelief at the state of the service I pay for.

I look forward to your views on the matter.



I do enjoy writing nasty letters :rotfl:

silvercar

Bet they write back saying you should be grateful you weren't charged extra for your journey, after all you went all the way to King's X having only got a ticket valid to St Albans!

What do Thameslink care, they've lost the franchise.