Virgin Trains

londonuk2008

I chose the time and date going out and the return was valid until the end of september - what its exact name is I'm not sure - two singles with a open return?As I said its the first time its happened to us and not impressed.

Pity those who have too travel often on the wcml.

Humphrey10

If it wasn't an Advance ticket, you can choose what train you get on. Even if you choose the time on the website when you buy the ticket.

From your description, you had an Off Peak return ticket, £70.40 per ticket Euston-Preston? You could have used any off peak train that day, it doesn't matter if you choose a time when you buy the ticket. You chose to get on a busy train, no-one forced you.

londonuk2008

Humphrey10 wrote: »

If it wasn't an Advance ticket, you can choose what train you get on. Even if you choose the time on the website when you buy the ticket.

From your description, you had an Off Peak return ticket, £70.40 per ticket Euston-Preston? You could have used any off peak train that day, it doesn't matter if you choose a time when you buy the ticket. You chose to get on a busy train, no-one forced you.

No you are correct - no one forced us - but the bottom line as I have said is I expect a seat without hassle.Maybe some people are fine without , and had I known we have would have changed the days of travel.

When I have traveled with National Express/GNER I always had a seat - no matter how full the train was - I never saw any standing.

p00hsticks

londonuk2008 wrote: »

When I have traveled with National Express/GNER I always had a seat - no matter how full the train was - I never saw any standing.

I think that's just luck though. The only way you can guarantee never to have anyone standing on a train is to insist that you can't board unless you have a seat reservation, which isn't practical on many routes, as you will have people travelling with season tickets, people with anytime tickets who are entitled to travel on whatever train takes their fancy etc etc...

There simply isn't either the rolling stock or the line capacity to run many more trains than at present - I believe that over the next few years Virgin will be adding extra carriages to their trains to try to increase the number of passengers it can handle.

Bowling_4_Gold

I travelled to Blackpool from Twyford and used Virgin Trains for most of the journey - there was a large group of us, all of which had seat reservations, but the electronic system is hopeless! Most of our seats were double, or even triple-booked, so all had to sit/stand apart...

mrcol1000

londonuk2008 wrote: »

Just came back from Preston with Virgin trains and it was a nightmare!Booked online a couple of weeks ago via there website and chose our train times etc - unable to reserve seats though but was not overly worried at the time.When we boarded at Euston it was a nightmare trying to find a seat - eventualy we did and then on our return yesterday afternoon we had to stand in the passage way all the way back to London squashed with other people,I know it was a bank holiday - but why not put extra trains and reserve seats?

Speaking to a couple of other passangers this is the 'norm'!No train staff about , ticket not even checked and aperantely as we had a open return(dunno why - as we chose our trains) its tough luck and you take your chance.

Travel a lot with National Express and the old GNER and never had this problem!

I have never had this problem before but always get cheap tickets which require a seat to be reserved. Did you search the whole train for an empty seat as often there are empty seats dotted around which people put their bags on (even with people standing!). Also the "quiet" coach is often the most empty carriage. To be honest when you couldn't reserve a seat alarm bells would have started ringing! If you can't reserve a seat on an intercity train there is a good chance your journey will take a lot longer than normal or you will have to stand. If the train was that busy the guard probably decided not to bother checking tickets because he wouldn't be able to get through the train, he probably would have got lycnhed and didn't want to upset people further.
National Express/GNER isn't much better. In fact their trains are the only time I have not got a proper seat on an intercity train. I missed my train which had a reserved seat but lucky I had a open ticket and got the next one. It was packed and I had to sit on one of the fold down seats behind the toilet. Every time someone went to toilet they banged the door open, banged it shut and I had the delightful aroma once they finished. Four and half hours on a seat like a piece of cardboard!

blue35_2

I think the above poster has got it right - if you can not reserve a seat in advance be wary.To be honest I think its the way the railways are now - and at the moment there is not much we can do about it.

andyrules

I had this kind of journey with them a couple of years back. It was so bad that even people with seat numbers couldn't fight their way in. It was a predictably busy time too, with people going to the airport. The toilets were used as standing room and a child had to be relieved in the sink - in front of all. I don't think it is acceptable to be honest, but as people say, UK is in the doldrums re travel and rolling stock - thanks Mr Beecham and Mrs Thatcher! I complained, and got a voucher back, but would rather have had a civilised journey.

As for waiting for the next train - DD and friends, laden with luggage and open tickets, waited for the next one, but with all the reservations still ended up standing all the way. They asked to move to first class, but were refused. I understand that the guard is able to upgrade at his discretion when the train is heaving, so that's always worth a try, but I guess the outcome depends on the guard and if he likes your face!

mrcol1000

andyrules wrote: »

I had this kind of journey with them a couple of years back. It was so bad that even people with seat numbers couldn't fight their way in. It was a predictably busy time too, with people going to the airport. The toilets were used as standing room and a child had to be relieved in the sink - in front of all. I don't think it is acceptable to be honest, but as people say, UK is in the doldrums re travel and rolling stock - thanks Mr Beecham and Mrs Thatcher! I complained, and got a voucher back, but would rather have had a civilised journey.

As for waiting for the next train - DD and friends, laden with luggage and open tickets, waited for the next one, but with all the reservations still ended up standing all the way. They asked to move to first class, but were refused. I understand that the guard is able to upgrade at his discretion when the train is heaving, so that's always worth a try, but I guess the outcome depends on the guard and if he likes your face!

For a train guard to update standard class passengers to first class I think they have to declare the whole carriage as standard class and so 1st class passengers have to either move to another 1st class carriage or get a refund on the difference between standard and 1st class ticket. If there was a pregant or disabled person they might be able to turn a blind eye to them sitting in 1st class with a standard ticket. End of the day many people pay extra for 1st class for a quiet journey and not to be packed in. Virgin trains always seems a bit cheap and nasty though no matter which end your sitting. I think its the design of the trains personally. They feel a bit cheap and small while the older trains seem a bit bigger and better quality. I use to use West Coast mainline regularly and a 2 hour journey during the week would take 5 hours on a weekend as we use to get a tour of Birmingham first.

kazzah60

Humphrey10 wrote: »

Wait a minute, you said you got on at Euston. All the lines there terminate there. So when the train gets there, everyone gets off. So the trains always start empty at Euston. So how can you have a problem finding a seat? Unless you choose to get on a full train, but why would you do that?

Humphrey10 - you clearly have never experienced any difficulties on a train starting from Euston - the last journey I made from London to Coventry on June 10th had exactly the problem the OP states
for some reason the train prior to mine had been cancelled and there were two train loads of people fighting (literally) for seats
ALL seat reservations had been cancelled and it was a nightmare trying to find a seat
after 15 minutes of walking the length of the train I managed to find a seat- but it was extremely unpleasant and there were so many complaints that in the end people were allowed to sit in the 1st class carriages
I travel frequently with Virgin and find that the west coast service is by far the WORST service to travel on for cancelleations and difficulties
but what annoys me most is the scrabble for seats in standard class when there are often 5 or 6 EMPTY 1st class carriages almost empty

and as for the journey between coventry and Birmingham
you NEVER get a seat at commuter time and your ticket is seldom checked - i think because they KNOW the verbal abuse they would get if they tried to check the tickets from everyone squashed into the corridors!