Southern First Class Upgrades:

SimonDance

My girlfriend, who works in the City - but commutes from West sussex has recently broken her arm, and pays just over £4500 a year for a train ticket including the tube, yet almost every morning she is forced to stand for nearly an hour as the train is packed. Following her accident, (2 weeks later) she has made an attempt to return to work, with her arm strapped up (not in plaster, due to the nature of the break), but as you can imagine she is worried that it will get knocked by fellow commuters - and worse still she still has to stand.

She confronted a ticket guard and ask if she could sit in first class, to which the guard replied that all he could do was evict someone else from their seat, so that she could sit down. Yeah, and I am sure that would cause a scene.

Anyway, she called the train operator, and this is their response:

Dear Mr/Mrs Duke,

Thank you for your email.

Although I can sympathise with your plight, I am afraid that we do not
offer any free First Class upgrades, or concessions to the disabled,
elderly, pregnant or those with injuries such as a broken limb.

I am sorry I cannot be more helpful on this occasion.


Regards

Sandra Kerton
Southern Customer Services

You can now send us emails and reply to us directly at:
comments@southernrailway.com

This is disgusting!, not so much for my girlfriend with her broken arm, as that will be ok in about 4-5 weeks, but what about the disabled,
elderly or pregnant? To think that my GF pays £4500 for what? poor service, rude staff, and not even a seat. Why southern cant lay on more coaches is beyond me, but it's clear that they only respect their 1st class customers, whilst the rest of us have to slum it.

If you have any comments, I would love to hear them. Or why not email comments@southernrailway.com

Sorry guys, had to rant.

You wouldn't get this service in the rest of Europe!

Si

Tojo_Ralph

....
Does anyone know if there is a train operator or airline, etc, that does have a policy of offering free upgrades to First Class for elderly, pregnant or disabled passengers?

jmarko

Both First Great Connect and South West Trains offer a free first class upgrade for pregnant ladies (not pregnant persons per se, you understand). You have to apply and you only get to leave the hoi polloi if there are no seats in cattle class.

http://www.nationalrail.co.uk/promotions/england.html#M

jmarko

Scarlett1

I used to travel back and forward to the city for work and the travelling was appaling, someone did once give up their seat for me when I was standing up and looked a little green round the edges, she said I was ready to faint any minute

know how you feel simon, but hopefully your g/f might come across a kind commuter now and again to give up their seat for her

illmonkey

is every seat taken? What about the people who put bags on chairs? ask them to move them.

Or the ones who sit on the set of 2 but block access to the window one, ask them to move.

Scarlett1

illmonkey wrote:

is every seat taken? What about the people who put bags on chairs? ask them to move them.

Or the ones who sit on the set of 2 but block access to the window one, ask them to move.

in rush hour that wouldnt happen, there would be no such thing as an empty seat, its horrendous

newfoundglory

Even standing seems to be a "luxury" on the tube and trains now.... most of the time you cant even fit in the door... literally. Thats after you've queued to get on the platform, of course, due to over-crowding :rolleyes:

Scarlett1

newfoundglory wrote:

Even standing seems to be a "luxury" on the tube and trains now.... most of the time you cant even fit in the door... literally. Thats after you've queued to get on the platform, of course, due to over-crowding :rolleyes:

what you do is jam the tube door open with your handbag to stop it closing :rotfl:

Skiduck

best edit that or someone will get the !!!!

Glad

Hi, Martin’s asked me to post this in these circumstances: I’ve asked Board Guides to move threads if they’ll receive a better response elsewhere(please see this rule) so this post/thread has been moved to another board, where it should get more replies. If you have any questions about this policy please email [EMAIL="abuse@moneysavingexpert.com"]abuse@moneysavingexpert.com[/EMAIL].

Altarf

SimonDance wrote:

Why southern cant lay on more coaches is beyond me,

And where are they supposed to get the money to buy the extra coaches and the money to lengthen the platforms? The only options are higher prices or from the taxpayer. You would moan about option one, and as a taxpayer who doesn't use Southern Railways, why should I pay more taxes to subsidise your travel.