Busaholic
Veteran Member
- Joined
- 7 Jun 2014
- Messages
- 14,096
I was referring to a consensus on this particular thread. Cornwall and Devon MPs were quite happy to get involved when the sleeper service was under threat a few years ago: the cynical might say it was because many of them used it themselves on a regular basis. In the event, when it was reprieved, those MPs, and a couple in particular, were very happy to claim credit, and the Transport Secretary of the time was happy to endorse their part in the decision. One of them was my MP the Lib Dem Andrew George, and he hung on to his seat with a small majority at the following General Election. The current MP for St Ives Derek Thomas will have noted the Brecon by-election result in a 'Leave' seat and be thinking about 'initiatives' that may enable him to retain his seat. GWR buffet ticks all the boxes. 'A small fraction of Cornish constituents who actually make use of on train catering facilities'? That may be true now because of the situation, but certainly wasn't in the past. The last time I travelled from Paddington, last year on an HST when everything was diverted via Bristol, I used the buffet on three occasions, the last time more to stretch my legs and avoid the tedium admittedly, and most people in my carriage (after Reading, first stop Exeter) went at least once, many purchasing both food and drink. You wait, these MPs WILL be getting involved even if their intervention comes to nought.A small and vociferous contingent on a rather niche corner of the Internet is not an indicator of a broader, general consensus. I think Cornish MPs have a lot more pressing matters to be concerning themselves with than over whether the small fraction of Cornish constituents who actually make use of on train catering facilities get their lukewarm tea from a counter or a trolley. I think they’d likely turn around and say what has been said by realists in this thread all along:-
A catering service is provided. GWR aren’t doing the best job of implementing that at present. We will put pressure on them to at least deliver what they’re meant to be doing now before backing expensive and disruptive modifications to trains that won’t actually fix the problems encountered.