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Caledonian Sleeper

sftfan1909

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8 Aug 2018
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Gloucester
Hopefully they won’t make you stand waiting at Arrochar and Tarbet for three hours for a bus!
Even if they didn't get any ticket acceptance I would rather pay for a single to Edinburgh and wait there instead of for three hours in the middle of nowhere :lol:
 
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theironroad

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If I were you, I would definitely call them tomorrow or Saturday and see what they can do. I find that they are usually very helpful in the guest services centre, and they’ll do whatever they can to help you. If you’re lucky they might arrange you a taxi, or at least ticket acceptance with Scotrail between Edinburgh and Dalmuir (I believe, to make things easier, you can get a direct train from Edinburgh to Dalmuir on the route via Airdrie, but I wouldn’t be sure of how the connections worked). They might exceptionally let you use the Lowlander, but don’t be too disappointed if they don’t (it might already be full, for instance). Hopefully they won’t make you stand waiting at Arrochar and Tarbet for three hours for a bus! (I’d tell them that wasn’t acceptable, hopefully they will have the good sense to see this).

As much as the area around arrochar is lovely, I'd not want to be waiting at arrochar station for much over half an hour, especially in the wet and wind.
 

MrEd

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13 Jan 2019
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587
Even if they didn't get any ticket acceptance I would rather pay for a single to Edinburgh and wait there instead of for three hours in the middle of nowhere :lol:

That might not be a bad idea, but it would be nice if you didn’t have to. I can’t imagine an off-peak Dalmuir-Edinburgh is ludicrously expensive, though.

You may not want to do this for obvious reasons, but I’ve often found that Scotrail on-train staff have been *very* sympathetic to stranded sleeper passengers (they sometimes do more to help than CS’ own staff) and to let otherwise stranded passengers travel even where there is no formal ticket acceptance in place. Admittedly my experience of this has been further away from the Central Belt, but I do remember once being stranded at Perth going north to Inverness after the electric train supply on the locomotive failed (the train was already nearly two hours late). The only option was to board replacement buses which (as they were stopping at every intermediate station) would have taken three hours (or perhaps more), and were going to take a while to arrive. No ticket acceptance was arranged for Scotrail services. As I absolutely had to catch the 10.56 Kyle train from Inverness, the buses were not an option. What I (and a number of other time-critical passengers did, a couple of whom needed to get a train to Wick) was board the 08.10 Perth to Inverness train and explain our predicament to the conductor (there are no penalty fares anywhere in Scotland, so the worst thing he can do is sell you a ticket). Perhaps not strictly legal, but things are usually far more relaxed here in Scotland. He accepted my (and the other travellers’) sleeper tickets with no problem, apologised for the inconvenience and did not charge me (or anyone else) anything. He even arranged for us to have free cups of tea off the trolley! Scotrail on-train staff seem generally very willing to assist even if no formal ticket acceptance is arranged.

Obviously I would only ever attempt this course of action if CS’ guest service centre were unable to come up with a reasonable solution (and if the Dalmuir-Edinburgh ticket were needlessly expensive, which I can’t imagine it will be).
 

MrEd

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13 Jan 2019
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587
As much as the area around arrochar is lovely, I'd not want to be waiting at arrochar station for much over half an hour, especially in the wet and wind.

Seconded! Particularly not waiting for a replacement bus, whose timings can often be taken with a pinch of salt...
 

Essexman

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15 Mar 2011
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CS have tweeted in last hour that southbound Lowlander terminated at Preston due to train fault. They say they’re organising road transport but surely the first Virgin train south would be better.
 

Essexman

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CS are now saying other operators won’t accept sleeper tickets due to knock on effects from disruption yesterday but CS will reimburse if people buy their own tickets.
 

47421

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7 Feb 2012
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london
Fun times...


@_j_a_campbell @squawkbox I’m on it, can confirm I’ve no goodwill! Awoken at 5:30 and told we’d be getting a Virgin train at 6. Then this was retracted as Virgin wouldn’t accept us. Then no info til 6:30 when told to get out and go to waiting rooms as platform was needed. Bus replacement would be at....
@_j_a_campbell @squawkbox 8:30/9 and would take 4 hours according to googlemaps. Then they told us we could buy train tickets to London and be reimbursed. So we’ve done this and are now on fast train to London getting in at 9:06. Was £359 upfront for 2 with a railcard. Not everyone will have that ready...
 

MadCommuter

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4 Oct 2010
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630
How much longer can CS carry on like this. Fair enough they agreed to reimburse costs of alternative rail tickets, but I presume delay repay will apply too, but how is that sustainable for a business?
 

Mathew S

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7 Aug 2017
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How much longer can CS carry on like this. Fair enough they agreed to reimburse costs of alternative rail tickets, but I presume delay repay will apply too, but how is that sustainable for a business?
It depends how much of those costs Serco can reclaim. For example, from CAF, Network Rail, etc.

As for this morning, a significant number of Virgin services from Preston heading south are cancelled and/or severely delayed due to an OHLE problem in the Birmingham area, so I can understand Virgin's reluctance to agree ticket acceptance.
 

nedchester

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It depends how much of those costs Serco can reclaim. For example, from CAF, Network Rail, etc.

As for this morning, a significant number of Virgin services from Preston heading south are cancelled and/or severely delayed due to an OHLE problem in the Birmingham area, so I can understand Virgin's reluctance to agree ticket acceptance.

No it's pathetic. I'm sure the poor passengers on the much delayed sleeper will 'understand' especially those foreign tourists...…...it highlights everything that's wrong with U.K.'s railways.
 

PaxVobiscum

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Any insight on what was the nature of the train fault? I assume that if it was a failed loco CS would have stated that.
 

Mathew S

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No it's pathetic. I'm sure the poor passengers on the much delayed sleeper will 'understand' especially those foreign tourists...…...it highlights everything that's wrong with U.K.'s railways.
I do think that's a bit of an over-reaction. Yes, it's far from ideal, but the Crewe - London service (and therefore by extension the Preston - London service) was pretty much decimated this morning. The reality is that coaches were probably the most comfortable option. All offering ticket acceptence would have achieved is to further overcrowd the seriously limited services that Virgin and LNR actually managed to run through to London.
 

87015

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I do think that's a bit of an over-reaction. Yes, it's far from ideal, but the Crewe - London service (and therefore by extension the Preston - London service) was pretty much decimated this morning. The reality is that coaches were probably the most comfortable option. All offering ticket acceptence would have achieved is to further overcrowd the seriously limited services that Virgin and LNR actually managed to run through to London.
Eh? Preston-Euston direct didn’t have any cancellations. Only one booked via Birmingham didn’t run, the others that way were sent direct so likely to have had more spare space than normal.
 

Ben Bow

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20 Sep 2018
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I tend to disagree, I would suggest that in reality a few dozen sleeper passengers are not going to make the overcrowding much worse than it already is. And given that, those not in a hurry may opt for the (hopefully) better conditions on the replacement coach.
 

EE Andy b1

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What would the situation be if the customer couldn't afford to pay for the extra tickets

Travel by VTWC anyway, explain the circumstances to the train manager and get an unpaid fare notice, give your name and Caledonian booking info and let Caledonian foot the bill.
 
Joined
16 Oct 2018
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Prickwillow
Travel by VTWC anyway, explain the circumstances to the train manager and get an unpaid fare notice, give your name and Caledonian booking info and let Caledonian foot the bill.

How many people would be happy with doing that, risking a penalty fare? Even if penalty fares are not in operation, people don't necessarily know that. I think nedchester is right, this is one of the major problems with our system, that people who are already not being given the service they paid for are being messed about, told different things by different people, told to find £100 they may not have and hope they get it back. If we are going to have the franchise system, they should not be allowed to refuse a request for ticket acceptance from another company. Or each passenger could be given a single trip voucher that can be used to buy a ticket on CS's account.
 

EE Andy b1

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Or each passenger could be given a single trip voucher that can be used to buy a ticket on CS's account.

Now that would be spot on. Not complicated, and as long as all TOCs knew of the voucher, should be no problem. Famous last words and all that.
Should be First class if available as well,for goodwill & towards compensation.
 

Chrism20

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27 Feb 2013
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Scotland’s transport journalist of the year is currently trolling twitter asking for pictures of the broken down train.
 

Mathew S

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Eh? Preston-Euston direct didn’t have any cancellations. Only one booked via Birmingham didn’t run, the others that way were sent direct so likely to have had more spare space than normal.
I know that, but stopping (from what I could gather) everything additionally at Crewe, to pick up what they could there, combined with the myriad cancellations south of Crewe/Manchester has caused massive issues, which are still ongoing.
 

InOban

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12 Mar 2017
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Am I right that this is first recent failure of a Mk 5 set, as opposed to to engine failure or wires down?
 

sftfan1909

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8 Aug 2018
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375
Location
Gloucester
Hopefully they won’t make you stand waiting at Arrochar and Tarbet for three hours for a bus!
Just rang them up and it turns out that the bus carrying passengers to Glasgow which stop between A&T and Glasgow also continues to Edinburgh afterwards, so I can board that :smile:
 

route:oxford

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1 Nov 2008
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Travel by VTWC anyway, explain the circumstances to the train manager and get an unpaid fare notice, give your name and Caledonian booking info and let Caledonian foot the bill.

I'm just disgusted by what's happened here.

There are absolutely no circumstancees where a UK railway passenger should find themselves told to buy a new ticket if they want to continue a journey, when the train that they are currently on fails.

It's a never never event. if the on train crew couldn't issue 200 tickets to "cash" with the accountants sorting it out later, The head of Serco should have been on the phone with his company credit card to buy 200 tickets.

Given the £Ms of cash Westminster is throwing at the service, the head of Serco needs to be interviewed by a committee at Parliament.
 

AndrewE

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9 Nov 2015
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https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-scotl...lancashire&link_location=live-reporting-story says
A union has called for Serco to be stripped of the Caledonian Sleeper contract after stranded passengers were told to buy new tickets to London.

The service from Glasgow/Edinburgh was cancelled at 05:20 in Preston and people were told tickets would not be accepted on any other service....
Ryan Flaherty, Serco's managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said the Southbound Lowlander service was cancelled at Preston due to a technical fault "affecting ride comfort and on-board systems".

He said: "We're extremely sorry to those affected by this issue.

"Unfortunately ticket acceptance on other trains was initially declined due to knock-on effects of disruption across the network yesterday, but all guests will be reimbursed for their onward travel to London.

"Ticket acceptance was later put in place which allowed the remaining guests at Preston to complete their journey.
Can this really be true? And will CS be picking up all the taxi bills to London?
 

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