CrossCountry Trains advert banned over ‘insufficient’ free food and drink claims…

[Metrolink]

Advert banned over complimentary food and drink claims on train services

Catering was available on less than 80 per cent of journeys, the Advertising Standards Authority found

www.independent.co.uk

Thought this article was interesting:

An ad for CrossCountry Trains has been banned for over-promising on the availability of complimentary food and drink for passengers.

Despite the firm’s website claiming passengers would receive free food and drink “on most of our first-class services”, catering was available on less than 80 per cent of journeys, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found.

The website said: “An at-seat service of complimentary non-alcoholic drinks and snacks is available throughout the day for all first-class customers… In addition to drinks and snacks, customers on longer journeys can choose from a range of complimentary sandwiches.”

Two passengers who said they frequently travelled on the first-class service but did not receive complimentary food and drink complained that the ad was misleading.

And the reasoning for this:

CrossCountry Trains told the ASA the period leading up to the complainants seeing the ad – September to November 2023 – was marked by “exceptional disruption” due to industrial action and four storms.

Whilst I find the decision fair from the part of the ASA, I question the reasoning for providing only 80% of XC’s services with first class catering as strike and weather disruption.

Surely if the service that was going to be provided was knowingly going to be inadequate why even bother advertising it?

 

[YorkRailFan]

That explains the new catering choice:

You can eat the children in any of the seats you have reserved as you so choose. ^SR

https://twitter.com/CrossCountryUK/status/1780231932741067208?t=PdaonHQmlVeo1uzj_6GBuA&s=19

(Yes this is the official account)

 

[Gwr12345]

The amount of disclaimers on XC's website now is quite sensational!

Subject to availability on some services

Subject to availability, a member of the on-board team will be happy to take your order.* 

*First Class catering is subject to, route, journey time and availability.
All items and offers listed are subject to availability, may change or may be withdrawn at any time.
On our Cardiff-Birmingham-Nottingham and Birmingham-Stansted routes a reduced selection of drinks and snacks will be available on trains where catering is provided. Terms and conditions apply

* Food and drink - first-class catering is subject to, route, journey time and is subject to availability

 

[Halwynd]

Another area where the railway has probably been 'getting away with it' for too long.

If you can't for whatever reason provide a paid-for buffet, trolley etc., that's fine - but if you advertise and promote a service based on inclusive products or services, then any failure to provide those products or services should result in some element of recompense, even if it's just a token gesture - not get out clauses.

All that does is make folk believe the railway are partaking in sharp business practice and does nothing for their reputation.

 

[greyman42]

Surely if the service that was going to be provided was knowingly going to be inadequate why even bother advertising it?

To sell first class tickets. The fact that the service was going to be inadequate does not bother them in the slightest.

 

[m0ffy]

An airline being unable to provide catering is a point of note - you just have to see the gum bumping on FlyerTalk whenever BA can’t provide a specific champagne - yet XC and many other TOCs have an attitude of “catering is complementary, go away and stop complaining”.

 

[class 9]

An airline being unable to provide catering is a point of note - you just have to see the gum bumping on FlyerTalk whenever BA can’t provide a specific champagne - yet XC and many other TOCs have an attitude of “catering is complementary, go away and stop complaining”.

Can't really compare rail & air catering, as airline staff have to be there.
XC have a significant shortage of catering staff, there's quite a high turnover, I don't think the terms of the NRC penalise the company sufficiently for lack of availability.

 

[m0ffy]

Can't really compare rail & air catering, as airline staff have to be there.
XC have a significant shortage of catering staff, there's quite a high turnover, I don't think the terms of the NRC penalise the company sufficiently for lack of availability.

It absolutely should be comparable - first class rail travel is expensive, and there are significantly better catering facilities on trains than aircraft. The fact XC can’t even provide a basic service on journeys costing hundreds of pounds is pathetic.

 

[class 9]

It absolutely should be comparable - first class rail travel is expensive, and there are significantly better catering facilities on trains than aircraft. The fact XC can’t even provide a basic service on journeys costing hundreds of pounds is pathetic.

I think XC should do away with the title first class & replace it with something that that doesn't give false expectations, my comment about air was about the availability of staff, not what's offered.
I do agree that the current situation is extremely poor, the company shot itself in the foot just after covid, offering a lot of catering staff voluntary severance, but that was on the back of DfTs demand for cutting costs.

 

[PupCuff]

The thing is, when XC's first class is fully available, it's a good offer. Appropriate food and/or snack items for the length of journey, decent quality drinks etc, friendly attentive and regular service from hosts - some other TOCs can be very impersonal with the catering service delivery. The problem is that not all trains have first class hosts, meaning first class is only served when the retail service manager is not doing the standard class catering service; many trains suffer from lack of stock so sandwiches etc aren't always available; plus on some occasions even with a host they don't come through the first class carriage for ages because there's been a staff change and it's taken them a while to put away deliveries and set up etc.

I would agree with the advertising complaint that the issue is consistency of delivering the advertised service; you can put as many asterisks "subject to availability" as you want but when push comes to shove there should really be some level of token compensation when the advertised catering isn't delivered in my opinion.

 

[rg177]

I travelled in XC First on a morning peak service from Newcastle to Sheffield last summer. The trolley came down and it was 'any drinks or snacks?'

I asked if there was anything more substantial and the bloke sighed and revealed that in fact bacon sandwiches were on offer. That's my issue - there'll be something reasonable actually available then the staff won't tell you it exists!

 

[voyagerdude220]

I asked if there was anything more substantial and the bloke sighed and revealed that in fact bacon sandwiches were on offer. That's my issue - there'll be something reasonable actually available then the staff won't tell you it exists!

I remember this catching me out a while ago. I happily opted for whatever sandwich option was offered by the First Class Host. (I think I asked them it they had any sandwiches and they then gave me a menu with the sandwich options listed)

A fellow passenger a short time later asked the FCH about hot food options and was then given a different menu and served a hot ready meal which wasn't on the sandwich menu I looked at.

This was on a Voyager which only had maybe 3 or 4 of us in First Class, so the FCH wasn't exactly rushed off her feet.

 

[Wolfie]

That explains the new catering choice:

https://twitter.com/CrossCountryUK/status/1780231932741067208?t=PdaonHQmlVeo1uzj_6GBuA&s=19

(Yes this is the official account)

A rather unfortunate typo lol....

 

[duffield]

The least that XC could do (but in my experience, mostly don't any more) is announce after a stop for any joining passengers that there is no 1st class catering. Then at least anyone who has some snacks or drinks of their own would know they might as well get stuck in rather than wait for the non-existent complementaries to not appear. My rule of thumb is that if the staff don't start serving snacks and drinks in the first 10-15minutes after leaving a major station like Birmingham New Street or Leeds, then they're not coming at all.

 

[alastair]

I travelled in XC First on a morning peak service from Newcastle to Sheffield last summer. The trolley came down and it was 'any drinks or snacks?'

I asked if there was anything more substantial and the bloke sighed and revealed that in fact bacon sandwiches were on offer. That's my issue - there'll be something reasonable actually available then the staff won't tell you it exists!

Absolutely my experience as well. They never ever offer sandwiches unless you ask for them. They usually have Tuna or New York deli baps - both are perfectly OK but if you don't ask you don't get!

 

[CarrotPie]

A rather unfortunate typo lol....

I think it was deliberate!

 

[fgwrich]

I travelled in XC First on a morning peak service from Newcastle to Sheffield last summer. The trolley came down and it was 'any drinks or snacks?'

I asked if there was anything more substantial and the bloke sighed and revealed that in fact bacon sandwiches were on offer. That's my issue - there'll be something reasonable actually available then the staff won't tell you it exists!

I had a similar experience last summer travelling Bristol to Glasgow on one of their HSTs. Snack trolley comes through, had to ask for Sandwiches. Trolley finished somewhere around York, so the response was basically grab an extra drink and packet of crisps / snack to see you through to Glasgow.

Then again, I can’t say I was that surprised. I’m aware XC has had to cut its costs thanks to the DfT, and suffers from a high turnover of staff, but it just adds to the feeling of “we can’t really be bothered” from XC under Arriva.

 

[LowLevel]

I had a similar experience last summer travelling Bristol to Glasgow on one of their HSTs. Snack trolley comes through, had to ask for Sandwiches. Trolley finished somewhere around York, so the response was basically grab an extra drink and packet of crisps / snack to see you through to Glasgow.

Then again, I can’t say I was that surprised. I’m aware XC has had to cut its costs thanks to the DfT, and suffers from a high turnover of staff, but it just adds to the feeling of “we can’t really be bothered” from XC under Arriva.

It's been like it for many years - must have been 10 years ago I had to play the pop quiz to unlock anything more substantial having been presented with my biscuits. A few minutes later I was tucking into a pizza

 

[KashmireHawker]

Doesn’t really surprise me hearing this; not least on 8/10 car sets the trolley is on only in one part of the train. That was the case yesterday afternoon with a service out of New Street.

 

[iainbhx]

I go from Birmingham to South Devon 3-4 times a year, catering is absent more often than not and you have to prise sandwiches out of XC, they are never offered. I now make sure I pick up my own food and drink before hand.

 

[LowLevel]

On the plus side SeatFrog is awesome if you know how to use it - £7 for a 3 hour plus journey makes using a Voyager almost bearable!

 

[Snow1964]

I rarely use XC first, but last time I did it was grumpy can't be bothered to offer you more than token selection, and it took over an hour before she bothered to come round.

So ASA is correct, not right to advertise a service if it is patchy in its delivery. And if it's not available, shouldn't be hiding behind multiple disclaimers, but should be giving out credit vouchers, as it was part of the cost of the ticket.

 

[nwales58]

XC’s inability to provision catering is a long running scandal. Not just first but any food. Even leaving Birmingham 1800 or so where they mist be able to resupply.

I used them in first for work up to 2020, have diabetes so need to be sure of food. I could not rely on them unlike West Coast. Complaints changed nothing.

 

[Jimini]

not least on 8/10 car sets

What's one of those?

 

[Taunton]

catering was available on less than 80 per cent of journeys, the Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) found.

Even this will be an overstatement, there being catering only provided for other parts of the journey the passenger is not using, only in the other set of a coupled train, or crew on duty but do not come round. All this will have been concealed from the ASA. The statistics for what percentage of passengers entitled to it are actually offered catering would be interesting.

you can put as many asterisks "subject to availability" as you want

Actually you can't. A further major tenet of the Advertising Standards Authority is there should not be more than a minimum of asterisked notes and small print qualifying the main text - this should be straightforwardly clear in its own right.

 

[PupCuff]

Actually you can't. A further major tenet of the Advertising Standards Authority is there should not be more than a minimum of asterisked notes and small print qualifying the main text - this should be straightforwardly clear in its own right.

Ironically, remaining on the topic of false advertising, you've just taken part of a line out of my post and quoted it in a misleading way which turns it into the opposite of what I've actually said

 

[800Travel]

@Watershed - Maybe another domino in the whole 'catering is complimentary' argument alongside implied contract terms!

 

[Watershed]

@Watershed - Maybe another domino in the whole 'catering is complimentary' argument alongside implied contract terms!

Absolutely. Despite the many provisos they seek to couch it in, fundamentally speaking XC are trying to advertise the existence of catering in order to promote first class tickets. They can't do that, not deliver it, and then refuse to provide adequate recompense.

 

[yorkie]

This is good news, and XC thoroughly deserve this judgement against them.

I've had experiences which absolutely demonstrate XC were providing misleading information; for example I was once told I would have to pay for sandwiches, but on the same train, the next host (after Birmingham) said that they had loads of sandwiches to give away!

It has often been the case that no catering was available, or no food other than unhealthy snacks was available, no sandwiches or anything like that, along with several instances of claiming you had to pay for sandwiches.

I would agree with the advertising complaint that the issue is consistency of delivering the advertised service; you can put as many asterisks "subject to availability" as you want but when push comes to shove there should really be some level of token compensation when the advertised catering isn't delivered in my opinion.

I agree, and that is the correct position, however some train companies, such as XC, don't appear to have a lot of interest in consistently fulfilling their contractual and legal obligations

 

[Bishopstone]

The judgement sounds fair in the circumstances, but I hope the complainants didn’t expect the consequences to include an extension of first class catering facilities.