Exeter St Davids closed at night when advertised as being open

[Gnasher11]

Hi,
On a Thursday night, I quite often get the 23:36 from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St. Davids which arrives at Exeter at 01:06 in the morning, to wait for the Penzance Sleeper which arrives at about 3:30.

Never normally a problem, but the last couple of times, they have locked the sliding doors(entrance/exit). So I have ended up waiting outside the station for a couple of hours with no access to the limited facilities.

When they finally reopened the doors at 3:30, there were people in the waiting room who had obviously been locked in (01:06 is the last service).

National Rail says that the waiting room is available 24 hours, but this has not been the case. Is it worth a complaint? As it happens the only coffee machine was out of order last night, but it would still have been nice to have access to the toilets!

Even though St. Davids is quite large, I do not like being locked in anywhere.

 

[HowardGWR]

I can't divine whether you were locked in or locked out, and if so (?) from what or where. Could you re-visit your post and let us know more explicitly how you came to be on the outside of the station (if you did)?

 

[Gnasher11]

On arrival at Exeter I went outside for a smoke and to use the cash point. At which point the sliding doors were locked, from the inside. I suppose my point is that if NR say that the waiting room is open 24 hours, then GWR shouldn't be locking the only public way of entry?

 

[HowardGWR]

On arrival at Exeter I went outside for a smoke and to use the cash point. At which point the sliding doors were locked, from the inside. I suppose my point is that if NR say that the waiting room is open 24 hours, then GWR shouldn't be locking the only public way of entry?

Thanks, that explains it. Indeed you should complain to GWR. You might well get recompensed. I have gone outside at St Davids for the cash machine (there isn't one inside) but to do so, I had to ask the gateman for permission, because of the barriers. I am surprised that the gateman, having noted your break of journey, did not warn you about the impending closure, albeit that there was no excuse for closure, as you point out.

 

[Gnasher11]

At that time in the morning, there were no visible staff, gate line or otherwise.

 

[HowardGWR]

At that time in the morning, there were no visible staff, gate line or otherwise.

Thus, at that time of the morning, it is effectively an open station, except that they close it!.

I would complain to GWR Customer relations; that was a horrible thing they did to you. Say you were a woman or otherwise vulnerable (I have assumed you are male)?

 

[455driver]

At that time in the morning, there were no visible staff, gate line or otherwise.

So who locked the doors then?

Let me get this right, you left the station after the last train had arrived, didnt tell anyone you wanted to re-enter and are complaining because the invisible man locked the door behind you!

The only people who are allowed* to remain on the station are those passengers who want the down sleeper and they are sometimes allowed to wait in the waiting room on platform 2 and 3, they dont have the run of the station!

I suppose the fact you have highlighted these issues they will do informed to do what they are supposed to do and kick everyone off the station before locking it up for the few hours it is supposed to be locked up.

I will also bring it up at work that the staff at Exeter are allowing people to stay on the station when it is supposed to be locked to ensure the rules about the station being empty before its locked up are followed to the letter.

Have I missed anything?

* actually nobody is allowed to remain on the station but the staff do bend the rules a bit to help out the passengers.

 

[Deafdoggie]

Could the people locked in, have asked to be let out?

 

[Ianno87]

Could the people locked in, have asked to be let out?

What would happen if there was a fire?

 

[jimm]

Hi,
On a Thursday night, I quite often get the 23:36 from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter St. Davids which arrives at Exeter at 01:06 in the morning, to wait for the Penzance Sleeper which arrives at about 3:30.

Never normally a problem, but the last couple of times, they have locked the sliding doors(entrance/exit). So I have ended up waiting outside the station for a couple of hours with no access to the limited facilities.

When they finally reopened the doors at 3:30, there were people in the waiting room who had obviously been locked in (01:06 is the last service).

National Rail says that the waiting room is available 24 hours, but this has not been the case. Is it worth a complaint? As it happens the only coffee machine was out of order last night, but it would still have been nice to have access to the toilets!

Even though St. Davids is quite large, I do not like being locked in anywhere.

I'm a bit surprised you didn't contact GWR after the first time you were locked outside.

I wouldn't rely on anything that is posted on a National Rail website station page - many haven't been updated in a very long time. Often the GWR station information notices, usually put up somewhere in the vicinity of ticket offices, have different information on opening hours to anything online.

I think there may now be some effort within GWR to get details of all their stations up to date on the National Rail site, but that is 200+ locations to work through, so it may take a while. Other TOCs may be better at keeping their stations' info up to date, but I have my doubts.

 

[Gnasher11]

Hi,
Really I just wanted clarification of what the correct situation was. It was a minor inconvenience at most. Perhaps if I had made the effort to attract a member of Staff's attention they would have let me back in. I have decided not to complain to GWR, next time I'll just ensure that I am suitably ready for the wait. (Comfort break beforehand etc)

 

[LowLevel]

The problem you have is that vagrants and so on tend to wander on to city centre stations and they're a pain to get to leave. Certainly the likes of Sheffield and Leicester with late and early services have the entrances closed up until shortly before trains are due - evidently at St David's they have some consideration for sleeper passengers by keeping the waiting room open.

 

[jimm]

Hi,
Really I just wanted clarification of what the correct situation was. It was a minor inconvenience at most. Perhaps if I had made the effort to attract a member of Staff's attention they would have let me back in. I have decided not to complain to GWR, next time I'll just ensure that I am suitably ready for the wait. (Comfort break beforehand etc)

I would get in touch with GWR, just for clarification of the situation and what hours they do lock up the station.

Equally, you could ask where the staff who are on duty at the station overnight can be found - that way, if you did need to nip outside for cash etc, you could tell them what you're up to, so you don't get locked out.

 

[3141]

What would happen if there was a fire?

It's a large station with several long platforms, so there would be plenty of places to go to well away from wherever the fire happened to be. Not a realistic cause for anxiety, I think.

 

[birchesgreen]

What would happen if there was a fire?

I assume the station is staffed 24 hours? I doubt they would be allowed to lock people in otherwise.