My observations from a First class TPE trip in Feb:
Friday afternoon:
Sheffield - Manchester Piccadilly
Train packed as expected. Standard class came in to First Class because there was literally nowhere else for them to go on board. Upon inspection of our 1st tickets, we were offered a cup of tea and a biscuit by the catering host. All credit to the conductor here, he fought his way through the train (First was in the leading end) and personally apologised to the 3 groups of 1st class passengers and gave us the relevant forms to claim for compensation.
Manchester Piccadilly - Blackpool North
Platform 14 was absolutely rammed, so we knew it was going to be tough just to get in to First Class. Eventually we did, and just as we took our seats and were offered a cup of tea, the conductor announced that First Class was now declassified as far as Bolton only, naturally the compartment filled right out. Bolton came and went, and none of the Standard Class passengers were asked to move by the conductor, nor the catering/first class lady, nor the 2 'G4S' Security guards who just stood in First Class. Our tickets were not checked once and we were not offered an apology of any sort.
Sunday afternoon:
Blackpool North - Preston
Rail replacement bus (shudders). No first class, obviously - but the situation at BPN wasnt great; they'd turned off the bloody departures screen (well, replaced it with a "SPECIAL NOTICE") so it was impossible to keep up with what was going on. We were erroneously shoved on an earlier bus to Preston.
Preston - Manchester Piccadilly
I asked a member of staff at Preston if we'd be alright to get an earlier train to Manchester Piccadilly, and he said there'd be no problem. I neednt have wasted his time, the train arrived with a (nearly) empty First Class compartment which was filled by standard class passengers before we could even get on. An awful, awful family (think Shameless, without any endearing traits) from Bolton occupied 6 seats, the father figure explaining to his children (loudly) that First Class is for mugs, ripping the First Class headrest cover-things off and generally trashing that area of the train. Coach A was freezing cold, the engine beneath sounded as though it was revving every 3 seconds or so. There was absolutely no presence from on board staff; no catering trolley. Not impressed.
Manchester Piccadilly - Sheffield
Lo and behold - that very same 185 showed up to form our return to Sheffield, even more trashed than before. Our reserved seats (not that there was any ticket to show that) were on the table trashed by the Gallagher's, but we found the next table only had discarded (but sealed?) packet sandwiches covering it, - we moved them to the trashed table and took that one. BOTH toilets were locked out of use. Once again Standard Class passengers came in and remained there unchallenged for the duration of our journey. Once again, no on-board staff presence; no catering trolley.
Other general observations:
Class 185s layout is screwed - why the hell have they wedged First Class in the MIDDLE of a coach, which flip down seats and a toilet the other side? Why isn't First Class against the cab with its own door?
Class 185s already look knackered - particularly on the 'trashed' unit; skirting was chipped, seats were clearly fading/lacking padding.
Class 185s have totally ineffective heating.
Overall assessment:
From a passenger point of view: no point paying for a first class ticket. Just go and sit in there, you'll be fine.
From a corporate/governmental point of view: don't offer fist class unless you're going to staff/enforce it. As it stands, I just felt completely ripped off.
Ironically, the only journey which I felt we were offered a First Class service was the first one where the conductor apologised profusely. This was possibly the most packed train; why on earth did the other conductors not bother?
tl;dr: no - it's not worth it.
