GNER £5 tickets

[Tom]

It's less down to a fault - the system normally works fine (just very slow). It's normally more due to the chap who controls all the gizmo in the announcers office (where they print it all out) not knowing how to do it - especially if they're standby duty.

 

[Tom B]

The excuse I often hear on GNER for no reservations is "a reduced turnaround at King's Cross".

What annoys me then is when there is one HST at King's Cross. Another arrives in, late. Two HST's are due out, one in 5 minutes, one in 50 minutes. The HST that's come in late is diagrammed to leave in 5, the one that's been sat there for ages in 50. Yet GNER seem to never swap the sets around - rather attempt a quick turnaround, so no reservations, no catering, and a late departure!

Anyhow - sometimes in periods of chronic service disruption, I think reservations are declared invalid. I've not heard of any TOCs charging for reservations.

 

[Craig]

Particularly on runs beyond Leeds/Newcastle fuel becomes an issue. Also, certain stock might have to finish at a certain depot to get the correct maintainence at the end of the night, which is more important than reservation labels really. GNER have had quite a few trains fail on running out of fuel recently so wouldn't surprise me if they are being more and more cautious about this practice and running HSTs to what they are diagrammed and fuelled for.

 

[theblackwatch]

No. If there are no reservations, then it means exactly that - there are no reservations and it's a free-for-all. Otherwise you end up with a situation where someone could end up being turfed out of their seat with no warning, which is not acceptable.

A year or so back I travelled from Leeds to London, and there were no seat reservations on the train. The guard/tm/whatever you want to call him announced to sit anywhere on the train - there was an old dear sat in my reserved seat so I sat elsewhere. There were plenty of free setas on the train, but shortly after, a woman tried to get me to move as she told me I was sat in 'her' seat. When I said she would have to get the old dear to move so I could sit in mine, she decided to sit elsewhere!

 

[adambro]

Was on a GNER service recently, going from Leeds to Peterborough. It was particularly busy, probably due to most uni's terms starting around the time but I had a reservation. Boarded the train at Leeds and found my seat which was at a table in the aisle. The window seat was reserved from Grantham I think it was.

I was sat there with my laptop on the table when a guy got on at Newark I think it was, with loads of luggage which required me to get up to let him past then struggle to put my laptop away due to his luggage now occupying the table.

Later on before we reached Grantham, the guy removes the reservation ticket from the back of the seat. At Grantham, a woman gets on and tries to find her reserved seat with no success obviously. Luckily, there was a free seat nearby so she didn't have to stand.

This really annoyed me, and I would have said something as I was getting off at Peterborough (not wanting to get involved in a possible confrontation with this guy and not being able to get away), but he appeared to be asleep.

In this respect I really like Voyagers as the electronic reservation system prevents these inconsiderate types from pretending there was no reservation.

 

[Tom B]

If there's *one* reservation ticket missing, and ones out on the whole of the rest of the train, that surely indicates one's gone 'missing'...

 

[voyagerdude220]

If there's *one* reservation ticket missing, and ones out on the whole of the rest of the train, that surely indicates one's gone 'missing'...

But said person who was looking for her seat, may not have known the precise seat which she was reserved in, or thought that the reservation hadn't been shown on the seat, and so decided to avoid the confrontation, by taking an unreserved seat.

 

[Jord]

URGH :@ i have to be travelling Aberdeen - Peterborough week after change-over, just my luck

 

[Tom B]

But said person who was looking for her seat, may not have known the precise seat which she was reserved in, or thought that the reservation hadn't been shown on the seat, and so decided to avoid the confrontation, by taking an unreserved seat.

I'd be impressed if she didn't know which seat she was in, given that it's printed on your reservation ticket!