Grand Central books minubus from York to London after TPE service fails to call at Eaglescliffe

[trainophile]

https://twitter.com/GC_Rail/status/1071489622948102145

ALTERATION: Due to the planned Transpennine Express service not calling at Eaglescliffe at 19:06, please board the 20:12 Transpennine Express service to York, where a minibus will be waiting to take passengers directly to London King's Cross.

Not an enviable journey tonight by road in a minibus. I take it not many people expected to need this service.

 

[Qwerty133]

Hopefully they actually mean a luxury 16 seater rather than a transit...

 

[yorkie]

Looks like passengers were originally due to depart Eaglescliffe at 1814, but that train was cancelled.

TPE had agreed to convey passengers on the 1857 from Middlesbrough but the extra call at 1906 was missed as the train passed through non-stop, presumably due to a communications issue.

So, by the time passengers board the TPE at 2012 they will already be 2 hours late. You can probably add 3 more hours as I'd imagine the minibus will be restricted to 50mph and will need to stop at least once en-route, so a likely 5 hour delay into King's Cross!

In hindsight it would have been better to arrange taxis or a minibus to Yarm, which is very near Eaglescliffe. In fact, if anyone walked it, they would have easily made the earlier TPE.

 

[trainophile]

Could be a few delay repays going in!

 

[Kite159]

Could be a few delay repays going in!

All depends what caused the original delay/cancelled train as I believe GC operate on a passenger charter scheme which excludes "events outside the control of the railway" (and even that is a bit tight compared to other operators)

 

[Samuel88]

I think that putting passengers on a minibus for a 200+ mile journey to London is frankly disgusting, why didn't they put them on a LNER train instead? Never mind delay repay, I'd be asking for compensation if it was me!

 

[ainsworth74]

I think that putting passengers on a minibus for a 200+ mile journey to London is frankly disgusting, why didn't they put them on a LNER train instead?

Depends if LNER were willing to agree to take them! It's not just up to GC. I can't help but feel that arranging a minibus at short notice suggests that they'd tried several other plans before going for that one.

 

[Starmill]

Could be a few delay repays going in!

Grand Central don't operate 'Delay Repay', so some passengers might have to fight to receive their compensation if due under their charter compensation scheme. I recently received mine from one train company after spending 11 months trying to get them to pay up.

Presumably a minibus would also need to stop once or more at services for the passengers to use the facilities as well, unlike with a coach with a toilet onboard.

 

[trainophile]

Eaglescliffe is not a very nice station to be stranded at either. No facilities whatsoever. The sort of experience that could put some people off train travel.

 

[Whistler40145]

I think that putting passengers on a minibus for a 200+ mile journey to London is frankly disgusting, why didn't they put them on a LNER train instead? Never mind delay repay, I'd be asking for compensation if it was me!

No doubt by the time they arrived in York, the last LNER to Kings Cross would've already departed.

 

[Darandio]

Depends if LNER were willing to agree to take them! It's not just up to GC. I can't help but feel that arranging a minibus at short notice suggests that they'd tried several other plans before going for that one.

I don't see how acceptance even needs to be an issue. Just give them the bloody tickets to travel on LNER.

 

[Samuel88]

Depends if LNER were willing to agree to take them! It's not just up to GC. I can't help but feel that arranging a minibus at short notice suggests that they'd tried several other plans before going for that one.

If LNER are unwilling to accept Grand Central only tickets, then in my opinion GC should cough up for full fare anytime tickets. It's not the passengers fault that Arriva couldn't organise a proverbial in a brewery!

 

[Starmill]

If LNER are unwilling to accept Grand Central only tickets, then in my opinion GC should cough up for full fare anytime tickets. It's not the passengers fault that Arriva couldn't organise a proverbial in a brewery!

Given it's a Saturday, a Super Off Peak Single at £109 should suffice.

Only if they made a connection though obviously.

 

[Clayton]

https://twitter.com/GC_Rail/status/1071489622948102145



Not an enviable journey tonight by road in a minibus. I take it not many people expected to need this service.

Don’t get this. Were there no later trains from York? It doesn’t matter which company ran them

 

[Whistler40145]

Don’t get this. Were there no later trains from York? It doesn’t matter which company ran them

No trains later than 20:03 to London and I very much doubt there would be any connections available from either Leeds, Manchester or Birmingham.

 

[trainophile]

No trains later than 20:03 to London and I very much doubt there would be any connections available from either Leeds, Manchester or Birmingham.

That seems very early for a last service to London on a Saturday, considering it only takes two hours. I just checked and found the same thing, so not doubting you, but I'm shocked.

 

[Whistler40145]

That seems very early for a last service to London on a Saturday. I just checked and found the same thing, so not doubting you, but I'm shocked.

It's the 14:52 Aberdeen to London Kings Cross service and didn't leave York until 20:25 and was delayed all the way to London.

 

[158756]

If LNER are unwilling to accept Grand Central only tickets, then in my opinion GC should cough up for full fare anytime tickets. It's not the passengers fault that Arriva couldn't organise a proverbial in a brewery!

They couldn't use an LNER service, because the TPE service arrived at York just after nine, whilst the last train to London tonight departed at 2025.

The quickest way to London if you were at Eaglescliffe at 1906 would have been to get in the car and drive to Darlington to catch the LNER train there:- because the London train was late, you could also have made it by train if Northern bothered to run on Saturdays. You would hope the TOCs would allow that, but I wouldn't bet on it.

 

[ainsworth74]

I don't see how acceptance even needs to be an issue. Just give them the bloody tickets to travel on LNER.

If LNER are unwilling to accept Grand Central only tickets, then in my opinion GC should cough up for full fare anytime tickets. It's not the passengers fault that Arriva couldn't organise a proverbial in a brewery!

I don't disagree (it's unlikely that the LNER services were full and standing) but considering the timeline involved this:

No trains later than 20:03 to London and I very much doubt there would be any connections available from either Leeds, Manchester or Birmingham.

Is likely to the be the bigger issue.

That seems very early for a last service to London on a Saturday, considering it only takes two hours. I just checked and found the same thing, so not doubting you, but I'm shocked.

It is early but I'd lay money that it's to give a window for engineering works on Saturday night into Sunday morning.

 

[Hadders]

The last train from York to London on Saturdays has always seemed to be early. Been caught out by this a few times before.

 

[Qwerty133]

That seems very early for a last service to London on a Saturday, considering it only takes two hours. I just checked and found the same thing, so not doubting you, but I'm shocked.

Sheffield to London is 20:29 at least 6 days a week so its not just the ECML where southbound services seemingly finish early
Edit: its actually 19:29 on a saturday

 

[sheff1]

Amazing how many posters are saying that the passengers should have been put on an LNER train from York when there were not any LNER trains for them to be put on

Once the additional stop by TPE failed to happen, the only way to get to Kings Cross by train this evening would have been to convey them by road to Darlington for the 1934 (scheduled, actual was 1956). That would only have been possible if the road transport had left Eaglescliffe almost immediately the TPE had passed through.

The passengers could have been transferred by road to Darlington once the GC was cancelled, rather than arrange TPE to stop but ..... hindsight is a wonderful thing !

 

[185]

You're all wrong. Knowing the M1, it will cruise at an average speed of 20mph once past Trowell services.

The train is quicker nowadays, I'm told

 

[a_c_skinner]

When something similar happened to Mrs S she was bussed to Darlington and put on GNER (it was a while ago) which as she had a GC 1st carnet was something of a bargain. There is a point in contract law where an alternative is so bad as to be not fulfilling the contract and I think this is beyond it.

"originally due to depart Eaglescliffe at 1814"

Then they could have easily had passengers at Darlington by 1900. My wife's experience was pre-Arriva, obviously. We used GC a lot, partly cost, partly a good service. It needs both as it is slower and less frequent.

 

[Whistler40145]

Amazing how many posters are saying that the passengers should have been put on an LNER train from York when there were not any LNER trains for them to be put on

Once the additional stop by TPE failed to happen, the only way to get to Kings Cross by train this evening would have been to convey them by road to Darlington for the 1934 (scheduled, actual was 1956). That would only have been possible if the road transport had left Eaglescliffe almost immediately the TPE had passed through.

The passengers could have been transferred by road to Darlington once the GC was cancelled, rather than arrange TPE to stop but ..... hindsight is a wonderful thing !

If this situation occurs in the future, I very much doubt that GC would rely upon FTPE to be reliable.

 

[robbeech]

If this situation occurs in the future, I very much doubt that GC would rely upon FTPE to be reliable.

Maybe that was the plan. Do a crap job and you won’t get asked again.

I am obviously joking.

 

[Iskra]

That seems very early for a last service to London on a Saturday, considering it only takes two hours. I just checked and found the same thing, so not doubting you, but I'm shocked.

Saturday evening is the quietest of the week for long distance travel.

On a Saturday the late night long distance services tend to be travelling out of London.

That said, I do agree that it is a very poor situation for many large cities.

 

[Whistler40145]

Maybe that was the plan. Do a crap job and you won’t get asked again.

I am obviously joking.

Seriously, maybe because FTPE had a service operating out of Middlesbrough and being the nearest train, GC probably didn't expect it to spectularly backfire.

 

[trainophile]

Would be very interesting to hear from anyone who was actually caught up in this, as to how it eventually worked out, what vehicle turned up and when, what stops were made, and the eventual arrival time in London. Any lurkers out there care to join the forum and let us know?

Personally I think I would have tried to find a hotel in York rather than have such an unpleasant journey.

 

[yorkie]

I'm sticking with my rough estimate of a 5 hour delay into Kings Cross.

As for special stop orders not being carried out, I experienced this myself few weeks ago, and that was all within the same TOC (LNER at Doncaster).