Yesterday evening I was travelling from London Paddington back to Oxford. Took the 23:32, intending to change at Didcot. Train was crush loaded and late, so missed the connection.
At Didcot, the staff said they'd been denied permission to arrange taxis, and we had to wait for the rail replacement bus that had been booked to cover the cancelled 01:36. A little before the bus was due, we were encouraged outside, then the station was locked and all staff vanished (home?)
Sadly for us, no RRB ever appeared.
Since there was in theory a RRB ordered, and we'd been told that taxis had been denied, we didn't want to risk getting our own taxi and having GWR refuse to pay. So we stood there waiting and freezing. No staff, no help points.
Eventually managed to discover that the passenger assist line is 24/7, so after a bit of "I know you're the wrong team but there's literally no-one else at GWR answering the phone this late and we're stuck" they agreed to help, and eventually control agreed to book us a taxi. Not from Didcot or anything, that'd be too helpful, but Abingdon, so it was 20 more freezing minutes from "they're booking you a taxi" until one appeared.
Delays happen. Trains get cancelled. Station staff need to go home at the end of their shift.
But... Shouldn't there be some sort of plan / process / procedure for "RRB isn't here yet and staff have finished their shift", beyond shrug and hope the passengers don't freeze to death in the night?
At Didcot, the staff said they'd been denied permission to arrange taxis, and we had to wait for the rail replacement bus that had been booked to cover the cancelled 01:36. A little before the bus was due, we were encouraged outside, then the station was locked and all staff vanished (home?)
Sadly for us, no RRB ever appeared.
Since there was in theory a RRB ordered, and we'd been told that taxis had been denied, we didn't want to risk getting our own taxi and having GWR refuse to pay. So we stood there waiting and freezing. No staff, no help points.
Eventually managed to discover that the passenger assist line is 24/7, so after a bit of "I know you're the wrong team but there's literally no-one else at GWR answering the phone this late and we're stuck" they agreed to help, and eventually control agreed to book us a taxi. Not from Didcot or anything, that'd be too helpful, but Abingdon, so it was 20 more freezing minutes from "they're booking you a taxi" until one appeared.
Delays happen. Trains get cancelled. Station staff need to go home at the end of their shift.
But... Shouldn't there be some sort of plan / process / procedure for "RRB isn't here yet and staff have finished their shift", beyond shrug and hope the passengers don't freeze to death in the night?
