Incorrect information given by National Rail enquiries

[185143]

Not sure where to post this, but I was stood outside Warrington Bank Quay station tonight waiting for a lift home when a couple arrived intending to travel to Manchester. They had been told that there was a bis replacement service at around 23:20.

The station was all locked up as the last train had departed and no staff were in sight. They asked me if I was waiting for the bus to Manchester, so I told them there wasnt one and told them to go to Warrington Central for the 00:17. We were chatting while waiting and they said that they had phoned National Rail Enquiries and they had said there was a bus. Had they arrived and waited for the 'bus' and it not turned up they would have found themselves stranded. This clearly isnt acceptable, has anyone else heard any similar stories?

 

[reb0118]

Bus replacement at xx30 for most of the day but no 23:30.

 

[steamybrian]

Not sure where to post this, but I was stood outside Warrington Bank Quay station tonight waiting for a lift home when a couple arrived intending to travel to Manchester. They had been told that there was a bis replacement service at around 23:20.

The station was all locked up as the last train had departed and no staff were in sight. They asked me if I was waiting for the bus to Manchester, so I told them there wasnt one and told them to go to Warrington Central for the 00:17. We were chatting while waiting and they said that they had phoned National Rail Enquiries and they had said there was a bus. Had they arrived and waited for the 'bus' and it not turned up they would have found themselves stranded. This clearly isnt acceptable, has anyone else heard any similar stories?

It is easy for a passenger to blame National Rail enquiries for giving incorrect information but unless you can playback the recorded conversation it is impossible to prove.

 

[mbreckers]

It is easy for a passenger to blame National Rail enquiries for giving incorrect information but unless you can playback the recorded conversation it is impossible to prove.

Exactly, some people can be very selective about what they hear/remember from conversations.

 

[ChathillMan]

It is easy for a passenger to blame National Rail enquiries for giving incorrect information but unless you can playback the recorded conversation it is impossible to prove.

That is true.

Anyway, NRES calls are monitored and recorded with the ability to also see what the operative was typing on screen.

They also have the ability to "roll back" journey planner info to the date and time of the call to see if the data was wrong or the agent

 

[asylumxl]

Where were they blaming NRE? From OPs post it doesn't seem like they were swearing and cursing their very existence.

It may well have just been miscommunication between the couple and the person at NRE. How people have to come to the conclusion it's the passengers at fault I don't know.

 

[najaB]

How people have to come to the conclusion it's the passengers at fault I don't know.

As I read it, what's been said is that without hearing the call there's no way to know who was at fault.

 

[route:oxford]

They had been told that there was a bis replacement service at around 23:20.

It doesn't sound true.

There's no way NRE would have said "around 23:20". They are always quite specific about times.

 

[steamybrian]

.

It may well have just been miscommunication between the couple and the person at NRE. How people have to come to the conclusion it's the passengers at fault I don't know.

We are not blaming anyone but just keeping an open mind...:roll:

 

[185143]

They had been told that there was a bus replacement service at around 23:20.

It doesn't sound true.

There's no way NRE would have said "around 23:20". They are always quite specific about times.

That was admittedly because I couldn't remember exactly what time they had been told. I thought it was 23:20, but now it has been said, 23:30 was the time that they told me they had been given.

 

[asylumxl]

We are not blaming anyone but just keeping an open mind...:roll:

I'd call it being cynical .

 

[185]

This is in my view naughty. Not showing the strike trains (xx50) as cancelled, and putting no notes on the journey planner to indicate ATW are missing is rather rubbish.

 

[Tetchytyke]

It is easy for a passenger to blame National Rail enquiries for giving incorrect information

Given last time I spoke with NRE it took the lovely Indian man five goes to correctly understand and type "Aylesbury" into his computer (which was impressive given I was calling from the Help Point at, er, Aylesbury), in a dispute between a passenger and NRE I'd always believe the passenger.

 

[gimmea50anyday]

Sure they said bank quay and not central where there may well have been a train?

I once rang NRE looking for a route from Reading to the Download Festival. I was given an itenary that would have sent me via Wolverhampton into wales to Telford (Donnington) and not to Loughborough (for Castle Donington and Donington Park) Oops.....

Fortunately I didnt take it!

 

[185143]

Sure they said bank quay and not central where there may well have been a train?

I once rang NRE looking for a route from Reading to the Download Festival. I was given an itenary that would have sent me via Wolverhampton into wales to Telford (Donnington) and not to Loughborough (for Castle Donington and Donington Park) Oops.....

Fortunately I didnt take it!

Yes definately Bank Quay as they were expecting a bus replacement.
There was a train at 22:53 from Central and then one at 00:17 which runs non stop to Piccadilly.

 

[Frontera2]

Yes definately Bank Quay as they were expecting a bus replacement.
There was a train at 22:53 from Central and then one at 00:17 which runs non stop to Piccadilly.

I can confirm that there was NO bus showing between 22:30 and 00:25 in NRE's systems so unless the advisor made a time up out of thin air (very unlikely) the passenger must have been mistaken

 

[sheff1]

... so unless the advisor made a time up out of thin air (very unlikely)

Unlikely, maybe, but not impossible. I was once advised by NRE (via the 'Help' Point at Barnsley after being turfed off a train which terminated short) to catch a train which did not exist in the normal timetable, never appeared on the screens and never arrived in the station.

 

[Antman]

Is there a problem with the online enquiry site? I'm getting a different set up than usual.

 

[asylumxl]

Unlikely, maybe, but not impossible. I was once advised by NRE (via the 'Help' Point at Barnsley after being turfed off a train which terminated short) to catch a train which did not exist in the normal timetable, never appeared on the screens and never arrived in the station.

NRE have given plenty of dubious advice at help points in my experience, which is understandable if they're in India with little to no knowledge of the UK railway.

I imagine in the case referred to by OP, it was just a matter of miscommunication. The couple may have asked a vague question and the chap/lady on the other end of the phone may well have said XX minutes past the hour every hour.

 

[philthetube]

I once had a printed route from National rail enquiries showing Virgin west coast services calling at Blackburn, I waved as one went past.

 

[northwichcat]

Incorrect information given by National Rail enquiries

Seeing the thread title reminded me of a conversation I heard at a station ticket office once:

Passenger: "National Rail Enquires told me...."
Ticket office man: "Don't listen to them they'll tell you any old rubbish. In future ask someone who works at a station who actually knows about the railways."

 

[Bletchleyite]

For years it's been a case of "phone them 3 times, if 2 say the same thing then that's probably right, but most likely you'll need a 4th time"...

Mind you the TOCs are as bad. Virgin's information about the Carlisle incident has been nothing short of atrocious. And the usual "look in the journey planner" doesn't work - the buses have been added, but the trains have not been removed.

 

[rishton82]

Going back I few years a mate of mine got told there was no trains from Blackburn to Manchester in the afternoon with no alternative . We got to the station and got a train direct no problems.

 

[asylumxl]

I once had a printed route from National rail enquiries showing Virgin west coast services calling at Blackburn, I waved as one went past.

They once advised me on a day with engineering works to go from Plymouth to Luton via Birmingham New Street, Milton Keynes Central, Bletchley and Bedford.

Only problem was trains were running fine to Paddington, they were just going via Bristol.

 

[Minilad]

So. The man on the platform told me can now be replaced by the man on the phone told me

 

[northwichcat]

So. The man on the platform told me can now be replaced by the man on the phone told me

The man on the platform has been outsourced as part of a cost cutting measure.

 

[185143]

I once had a printed route from National rail enquiries showing Virgin west coast services calling at Blackburn, I waved as one went past.

They once told me to catch a Grand Central service from Burnley Manchester Road to York

Didnt know whether to be dissappointed or not when a 158 pulled in lol

 

[infobleep]

Seeing the thread title reminded me of a conversation I heard at a station ticket office once:

Passenger: "National Rail Enquires told me...."
Ticket office man: "Don't listen to them they'll tell you any old rubbish. In future ask someone who works at a station who actually knows about the railways."

I was once told to ignore the online timetable information by a guard. This was during the emergency timetable period through Guildford when we had the South East floods a couple of years ago.