You just have to read this story, about someone whose journey from BHM to RET took an incredible 6 hours 41 minutes. 
This was posted at the uk.railway newsgroup. Be patient and read the whole story as it just gets worse and worse!
This was posted at the uk.railway newsgroup. Be patient and read the whole story as it just gets worse and worse!John Salmon said:On Saturday (5th January) I used the 1430 Birmingham New Street -
York service as part of a journey to Retford. After calling at
Tamworth, Burton-on-Trent, Derby and Chesterfield, the train was due
into Sheffield at 1550 and Doncaster at 1615, so I should have
arrived at Retford at either 1653 (on the 1638 NXEC service from
Doncaster) or 1723 (on the 1644 Northern service from Sheffield.)
The train initially ran more or less to time, but shortly before we
arrived at Derby I noticed that the scrolling display inside the
train was no longer showing the Doncaster stop. During the station
stop at Derby (platform 1) I could see that the platform display was
also not showing Doncaster. No announcement had been made on the
train, so as we left Derby I contacted one of the on-train staff who
said that an announcement had just been made at Derby station, which
would be repeated on the train (which it duly was, but note that this
was not until after departure from Derby), to the effect that the
train would be diverted after Sheffield direct to York because of
cable theft, but a connection would be available at Sheffield for
Doncaster passengers. For this to make logical sense, it seemed to
me that the cable problem must be at a location north of Doncaster; I
asked the staff member if this was the case, but he gave a
non-committal answer. From all the above, it is clear to me that the
true nature of the problem was known to CrossCountry before the Derby
station stop, but they chose not to inform passengers. In my case, I
could have made much easier alternative travel arrangements to get
home to Retford via Nottingham, if the facts had been made known
before departure from Derby.
In the event, the train continued slowly forward until we reached a
point somewhere south of Chesterfield at 1535, where the train
remained stationary for 85 minutes, i.e. until 1700. It was only at
around 1545 that passengers were told that the problem was here, not
further north. Announcements were made approximately every 20
minutes. We eventually arrived at Chesterfield where an announcement
welcoming passengers aboard the 1533 service to York enabled me to
calculate that we were now 126 minutes late.
Most of the foregoing (except for the lack of accurate information
until after departure from Derby) was clearly outside the control of
CrossCountry, but it was the subsequent series of events that caused
the major problem. Bear in mind that at this stage, I was expecting
to have to change trains at Sheffield, where I could have sought
further information about the best way home. Two minutes before
arrival at Sheffield, the train manager announced that he had just
been informed that the train "would now run as scheduled to York".
This was somewhat ambiguous; there had been no previous suggestion to
passengers that the train might be curtailed short of York (although
I can imagine that could well have been the plan) and clearly the
train could not run "as scheduled" in terms of its advertised
timings. So did this mean the Doncaster call had been reinstated? If
so, why hadn't the fact been spelt out? As we arrived at Sheffield, I
found the train manager and asked if the train would call at
Doncaster. He said "Yes, didn't you hear the announcement?" When I
said that Doncaster hadn't been mentioned, he became quite sharp,
asked the shop assistant to verify the content of the announcement
and accused me of being rude (which I wasn't - I had calmly asked a
question.) I asked whether I should stay on the train or whether I
would get to Retford more quickly by changing at Sheffield. He said I
should have asked earlier (which I couldn't have done, because the
reinstatement of the Doncaster stop had only just been notified) but
when I pressed the point, he checked on his machine, said there was a
train scheduled at 1824 from Doncaster to Retford and advised me to
stay on board. I later found that this information was incorrect -
the Retford train left Doncaster at 1810 - but it didn't matter,
because things now got much worse...
We set off from Sheffield and made good progress past Rotherham,
until we suddenly came to a screeching halt in Swinton station. I
knew immediately what the problem was: we had a green signal for the
route straight ahead for Pontefract and York, whereas the driver was
expecting to turn right for Doncaster. Presumably the driver asked
for the route to be re-set, but (for whatever reason I don't know) it
wasn't: we set off in the general direction of York. I was now
wondering whether the Doncaster stop had ever really been
reinstated - perhaps the train crew had all misunderstood what was
meant to be happening...
An enquiry at the shop revealed that the train manager had retreated
to the rear of the train. I found him there and asked if there had
been a change of plan. His attitude had now changed and he was very
apologetic: yes, if I had left the train at Sheffield, he agreed I
would have been better off. He took a note of my seat number and
asked me to return there. A few minutes later he announced over the
PA that any passengers for Doncaster should make their way to the
rear of the train. I know there were several on board, but most
ignored or didn't hear this message - I don't know what became of
them. Three of us turned up in the rear coach (it gave me the
opportunity to sample first class for the remainder of the journey).
One was heading for Hull and said he could get a train from York;
that left two of us, the other being a young lady returning to
Lincoln University. At this point the train manager indicated that he
would give us vouchers authorising NXEC at York to provide onward
transport. This should have been one voucher from York to Retford
and one from York to Lincoln, but he seemed to be fixated on the fact
that his obligation was to get us to Doncaster. He recognised that
there would be a long wait for the next train, so he issued a single
voucher for two people, in the name of the young lady, valid from
York to Doncaster, and handed it to me as I had indicated that I knew
my way around York station and could find the NXEC staff. I don't
think he should have forced a potentially vulnerable young lady to be
placed at the mercy of me, a complete stranger; of course, I knew it
was going to be ok, but that's not really the point.
Be patient...it gets even worse...
It was now obvious to me that a taxi from York to Doncaster was not
really going to help: the 1930 NXEC train would get us there at 1956,
and a taxi was unlikely to beat that by more than a few minutes.
However, as there were two of us I thought it best to let NXEC do the
decision-making On the basis that we should beat the train, we were
duly and efficiently shown to a taxi and sent on our way.
The taxi driver opted for the (slow) A19 rather than the (fast)
A64/A1 and also got lost on the way in to Doncaster. The meter had
clocked up £53 as we finally (with the help of directions from me)
reached the station. We arrived on the platform just before eight o'
clock, just as the train from York was pulling in... There were no
trains about to leave for Retford or Lincoln, so another talk to NXEC
staff was necessary.
The 2033 East Midlands service to Lincoln was offered as the best
prospect for my travelling companion. We couldn't argue with that - a
taxi wouldn't have been any quicker. So that just left me. The last
train of the day to Retford, normally 2048 on Saturdays having come
from Leeds, was at 2058 on this occasion (coming from York.) Clearly
the NXEC staff at York hadn't expected me to have to wait at
Doncaster for that train, otherwise why send me by taxi? Why should I
have to wait another hour? The NXEC staff at Doncaster agreed and
contacted CrossCountry in Birmingham for authority to send me by taxi
to Retford. After several failed and/or transferred telephone calls,
the CrossCountry representative was eventually contacted but told
NXEC that such authorisations are no longer issued where the cost is
under £60, and the decision had to by taken by NXEC. The NXEC lady
was clearly unhappy with this reply, so having ended the telephone
call to CrossCountry she phoned an NXEC colleague who confirmed her
view that the CrossCountry assertion was incorrect. So yet another
call was made to CrossCountry, who this time refused the
authorisation. NXEC said they had no authority to do any more, so I
had no choice but to wait for the 2058 train, which got me to Retford
at 2111, one minute early but in reality 258 minutes late.
The first delay of two hours was clearly due to the vandalism and is,
perhaps, excusable, but the remainder is really down to ineptitude
and incompetence, exacerbated by fragmentation of the railway.
If this happened to you, what would you do next?
He deserves it after having to put up with that kind of delay.
