• Our booking engine at tickets.railforums.co.uk (powered by TrainSplit) helps support the running of the forum with every ticket purchase! Find out more and ask any questions/give us feedback in this thread!

London North Eastern Railway (LNER) First Class service

trainophile

Established Member
Joined
28 Oct 2010
Messages
6,186
Location
Wherever I lay my hat
Just been looking on the EastCoast website and doing a search for a trip in April. Surprised to see the following when I clicked on the (i) for more information...

Facilities

  • Seat reservations are recommended
  • Buffet Service
  • Meal included for First Class passengers
So nothing about First Class refreshments being complimentary i.e. subject to availability. Makes me wonder if people complaining about lack of food do have a valid claim.
 
Sponsor Post - registered members do not see these adverts; click here to register, or click here to log in
R

RailUK Forums

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,542
Location
Redcar
I think there is a strong likelihood that someone who brought a claim for breach of contract if they failed to supply the advertised catering would have some legs to their claim.
 

robbeech

Established Member
Joined
11 Nov 2015
Messages
4,622
Well yes, I was an hour late arriving at Liverpool South Parkway, but the train that the second leg of my journey was booked on, i.e. the 1209 LDS-LPY, ran on time, so I can hardly claim from TPE, and Virgin would say that they got me to the destination on my first ticket, i.e. Leeds, only 23 minutes late. If I had bought a ticket for a through journey Grantham to Liverpool I would maybe have had a justifiable claim, but as two completely separate (in the railway's view) journeys then I'm not sure whether they would consider the overall hour's lateness anyone's actual fault.

Had my TPE ticket been to Lime Street I could probably have got on the 1244 instead of waiting for the 1309, but I really wanted to go to South Parkway as per my ticket so decided to wait, and also I must admit that this was partly because at that stage I thought arriving an hour late would get me a refund. It only dawned on me that I was on shaky ground when I went through it in my mind in the small hours of this morning!

It wasn't my best Virgin journey ever, also due to the total lack of refreshments as there were no catering crew on board, but luckier than some folk who must have had a total nightmare travelling yesterday, so I'm tending to count my blessings, and put it down to another experience on the ever-exciting British railways!

You can claim here. If your journey was Grantham to Liverpool S Parkway it doesn’t matter if it’s 1 ticket or 2 or 6. VTEC made you miss your connection, you left the minimum connection time at Leeds, claim from them. Email them (rather than use the online form) and explain your connection. Attach photographs of your tickets for the journey (another reason to not let machines eat them). If they don’t pay up then escalate it.
 

trainophile

Established Member
Joined
28 Oct 2010
Messages
6,186
Location
Wherever I lay my hat
Thanks for that. Decided I might as well give it a go, except I can't find an email address for a freehand explanation of my claim, all I can find are online forms to fill in.

Could anyone oblige with an email address for VTEC customer services?

Edit: I have found a postal address and will send them a letter enclosing my tickets.
 
Last edited:

Huntergreed

Established Member
Associate Staff
Events Co-ordinator
Joined
16 Jan 2016
Messages
3,019
Location
Dumfries
Hi there!

I have recently purchased a journey from Edinburgh to London Kings Cross on the 12:00 Service, and I just have a few questions as I have never used VTEC before!

Can anyone enlighten me as to how the lunchtime first class service compares to that served on VTWC and in general what is the first class service like on the east coast?

What are seats L11 + 13 like in terms of space, comfort, legroom, and window alignment, and what side of the train will these be located on?

What facilities and snacks are provided at London Kings Cross and Edinburgh Waverley first class lounges?

How comfortable and enjoyable is it to travel with VTEC in comparison to their west coast counterpart?

Thank you for any advice or information :)
 

takno

Established Member
Joined
9 Jul 2016
Messages
5,038
Lounge-wise, Kings Cross lounge is a bit of a tip, particularly by the end of the day, and isn't big enough. They don't have enough fridges for anything to be even slightly cold, and everything looked a bit broken down. Edinburgh was better although I was there earlier in the day. Either way there's one of those coffee machines that uses real beans and fake milk, some hot water and tea bags, crisps, biscuits, fruit, water and soft drinks.

On the train some of the hot food is pretty good. Can't compare to West Coast because they've never given me anything better than a wrap. Drink is much the same. The service is probably the same on average, although East Coast tends to be either feast or famine depending on the crew.

Seats are generally comfortable with decent legroom - I'd say far better than my experience of west coast, and in much nicer trains generally. Only downside is the utterly naff colour-scheme on the seats. Not sure about L11 and 13 particularly.
 

Chrism20

Established Member
Joined
27 Feb 2013
Messages
1,347
The 1200 is an electric set.

L11 & 13 are on the left hand side heading south about a third of the way along the carriage and are opposite each other. Decent enough location imo. It’s on the side with the single seats so you won’t be sharing a table with others.

The seats are much bigger than WC although almost every one I’ve sat in this week the recline has been knackered.

If you get the full service it is better than the WC brunch menu
 

47271

Established Member
Joined
28 Apr 2015
Messages
2,983
The seats are much bigger than WC although almost every one I’ve sat in this week the recline has been knackered.

Jeez, barely a year since the refurbs finished and this has started up again.

It may appear to be a trivial problem in the overall scheme of things but the seat is pretty much useless in that condition since it runs backwards and forwards as the train brakes and accelerates.
 

Chrism20

Established Member
Joined
27 Feb 2013
Messages
1,347
Jeez, barely a year since the refurbs finished and this has started up again.

It may appear to be a trivial problem in the overall scheme of things but the seat is pretty much useless in that condition since it runs backwards and forwards as the train brakes and accelerates.

Only over the last week or so, I’ve maybe just been unlucky tbh but it is annoying.

That said I’ve noticed that the service and availability have significantly improved since early December when the crewing changed.
 

Deerfold

Veteran Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
12,571
Location
Yorkshire
Jeez, barely a year since the refurbs finished and this has started up again.

It may appear to be a trivial problem in the overall scheme of things but the seat is pretty much useless in that condition since it runs backwards and forwards as the train brakes and accelerates.

I seem to get a dodgy one about every 5 trips.
 

westv

Established Member
Joined
29 Mar 2013
Messages
4,203
Free 3 month 1st class lounge pass received. Not sure how much I'll be able to make of it but we'll see.
Would have preferred 3 months of free 1st class tickets. :lol:
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,542
Location
Redcar
How did you come by that?
I've had one before but it was shortly after Rewards finished and went with all sorts of random freebies or discounts that they were giving away to customers. I assumed as an attempt to bribe us after they ditched Rewards. It was excellent I must say.
 

Chrism20

Established Member
Joined
27 Feb 2013
Messages
1,347
Well on the whole since the start of December I’ve found things to be fairly consistent and have on at least 90% of my journeys had my first choice.

This morning I got my first choice, however it is the worst EC breakfast I have had for some time.

All credit to the chef as I have no idea how he managed to get that egg on the plate intact as the moment put the knife into the white part it disintegrated into a puddle of white gloop. The sausage was dry and wrinkled to hell and the mushroom was missing.

Also ordered before Musselburgh and we were passed Alnmouth before it was served. Full compliment of crew so not sure what the issue was although I did note that the crew did not get on the train until we did ten minutes before departure.
 

Attachments

  • 266F0583-BAB4-489E-AD39-AF711205EF6A.jpeg
    266F0583-BAB4-489E-AD39-AF711205EF6A.jpeg
    1.9 MB · Views: 109

aar0

Member
Joined
13 Sep 2016
Messages
296
Free 3 month 1st class lounge pass received. Not sure how much I'll be able to make of it but we'll see.
Would have preferred 3 months of free 1st class tickets. :lol:

I have a tip for this if you'd like me to pm it to you?
 

MG11

Member
Joined
4 Nov 2017
Messages
638
Well on the whole since the start of December I’ve found things to be fairly consistent and have on at least 90% of my journeys had my first choice.

This morning I got my first choice, however it is the worst EC breakfast I have had for some time.

All credit to the chef as I have no idea how he managed to get that egg on the plate intact as the moment put the knife into the white part it disintegrated into a puddle of white gloop. The sausage was dry and wrinkled to hell and the mushroom was missing.

Also ordered before Musselburgh and we were passed Alnmouth before it was served. Full compliment of crew so not sure what the issue was although I did note that the crew did not get on the train until we did ten minutes before departure.
That looks yucky. Where did your train begin its journey? I know some Scottish trains have their breakfasts pre-loaded the night before, perhaps that could affect the quality.
 

Chrism20

Established Member
Joined
27 Feb 2013
Messages
1,347
That looks yucky. Where did your train begin its journey? I know some Scottish trains have their breakfasts pre-loaded the night before, perhaps that could affect the quality.

It wasn’t very nice.

Boarded at Edinburgh and the train originated there. Food was waiting to be loaded along with the crew and passengers.
 

westv

Established Member
Joined
29 Mar 2013
Messages
4,203
Not 1st class this evening so I won't miss a hot meal due to the "no ovens" on this train.
Does "catering updates" ever get updated?
 

Deerfold

Veteran Member
Joined
26 Nov 2009
Messages
12,571
Location
Yorkshire
I've had one before but it was shortly after Rewards finished and went with all sorts of random freebies or discounts that they were giving away to customers. I assumed as an attempt to bribe us after they ditched Rewards. It was excellent I must say.

Oh, I've had 2 annual ones before now, but I've not seen mention of them for some time. I seem to be quite good at missing their freebies.
 

Butts

Veteran Member
Joined
16 Jan 2011
Messages
11,323
Location
Stirlingshire
Now I'm marooned in Cymru I dont' get my cheap days out Half Board any more !!!

Just as a yardstick so you do not moan to much I experienced for the first time FGW 1st Class Catering on an HST between Cardiff and Swindon.

Out on 0756 ....Orange Juice and Coffee both served in plastic/paper cups :( - accompanied by a flapjack !! How I missed the Fry Up and Toast. No hot offering whatsoever. To be fair they did come around twice in a 1 Hour journey and had a good selection of quality cakes and biscuits on the trolley.

Return 1539 ... Better - more like All Day without the Hot Option . Had Beef Sandwiches (Egg also available) Coffee, Cake, Crisps and a can of coke - yes I repeat a can of coke - this is the biggest failing no free Alcohol o_O Again they came around twice ex Swindon and Bristol. I got off in Newport on the way back so that was only about 45 mins !!!

As they only have one and a half carriages rather than four they do seem to appear frequently.
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,438
Location
Yorkshire
I'm on a train now, from the very first station, people are being individually told that it's not possible to have more than one out of cake, crisps, biscuits, even though the trolley is currently very well stocked (full to the brim with everything) on a currently lightly loaded train, because they expect to run out later. Doesn't bother me but I've never had that before.

Someone asked about ticket restrictions and the staff just said "see the Guard"; fair enough if they've not been briefed and if the staff have been told to say that, fair enough I don't want to criticise them, but if it was me doing a customer facing job I'd want to be as helpful as possible and would find out. Anyway I told the customer ticket restrictions were lifted as it's clearly stated on their website and NRE.

On yesterday's journey, the lady serving us between York and Newcastle was absolutely brilliant and very friendly and helpful, while north of Newcastle it was a case of offering the bare minimum upon departure and spending the last hour chatting, which didn't bother me and is fair enough as presumably that's their allotted break time, but I think it's worth pointing out so that people know what to expect.

So it's a very mixed experience. I'm not complaining, just observing :)
 

yorkie

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Administrator
Joined
6 Jun 2005
Messages
67,438
Location
Yorkshire
Now we are over 80 minutes late, but we are told this part of the charter does not apply:-
If you are delayed by over 60 minutes on any of our
trains, or stations because of a problem with our services,
we will offer you complimentary refreshments, while
stocks last.
Although the trolley is very well stocked with a wide variety of items, no-one is allowed to have any refreshments, other than a bottle of water.

Edit: OK they've had a change of mind! The Guard is now doing a great job coming round with a well stocked trolley serving soft & alcoholic drinks.

Very bizarre experience!
 
Last edited:

IanXC

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
18 Dec 2009
Messages
6,331
Now we are over 80 minutes late, but we are told this part of the charter does not apply:-

Although the trolley is very well stocked with a wide variety of items, no-one is allowed to have any refreshments, other than a bottle of water.

Edit: OK they've had a change of mind! The Guard is now doing a great job coming round with a well stocked trolley serving soft & alcoholic drinks.

Very bizarre experience!

The Train Manager and not the Catering Crew? How very bizarre!
 

ainsworth74

Forum Staff
Staff Member
Global Moderator
Joined
16 Nov 2009
Messages
27,542
Location
Redcar
The Train Manager and not the Catering Crew? How very bizarre!

I once had a guard (as they were then) deliver tea and coffee to all passengers in first class as the train departed without any catering crew at all!
 

IanXC

Emeritus Moderator
Joined
18 Dec 2009
Messages
6,331
I once had a guard (as they were then) deliver tea and coffee to all passengers in first class as the train departed without any catering crew at all!

Well yes, but it would seem odd that the TM provided the disruption complementaries after the catering crew had refused to do so!
 

robbeech

Established Member
Joined
11 Nov 2015
Messages
4,622
Just after New Year i had the TM and the Chef doing the rounds through first class with everything. No hot food available, partially because there wasn't any and partially because the chef was pushing a trolley around, we were about 110L so any service was appreciated.
 

Top