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Manchester Piccadilly - Unfriendly and overstaffed?

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Gavioliuk

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My wife and I passed through Manchester Piccadilly yesterday for the first time at 14.00 with two large suitcases. Arriving at platform 1 with a connection on platform 13 with 8 minutes to get there.

I was struck by the high number of staff as I followed the directions. We were stopped by a guy with a revenue protection badge demanding to see our tickets. I explained my limited time for my connection but he just said I want to see your tickets. These were produced and we moved on.

We had ticket inspection immediately leaving Manchester Airport, and again on the train leaving Piccadilly. Piccadilly does not appear to be a closed station.

I left Piccadilly with a feeling of too many staff just looking for a job to do.

Why do British railways appear to be overstaffed at stations when compared to our near continental neighbours?
 
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Blamethrower

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I think you might be unique in your assertions.

Never heard of a station being over-staffed, if anything it's necessary at large city station due to all the scallies on the blag
 

dggar

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Northern Rail were instructed to tighten up on their revenue protection by either the DfT or the Treasury in the last year. Hence the presence of ticket checkers on platform exits.

Platform 1 is mainly used by Northern Rail trains (with some Trans Pennine Express trains).

You can leave Platform 1 by either the exit on to the concourse or the stairs leading to other platforms or via the lifts in the sub waiting area above platforms 13-14.

The alternative to the ticket checkers would be automatic barriers so you would still have to produce your tickets at some point.
 

ANorthernGuard

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Piccadilly is on full barrier lockdown for the foreseeable future (now they have sorted out some issues) with Virgin/TPE/XC joining STM aka Northern Cheap Labour so get used to it
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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As Network Rail are said to manage Manchester Piccadilly railway station, would any of their staff there, in addition to the TOC staffs, give some credence to what seems to be at first sight to be "overstaffing".

Just a thought.
 
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Piccadilly has never been the 'friendliest' of stations, but, it used to be even worse !...
Back in the days of 'Good old BR' - one asked for help concerning a station stop (having been delayed by BR earlier) - an absolutely ugly old hag, based in a side office at the concourse end of platform one, confronted us through the protection of a glass screen. She was not the slightest bit interested in our predicament - never mind that it was her employer who brought it about - so nothing was done.
British Rail was of course a useful receptacle (dumping ground !) - for all those people whom no smart employer would want to employ - sounds like the 'good old days' could be making a comeback here ? :x !
 

Antman

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My wife and I passed through Manchester Piccadilly yesterday for the first time at 14.00 with two large suitcases. Arriving at platform 1 with a connection on platform 13 with 8 minutes to get there.

I was struck by the high number of staff as I followed the directions. We were stopped by a guy with a revenue protection badge demanding to see our tickets. I explained my limited time for my connection but he just said I want to see your tickets. These were produced and we moved on.

We had ticket inspection immediately leaving Manchester Airport, and again on the train leaving Piccadilly. Piccadilly does not appear to be a closed station.

I left Piccadilly with a feeling of too many staff just looking for a job to do.

Why do British railways appear to be overstaffed at stations when compared to our near continental neighbours?

Northern Rail did mention something on their twitter feed about ticket checks there...........could this be the reason for the 'over staffing'?

And of course they should ask, and not demand, to see your ticket!
 

Gavioliuk

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Northern Rail were instructed to tighten up on their revenue protection by either the DfT or the Treasury in the last year. Hence the presence of ticket checkers on platform exits.

Platform 1 is mainly used by Northern Rail trains (with some Trans Pennine Express trains).

You can leave Platform 1 by either the exit on to the concourse or the stairs leading to other platforms or via the lifts in the sub waiting area above platforms 13-14.

The alternative to the ticket checkers would be automatic barriers so you would still have to produce your tickets at some point.

We were not going through an exit, nor entering a platform, but walking up the concourse. No check on entering platform 13.
 

Jonfun

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And herein lies the issue. People complain when they don't see any railway staff, and then some folk complain when they do. Some folk complain about no ticket checks taking place, but when they do - oh look, people complaining.

The STM lot, whilst some aren't exactly the brightest out there, do a good job of deterring casual fare evasion which might otherwise occur. Compare them to G4S of only a few years back and the difference is marked.

To the OP, the one thing that is likely to wind up staff (in any industry, not just the railways) is starting an argument with them. Especially when they're only asking to see your ticket.
 

Carlisle

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British Rail was of course a useful receptacle (dumping ground !) - for all those people whom no smart employer would want to employ - sounds like the 'good old days' could be making a comeback here ? :x !

Smart enough to provide the public with a railway network for about one fifth of current subsidies :D
 
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My wife and I arrived in the UK for the first time today. It's sunny and there's an election on. Therefore we reckon that the UK is always sunny and there is always an election happening...:roll:
 

dggar

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We were not going through an exit, nor entering a platform, but walking up the concourse. No check on entering platform 13.

Your definition of the concourse if obviously different to mine.

Are you willing to tell us your final destination?
 

gtr driver

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Piccadilly has never been the 'friendliest' of stations, but, it used to be even worse !...
Back in the days of 'Good old BR' - one asked for help concerning a station stop (having been delayed by BR earlier) - an absolutely ugly old hag, based in a side office at the concourse end of platform one, confronted us through the protection of a glass screen. She was not the slightest bit interested in our predicament - never mind that it was her employer who brought it about - so nothing was done.
British Rail was of course a useful receptacle (dumping ground !) - for all those people whom no smart employer would want to employ - sounds like the 'good old days' could be making a comeback here ? :x !

Nothing like a gross generalisation is there? Something of an insult to generations of BR workers who tried their damnedest to make an underfunded, unloved and butchered network function under impossible circumstances, only to face comments like this from the public and indifference from the government.
 

dggar

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Chesterfield

Direct trains to Chesterfield from Platform 13 depart at XX.43 (run by EMT)

The other recommended way of going from the Airport is the TPE to Cleethorpes, changing at Sheffield.(With no change at Piccadilly)

(I'm ignoring the 3rd route of Airport , Wilmslow, Stockport which shows up on National Rail enquiries.)

The only trains that I can think of from the airport, that would arrive into Platform 1 are likely to be TPE trains going towards Leeds.
 

Xenophon PCDGS

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I have been on a number of TPE trains from Manchester Airport to Durham in past years (before the Newcastle-bound service was translated to Liverpool Lime Street) where it indeed did pull into platform 1 at Manchester Piccadilly where the catering trolley waiting on that platform was then loaded onto the train.
 

Altfish

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The problem is that many of the commuter stations served by Piccadilly do not have ticket offices or ticket machines; hence many people disembark at Piccadilly ticketless. In the last year or two there has been an increase in ticket inspection/selling staff on the platforms (and at Stockport too).
In the rush hour quite a queue can form to buy a ticket.

People tried to avoid these checks by going over the footbridge and down another platform (where a train had not recently arrived) so the station is now littered with inspectors checking and selling tickets.
 

thealexweb

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Whenever I travel through Manchester Piccadilly, I use one of the Greater Manchester rail rovers. I feel distrusted and frowned upon by Northern Rail's contractors / staff when I attempt to access the bay platforms. This is regardless of my ticket being valid to board any of the long distances, providing they call at Stockport or Manchester Airport, which virtually all do.
 

323235

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Glad that things have been tightened up, I complained to Northern on twitter about the lack of staff for their "big bang" revenue blockade last Friday evening around 6pm and that I was able to walk off without getting checked or only one staff member checking a train load of tickets (same to VT when the staff were only checking the platform on the other side of the island of two and everyone off my train wasn't being checked).
 
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Merseysider

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It would surely be quite easy to gain access to/from P10-14 without a ticket as the Lost Luggage centre and some other random building is by the fake escalators. Anyone being asked for a ticket can merely say they were visiting lost luggage and away they walk :roll: :lol:
 

RichmondCommu

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Piccadilly has never been the 'friendliest' of stations, but, it used to be even worse !...
Back in the days of 'Good old BR' - one asked for help concerning a station stop (having been delayed by BR earlier) - an absolutely ugly old hag, based in a side office at the concourse end of platform one, confronted us through the protection of a glass screen. She was not the slightest bit interested in our predicament - never mind that it was her employer who brought it about - so nothing was done.
British Rail was of course a useful receptacle (dumping ground !) - for all those people whom no smart employer would want to employ - sounds like the 'good old days' could be making a comeback here ? :x !

Just a quick question; whats wrong with being old and whats wrong with being ugly?
 

Rail Ranger

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And that will be the same British Rail that used to have a dedicated member of staff in the Travel Centre at Manchester Picccadilly solely dedicated to travel to and from the Continent by rail, something that the privatised industry does not provide at all.
 
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And that will be the same British Rail that used to have a dedicated member of staff in the Travel Centre at Manchester Picccadilly solely dedicated to travel to and from the Continent by rail, something that the privatised industry does not provide at all.

Have there been any technological developments in the last 20 years which make it easier for the general public to find information about travel to the Continent and buy tickets? Perhaps allowing people to do their research and purchasing in the comfort of their own homes, without needing to go in person to a busy station and stand in a queue? Maybe these same technological developments have other benefits such as the ability to share ideas, information and experiences with friends, family and like-minded people?
 

Rail Ranger

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By that logic the rail industry would not provide anyone to give expert advice about UK travel at main stations. Travel to the Continent is a well known minefield for the unwary (CIV tickets anyone?) and our Continental friends still think it is worthwhile to provide such a service at their main stations. Also what about the 8 million adults without Internet access in the UK, 5 million of them pensioners?
 
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Also what about the 8 million adults without Internet access in the UK, 5 million of them pensioners?

How many of your 8 million would travel to the Continent by rail? And of that tiny number, how many would either choose to or be able to get to Manchester to find out about it? Of all the possible anti-privatisation concerns, the lack of a Continental rail travel adviser at Manchester seems pretty trivial...
 
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