The issue with this is, i've had to threaten an operator with legal action before when they've claimed a train made a call and it just stopped in the platform and developed a door fault. I luckily managed to find out the fault HAD been logged but they were simply trying it on. The OP has mentioned that one train that was booked to stop didn't and it's unlikely that 50 people missed a train stopping and releasing the doors. Unless the passenger can provide evidence (how?) then it is always their word against the passengers.
Who will direct you to the TOC.
Agreed, regardless of all the supposed rules mentioned afterwards, some quoted below.
If the information is requested of Network Rail then they must disclose it unless a relevant exemption applies - ‘speak to the TOC’ is not such an exemption.
But they must, subject to any relevant exemptions, disclose information if it is requested, including in relation to operational decisions.
With respect, it does not. If the information is requested in writing (such as by email) or, in some cases, orally then the legal obligation to disclose is engaged.
I should explain that I frequently advise sundry railway bodies, including Network Rail and the DfT, on such matters as part of my work.
There is a lot of the word "must" in these statements. And it's fantastic that these rules exist, but in reality there is nobody to enforce it so it is unlikely to happen. Not that the information they would have would be particularly useful here anyway.
It would have been better to return the passengers to MK
Agree this sort of move can sometimes be much more efficient. A guard told someone to alight at Retford once, thinking they were at Newark, they'd announce it as Newark etc. Station staff said they'd have to wait 2 hours, in passing i asked if they'd be better off sending them on the down train back to Doncaster, which they did, and they'll have got to Newark less than an hour late. (A taxi would have been ideal here but there's the obvious reluctance if they can get someone to use the railway).
Probably not, but isn't that the whole reason help points exist?
Whilst i haven't used many, it has been 50/50 whether they've been functioning sufficiently enough to make contact (non emergency button) so i'm sad to say, i personally feel one of the primary reasons for them existing is to tick boxes. I have reported them when they haven't worked, one particular box i have reported half a dozen times.
Interesting how quickly this thread has polarised between (i) those taking the side of the aggrieved passengers, and (ii) those of the opinion that the railway has done all that it might reasonably have been expected to do, given the difficult circumstances.
Welcome to RailUK, enjoy your stay.
Overall these things happen on the railway. thankfully, on this scale very very rarely, of course we always get to hear about it here so it may seem more frequent than it is but we forget the thousands and thousands of journeys that day that went without any real trouble. Clearly there is some incompetence sweeping through the operator somewhere and training is necessary to stop it happening again. It's not obvious whether this will happen of course.
In terms of people suggesting that after just half an hour they'd have got themselves a taxi, good, i'm pleased you're in a position to do that, but it shouldn't have to be that way, and many people won't know what to do and shouldn't be discriminated against because of it. I suspect that nobody at LNWR actually wanted this to happen, and i suspect nobody really realised it was happening for some time.
Every time these sorts of things happen the PRIMARY complaint is communication, not getting home 6 hours late, not having to stand crushed on a hot train until 0130 in the dark, not waiting on a platform in the rain for 3 hours, but just simply not being told what is happening. And it seems to happen everytime. There is something reassuring about station staff or a guard saying "sorry, don't know any more than i did half an hour ago but we haven't forgotten you, i will keep updating when i can" even though they've told you nothing at all. People want honesty, they don't want fobbing off with excuses, they have lives. If the railway says, it's all gone wrong, You might be here for hours we are really sorry we are doing what we can, people are annoyed, but know where they stand. When operators keep lying saying, the next train will stop here, or we will be moving in the next few minutes, only to let passengers down again and again it makes the situation far worse. It seems there was an element of that here, telling people that the next train would stop, then the next one, then the one that was supposed to stop didn't, then the next one would make a special stop, but didn't.
