When christmas is the busiest time of the year for the railways you would think that the fat controllers would have the sense to put on extra services or at least stick a couple of extra carriages on the existing services.
After a weekend in London over the Christmas season I now understand why Rudolph is in such demand.
Our journey to London was great, Blackburn to Preston, time for a quick brew at Preston and then on the express to Euston.We managed to find two seats which had been reserved but their occupants hadn’t turned up, so we grabbed them quick.
We shared a table with two lovely ladies, one who was on her way to London for the birth of her first Grandchild, and the other who just happened to have a small bottle of champagne in her bag in case she was seated with anyone who may wish to share it with her.
Well what better reason for opening a bottle of champagne than a new baby? (even though it hadn’t quite arrived yet!)
We all ended up sat on the edge of our seats, waiting for the next phone call from her expectant son.
Our journey went so smoothly and we arrived at Euston Station in three and a quarter hours.
Pick up a timetable so we can plan our return journey, quick walk across the station to the tube, twenty minutes on the tube and we are where we want to be. (in the pub)
I should have known that it could’t be that easy.
The return journey on the day before Christmas Eve...a different story altogether.
We decided to catch the 2.30 Euston to Glasgow train which meant that if the first journey was anything to go by, we should have been at home in Blackburn by 6.30. In plenty of time for the kids returning home at 7.30.
First Problem. Although the 2.30 in the timetable runs from Euston to Glasgow it actually only goes as far as Crewe.
When we asked about this at customer services we were told ’’oh sorry, don’t know what’s going on there. The next train you can catch is in an hour’’
Great, we haven’t even set off and already we are an hour behind schedule.
So after sitting on Euston Station for 45 minutes we come across problem number two.
’’The 3.30 from Euston to Glasgow is fully booked, reserved ticket holders only. Anyone without a reserved ticket is advised to catch the 4.10 to Crewe and then catch a connecting train from there.’’
Oh and by the way is it in the job description for a Train Station announcer to have to be able to mumble incoherently?
Why didn’t anyone tell us that we could have caught the 2.30 to Crewe and then get a connection from there. At least that would have saved us hanging around Euston for an hour.
Anyway after a bit of whinging and moaning to the Station staff they allowed us to board the 3.30 although it was standing room only.
We decided to stand near the buffet car. At least if we had to stand all the way home we could at least have a beer.
What a mistake that was.
Meet Mr Nightmare travelling companion.
He had already been drinking before he boarded the train. He repeated every sentence at the top of his voice at least eight times and totally refused to be ignored.
After about half an hour of listening to this obnoxious man I had had enough. I decided to go to the loo...at the other end of the train.
I found two seats that were reserved from Preston to Glasgow. This meant that they were free for our part of the journey. Needless to say, I soon grabbed them.
Even sat a full carriage away from the buffet car Nightmare man could still be heard, but not quite as loud.
Problem 3.
Just outside Crewe our train stopped for about twenty minutes. Apparently this was because there were no empty platforms for it to pull into.
By this time I am starting to get my knickers in a knot. The kids were being dropped off at 7.30.
After Crewe there should have been no more stops until Preston. Imagine my surprise when we stopped at Stockport. What on earth was going on?
Our train which was standing room only, had been diverted to pick up passengers who’s train was late from Stockport, so they didn’t miss their connection to Dumfries.
Unbelievable.
The train then went on to stop at Manchester, Bolton and about four other places that I had never heard of.
By now my knickers were well and truly plaited and I started sending desperate text messages to let people know we had been delayed.
We eventually rolled into Preston at 8.30 to find that the train for Blackburn had just left and there wasn’t another one until 9.45.
We had to get a taxi from Preston just to rescue the neighbours from our kids which cost us another £20.00 on top of the £110.00 which we had paid for our return tickets.
Definitely not value for money and not a good way to start a stress free Christmas.