It could be argued the rail companies were slow to offer the option of travelling early. On the Sunday some companies started to offer earlier travel but others did not. Only later they followed suit when others were doing so. They were advising people on Twitter to check back but at the current time they had to travel at their advanced booking time.
They knew the storm was coming.
Later today we should hear about the level of services South West Trains will be providing tomorrow, excluding the next band of rain and wind, which may change all of that.
Does anyone know how the Stoaks Nest work is going or are they just dealing with the two embankment landslides that occurred on the Redhill and Quarry lines?
No Gatwick Express trains running today but I see the Gatwick Express Web Site gives the impression they are running tomorrow. I thought that was only Southern services. After they are both separate companies [trading companies], so Southern like to claim when selling tickets.
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This exactly. First Bus in my local struggle to find vehicles/drivers to cover their standard day-to-day operations, let alone finding additional resources to lay on rail replacement bus services. It's also worth pointing out that First Bus in Bristol were already pretty stretched as it was as they ran a normal weekday service this Christmas Eve.
Given that this is the case, I am always surprised when rail companies are able to get hold of buses during disruptions.
In the past I have noticed there are times when they can only source buses for parts of disrupted routes but not others. At least once there were buses between Guildford and Haslemere before now but nothing between Guildford and Woking, when the problems have been between Woking and Haslemere as a whole.
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You can't help some folk.
The Virgin Twitter feed yesterday (Christmas Eve) included an exchange with someone anxious on behalf of their elderly father, who appeared to have set off from the Sussex coast well after lunch time and needed to get to Preston. It appeared he wasn't likely to get to Euston until around 20.00, and the enquirer was asking what arrangements Virgin might make.
The problem is, if you always bail out last-minute chancers with buses and taxis, they and others will take those chances more often, and costs will spiral. The same goes for those who choose to ignore weather forecasts or fail to undertake basic checks before they travel - eg, will the network close early on Christmas Eve?
Surely in cases like this and all others, all that matters if what the law and the lawyers say. If they legally say one must help then they must and if they don't, then they don't have to. If the law isn't practical or fair in these cases then it legally needs to be changed.
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Clause 45 specifies what is outside of the railway's control.
A coach operator I know used to have 2 vehicles with drivers on 24 hour standby for rail work until about 10 years ago. If this was reinstated as Goatboy states the cost will be passed on to passengers.
Does anyone know how they were able to afford to have 2 vehicles on 24 hour standby until 10 years ago? Was that at the expense of actually improving the railway infrastructure, which they are starting to do on some lines/routes?
