1915 from Paddington skipping the Pick up only call tonight

[richw]

Any one ignoring the Reading Pick up only at Paddington on tonight's 19:15 from London Paddington to Swansea may have had a surprise. The train left London so full and standing it was decided by FGW to skip the Pick Up only call at Reading making first stop Swindon.
By all accounts the service is frequently used by Reading Commuters who abuse the Pick up only rule. Does anyone here know how many ended up in Swindon tonight?
I'll take a gander at Twitter later to see how many rants about this appear as well.
Moral of the story though is not to abuse a pick up only service!

Edit*** At least 6 rants visible from over carried passengers, Twitter is correctly telling them they shouldn't have boarded as it isn't advertised to drop off at Reading.

 

[LowLevel]

Hooray - I love it when this happens when they try and be clever! BR used to do it from time to time and sting them for the extra fare.

 

[richw]

Hooray - I love it when this happens when they try and be clever! BR used to do it from time to time and sting them for the extra fare.

Me too, can we expect to see them in the prosecutions forum trying to get advise to appeal penalty fares or excess fares soon?

 

[PHILIPE]

I've experienced it myself in the evening from Paddington travelling as a long distance passenger and having to stand until Reading where masses of commuters alight.

 

[richw]

They were refusing people travel at Paddington even those heading for Bristol and South Wales were turned away as it was so full. As Reading is Pick up they couldn't possibly have picked any more people up if they were turning long distance travellers away at Paddington so no point stopping.

 

[455driver]

Edit*** At least 6 rants visible from over carried passengers, Twitter is correctly telling them they shouldn't have boarded as it isn't advertised to drop off at Reading.

So that effectively 6 genuine passengers that were unable to board the service at Paddington then!

I do hope the ignorant overcarried Reading commuters got charged, I really do!

 

[richw]

So that effectively 6 genuine passengers that were unable to board the service at Paddington then!

I do hope the ignorant overcarried Reading commuters got charged, I really do!

At least 6, this is the few tweets I've noticed of the idiots who are now blaming FGW for their own stupidity.

I also hope they got charged over-distance excesses or penalty fares if possible, which would be twice the single fare from Paddington to Swindon if I understand the Penalty Fare system correctly? If this is correct would it be twice the anytime single fare?
Anytime Single Paddington to Swindon is £60.50, so 2 times will be £121.

 

[CC 72100]

At least 6, this is the few tweets I've noticed of the idiots who are now blaming FGW for their own stupidity.

I also hope they got charged over-distance excesses or penalty fares if possible, which would be twice the single fare from Paddington to Swindon if I understand the Penalty Fare system correctly? If this is correct would it be twice the anytime single fare?
Anytime Single Paddington to Swindon is £60.50, so 2 times will be £121.

I bet there were a few classic faces when the announcement was made that the train would now be non-stop Swindon.

As for if they got charged.... hmmmm.... can you imagine the negative publicity if the nasty jobsworth ticket man decided to ruin somebody who was suffering from stress and feeling a bit forgetful's day?

(think I've got them all in, right?)

 

[richw]

I bet there were a few classic faces when the announcement was made that the train would now be non-stop Swindon.

As for if they got charged.... hmmmm.... can you imagine the negative publicity if the nasty jobsworth ticket man decided to ruin somebody who was suffering from stress and feeling a bit forgetful's day?

(think I've got them all in, right?)

Not forgetting those who have suddenly developed conditions which means they cant read or see the departure screens,

 

[CC 72100]

Not forgetting those who have suddenly developed conditions which means they cant read or see the departure screens,

"but this train always stops, how can they change it at such short notice like that and not tell anybody?"

 

[Hardcastle]

Friday the 13th springs to mind.

 

[Bishopstone]

They got a nasty surprise tonight, but if the tactic works nineteen times out of twenty, then this is rational behaviour. I suspect I would do similar if never caught and made to pay a Penalty/excess fare.

 

[ValleyLines142]

Is there any particular reason why Reading commuters didn't wait a mere SEVEN minutes later for the 1922 to Hereford?

 

[Hardcastle]

Maybe its the Reading mentality they cant wait for anything time matters, or it did till tonight.

 

[higthomas]

Can anyone point me the way of any of these tweets, this sort of thing always make fun reading.
Also does anyone know of a realistic way to stop Reading commuters getting on these trains?

 

[richw]

Can anyone point me the way of any of these tweets, this sort of thing always make fun reading.
Also does anyone know of a realistic way to stop Reading commuters getting on these trains?

@fgw is the feed you need, I'm not sure how to filter without reading every one, but they are easily identifiable.

 

[Darandio]

Can anyone point me the way of any of these tweets, this sort of thing always make fun reading.
Also does anyone know of a realistic way to stop Reading commuters getting on these trains?

To be honest, I did look earlier and found some, but there are so many different requests/replies per hour, I couldn't go back through and find them.

Have a look through https://twitter.com/FGW/with_replies and look from what would have been about 1940, a few started ranting.

 

[Bishopstone]

Maybe its the Reading mentality they cant wait for anything time matters, or it did till tonight.

Well time does matter, doesn't it?

A train in the platform, engines roaring and ready to depart, is worth half a dozen on the departures board that might subsequently be cancelled for whatever reason, or short-formed and too busy to board etc.

For many folk balancing stressful jobs, child care arrangements, evening commitments etc, saving (or not losing) ten minutes can be a big win.

The forum is in self-righteous mood, tonight. Clearly nobody here has ever taken advantage of a ticketing fudge/discrepancy, or enjoyed the unofficial hospitality of a member of the railway family.

 

[tsr]

Given the ridiculous multitude of off-peak ticketing announcements/displays at Paddington (other London terminals seem to do much better, in my view), surely there is an opportunity to squeeze in another. It simply needs to be a new one which, after today's events, should put a few commuters off catching that train. Something like "Please note this train *will not* be able to set down passengers at Reading, so it is not able to convey passengers from London who need to alight/change at Reading."

Or is this already done, but obscured by other things/just generally ignored?

 

[Flamingo]

Love it! I'm looking forward to hearing about it Monday.

That train should be run first stop Swindon every night.

 

[Starmill]

Given the ridiculous multitude of off-peak ticketing announcements/displays at Paddington (other London terminals seem to do much better, in my view), surely there is an opportunity to squeeze in another. It simply needs to be a new one which, after today's events, should put a few commuters off catching that train. Something like "Please note this train *will not* be able to set down passengers at Reading, so it is not able to convey passengers from London who need to alight/change at Reading."

Or is this already done, but obscured by other things/just generally ignored?

Why on earth is this necessary? I assume the train is announced as "Platform one for the nineteen fifteen First Great Western service to Swansea. Calling at Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea." Does that say anything about Reading? So if you are going to Reading, do you get on that train?

 

[tsr]

Why on earth is this necessary? I assume the train is announced as "Platform one for the nineteen fifteen First Great Western service to Swansea. Calling at Swindon, Bristol Parkway, Newport, Cardiff Central, Bridgend, Port Talbot Parkway, Neath and Swansea." Does that say anything about Reading? So if you are going to Reading, do you get on that train?

It is clear, from reading the thread, that it has become common knowledge that it is scheduled to stop at Reading. For many commuters, emphasis is needed to stress any changes or amendments to the rules, or just enforcement of them. I doubt all of them even bother to read the list of calling points, but they might just read an ominous notice about them.

The other option - and I'm not sure if it could be done at Paddington - is to have the gateline reject season tickets for Reading for the specific access route to the platform allocated to the service - maybe from the point at which any prior Reading service left from that platform.

 

[Starmill]

It is clear, from reading the thread, that it has become common knowledge that it is scheduled to stop at Reading. For many commuters, emphasis is needed to stress any changes or amendments to the rules, or just enforcement of them. I doubt all of them even bother to read the list of calling points, but they might just read an ominous notice about them.

The other option - and I'm not sure if it could be done at Paddington - is to have the gateline reject season tickets for Reading for the specific access route to the platform allocated to the service - maybe from the point at which any prior Reading service left from that platform.

Well if we have reached the stage where people just can't be bothered to read the list of calls then quite frankly there is bugger all else FGW can do about this. Maybe a few people will have learned the hard way this evening. Alternative solution: entirely remove the call at Reading from this service!

 

[ess]

Presumbly the Reading stop is on the paper timetable but with a pick up only code. There is a chance of a genuine mistake, but most will be chancers I bet.

 

[Flamingo]

I can guarentee that numerous announcements would have been made on board after this decision was made. They ignored them, thinking that FGW would never dare miss out Reading.

Tee Hee Hee.

 

[455driver]

Presumbly the Reading stop is on the paper timetable but with a pick up only code. There is a chance of a genuine mistake, but most will be chancers I bet.

I would put money on every single one of them knew exactly what they were doing, I have been sent a link to one of their tw@ter accounts and he is trying to say the call at Reading was advertised on the Paddington departure boards.
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---

I can guarentee that numerous announcements would have been made on board after this decision was made. They ignored them, thinking that FGW would never dare miss out Reading.

Tee Hee Hee.

Why would announcements need to be made?
There shouldn't have been anyone on the train for Reading!

 

[Hadders]

The 1915 is shown in the GBTT as being pick-up at Reading on Friday's only. It also doesn't call at all at Didcot on Friday's only.

So you can get this train to Reading on Monday-Thursday but not Friday. Puts a slightly different angle on it for a regular traveller.

 

[CC 72100]

The 1915 is shown in the GBTT as being pick-up at Reading on Friday's only. It also doesn't call at all at Didcot on Friday's only.

So you can get this train to Reading on Monday-Thursday but not Friday. Puts a slightly different angle on it for a regular traveller.

But they shouldn't be on it in the first place! It won't show Reading on the board, so what Defense do those who want Reading have?!

 

[Hadders]

I absolutely agree, it isn't booked to call at Reading therefore they shouldn't be on board.

However, I can see how a regular commuter in 'auto pilot' mode could get on that train on a Friday when they legitimately use every other day of the week, especially as it does actually call at Reading (although it didn't this week)

Of course the issue here is lack of capacity. What's really needed is a relief train that runs Friday's only.

Are there any other examples across the network where a call is omitted on a single day of the week only because of capacity?

 

[sammyg901]

This really does seem to be a problem train - it's come up on here before and friends really try to avoid it on a Friday!

I'm surprised they can't squeeze out an extra service on a Friday like Virgin have managed to but I'm sure its been considered!