Avanti take needless announcements to a new level

[TUC]

There's plenty of discussion on redundant announcements generally on trains, but Avanti have extended that principle to its catering. The announcement about the catering service for the train I am on tonight included:
1. Please let them know if you have any allergies
2. Please take care of doors closing as you walk through the train.
3. All drinks come with a compulsory bag
4. As it is a wet day, please take care when walking through the train

As for saying any welcoming messages to passengers to encourage them to use the catering, or to say what food or offers are available, forget it.

 

[DMckduck]

The railways still have yet to grasp that, sometimes better customer service is listening to the wants of said customers.

The DfT post COVID crackdown on announcements was all smoke and mirrors it would seem.

 

[800001]

There's plenty of discussion on redundant announcements generally on trains, but Avanti have extended that principle to its catering. The announcement about the catering service for the train I am on tonight included:
1. Please let them know if you have any allergies
2. Please take care of doors closing as you walk through the train.
3. All drinks come with a compulsory bag
4. As it is a wet day, please take care when walking through the train

As for saying any welcoming messages to passengers to encourage them to use the catering, or to say what food or offers are available, forget it.

Automatic announcement?
Or a rogue member of staff doing their own thing and not company announcements?

 

[TUC]

Automatic announcement?
Or a rogue member of staff doing their own thing and not company announcements?

Staff member, although it sounded very detailed to be one they made up for themselves.

 

[Toby268]

There's plenty of discussion on redundant announcements generally on trains, but Avanti have extended that principle to its catering. The announcement about the catering service for the train I am on tonight included:
1. Please let them know if you have any allergies
2. Please take care of doors closing as you walk through the train.
3. All drinks come with a compulsory bag
4. As it is a wet day, please take care when walking through the train

As for saying any welcoming messages to passengers to encourage them to use the catering, or to say what food or offers are available, forget it.

All of these apart from the latter are announcements they are made to say, mostly by the safety teams mandating they are announced. No “rogue staff.” Staff are well aware of the annoyance it causes to customers. But it’s not worth failing an audit and being pulled up on. The ridiculous amount of catering announcements - which was actually supposed to be announced at every stop (frustrating via the midlands) was specified by the DFT. Although there isn’t as much of a focus on doing it at every stop now (thank god)

 

[Trainman40083]

I am actually surprised they don't keep reminding passengers that tea and coffee may be HOT.

 

[pnepaul]

I have noticed the above announcements on Avanti in recent weeks. They are on every service, it seems. I wonder if the increasingly risk-averse insurance companies are behind this.

 

[Peter0124]

Some of those announcements are quite useful though, the doors do close suddenly and if you haven't been on Avanti before you mightn't know about it.

Repeating the announcements after every stop though can get tiring, so maybe once or twice on the journey is enough?

Unless there's a better way: put stickers on the doors reminding people.

 

[tumbledown]

I have no problem people mandating announcements as long as all mandated announcements are played at the same frequency every day in those people's workspace.

 

[TUC]

All of these apart from the latter are announcements they are made to say, mostly by the safety teams mandating they are announced. No “rogue staff.” Staff are well aware of the annoyance it causes to customers. But it’s not worth failing an audit and being pulled up on. The ridiculous amount of catering announcements - which was actually supposed to be announced at every stop (frustrating via the midlands) was specified by the DFT. Although there isn’t as much of a focus on doing it at every stop now (thank god)

Most of them aren’t announced on other TOCs, so it doesn’t seem to be a DfT requirement.

 

[nilvaj395]

I am actually surprised they don't keep reminding passengers that tea and coffee may be HOT.

Do not give them any ideas

 

[Toby268]

Most of them aren’t announced on other TOCs, so it doesn’t seem to be a DfT requirement.

As I say, the DFT mandated an announcement was made leaving every stop to say the shop was open and available for service. This was right after the press release from the transport sec at the time to say they were cutting down on unnecessary announcements. What followed was emails from management to catering staff continually for about 6 months, asking why a secret shopper had reported no shop announcement departing a specific stop (even if it had been done at every other stop) it’s died down now thankfully in terms of caterers being pulled up for it, but they are still told it is what is supposed to be done. Maybe it was a mandate only given to Avanti, but it was definitely instructed by the DFT at the time.

 

[Fokx]

The railways still have yet to grasp that, sometimes better customer service is listening to the wants of said customers.

The DfT post COVID crackdown on announcements was all smoke and mirrors it would seem.

It was nothing more than a Grant Shapps PR spin. As per most of his policies, nothing actually happened other than a tik tok style video.

 

[azOOOOOma]

On a London to Aberdeen train today we had lots of announcements due to cancellations and disruption. However there were several announcements for estimated arrival times into the 15 or so calling points. All well and good but we left London a few minutes late. This was in addition to the disruption announcements. And having to sit through it several times was annoying despite my wearing of noise cancelling earphones. Helpful for those with connections but what’s the point announcing the very slightly delayed arrival into Arbroath. For one we are couple of minutes late and there’s a lot can happen between now and the six hours it will take us to progress toward Arbroath. Literally what is the point?

 

[43096]

Some of those announcements are quite useful though, the doors do close suddenly and if you haven't been on Avanti before you mightn't know about it.

Repeating the announcements after every stop though can get tiring, so maybe once or twice on the journey is enough?

Why not just tell passengers while they are actually buying something in the buffet? That way the PA can be a "sales" announcement to get people to come to the buffet rather than putting people off with H&S backside covering garbage. It also means everyone else isn't forced to listen to the nonsense.

Unless there's a better way: put stickers on the doors reminding people.

Just NO. There's too many warning signs as it is.

 

[Ellwill]

Usually threads complaining about excessive onboard announcements concern SWR, so it's a little refreshing to see another TOC under the spotlight for once.

I have noticed the above announcements on Avanti in recent weeks. They are on every service, it seems. I wonder if the increasingly risk-averse insurance companies are behind this.

Most likely an effort to reduce liability for anyone being stupid and getting themselves injured by lack of common sense...

 

[Krokodil]

Please let them know if you have any allergies

This should be a sign on the counter and menus.

All drinks come with a compulsory bag

If people say "I don't need a bag", that's the point to say "sorry, I have to put it in one". Otherwise it's unnecessary.

Please take care of doors closing as you walk through the train.

Shark's teeth stickers on the edges like many external doors have?

As it is a wet day, please take care when walking through the train

Why would this be a hazard? I could understand if the floor was vinyl, but it's carpet.

As I say, the DFT mandated an announcement was made leaving every stop to say the shop was open and available for service.

A generic "Welcome aboard x to y. This train has nine carriages, First Class is at the rear of the train, Quiet Coach A is at the front, and the buffet is in Coach C. The next stop will be z in twenty minutes' time." would convey much more information with less waffle.

 

[CaptainHaddock]

A generic "Welcome aboard x to y. This train has nine carriages, First Class is at the rear of the train, Quiet Coach A is at the front, and the buffet is in Coach C. The next stop will be z in twenty minutes' time." would convey much more information with less waffle.

Even that's excessive. "This is the train to Y. The next stop is X" is as much as the average passenger needs to know

 

[Krokodil]

Even that's excessive. "This is the train to Y. The next stop is X" is as much as the average passenger needs to know

Yes, but if there is a need to do more (intercity service leaving a significant interchange for example) then what I wrote was far more concise than listing the entire buffet menu and explaining the intricacies of the rules of the Quiet Coach.

 

[Russel]

It's just risk assesment box ticking.

All totally pointless, however.

The allergy one irritates me the most, if I have a nut allergy for example, I won't order the salted peanuts, it's called taking responsibility for your own wellbeing, something that seems lost on many these days.

 

[Bikeman78]

I have no problem people mandating announcements as long as all mandated announcements are played at the same frequency every day in those people's workspace.

I like that idea.

== Doublepost prevention - post automatically merged: 5 Dec 2025 ==

It's just risk assesment box ticking.

All totally pointless, however.

The allergy one irritates me the most, if I have a nut allergy for example, I won't order the salted peanuts, it's called taking responsibility for your own wellbeing, something that seems lost on many these days.

Someone I know cannot is gluten intolerant. A lot of restaurants make you sign a disclaimer on a tablet if you mention that you have an allergy. So she just keeps quiet to avoid the faff and orders something that she knows is fine. The world really has gone crazy.

 

[Russel]

Someone I know cannot is gluten intolerant. A lot of restaurants make you sign a disclaimer on a tablet if you mention that you have an allergy. So she just keeps quiet to avoid the faff and orders something that she knows is fine. The world really has gone crazy.

Sadly, I can only see things getting worse, I dread to think of what nonsense we'll have to listed to in 10 years.

 

[Lloyds siding]

On an Avanti train on last Friday, usual announcements about the catering, but then launched into a 'Mission Statement' about how Avanti are 'serving' you. I felt embarassed on his behalf. Unnecessary, tedious, and, of course, unconvincing.

 

[Russel]

On a similar note, I find it amusing that you can get off a Northern Line train at Euston, walk right along side it as it's pulling out of the station, yellow line inches from the platform edge and everyone lives to see another day, yet you get on an Avanti service from Euston and when you get off at the other end of your journey, the TM almost without fail will be screaming at people to stand away from the sacred yellow line that's a good 2 feet away from the platform edge...

I often wonder how some of Avanti's staff would cope doing a shift on an LU platform!

 

[zero]

There's plenty of discussion on redundant announcements generally on trains, but Avanti have extended that principle to its catering. The announcement about the catering service for the train I am on tonight included:
1. Please let them know if you have any allergies
2. Please take care of doors closing as you walk through the train.
3. All drinks come with a compulsory bag
4. As it is a wet day, please take care when walking through the train

As for saying any welcoming messages to passengers to encourage them to use the catering, or to say what food or offers are available, forget it.

On my Avanti trips last year the announcements did include mentions of what was available and the prices, in addition to the "drivel".

 

[blimmo]

I find the shop announcements infuriating regardless of their format. When I heard a manual announcement I take my headphones off to listen in case it's mentioning stops that will be skipped or the like. It doesn't help that I'm usually travelling between Coventry and Euston so too short to really need the shop but the offerings are so dire anyway I wouldn't bothered even on a longer service.

All drinks come with a compulsory bag

This policy I find particularly baffling. The last (and only) time I bought a hot drink I was given it in a bag due to this policy (I did try to decline)... which I had to immediately remove it from lest it spill. Who thinks carrying drinks in a bag is a good idea?!

 

[airantraigh]

This policy I find particularly baffling. The last (and only) time I bought a hot drink I was given it in a bag due to this policy (I did try to decline)... which I had to immediately remove it from lest it spill. Who thinks carrying drinks in a bag is a good idea?!

I don’t work for Avanti, I’m on the other coast but we have the same policy, mainly to prevent scalds as the first thing many people do if they’re unsteady is grip onto whatever they are holding, making the hot drink spill all over the moment you have a lurch on the track. I’ve seen it happen with my own eyes. It also helps with mitigating any risks if the lid hasn’t been sealed properly by accident.
It’s not worth the risk of not having it in a holder in my opinion, even though a lot of people don’t appreciate the extra waste because of it. I know the sleeper have a wee double holder that is quite snazzy, and also has space for milks and sugars but it’s an extra item to procure and still has the same amount of waste in the end.
(Edit: spelling)

 

[blimmo]

It also helps with mitigating any risks if the lid hasn’t been sealed properly by accident.

In this case does it not then immediately spill everywhere inside the bag instead? Said bag on Avanti was paper so not exactly hot drink resistant.

 

[airantraigh]

In this case does it not then immediately spill everywhere inside the bag instead? Said bag on Avanti was paper so not exactly hot drink resistant.

Usually not, due to physics as it’s a pendulum and slightly closer to the ground; but regardless I’d say it’s arguably better to have it half contained in the bag than all over yourself or anyone that happens to be beside you when it happens? Buys you a few seconds to find somewhere to deal with it as well.
It’s not a perfect solution but it’s affordable and effective enough imo

 

[Krokodil]

In this case does it not then immediately spill everywhere inside the bag instead?

If it does it's not going to scald you.