Avanti M.D. quits.

[londonmidland]

Horrendous performance from Avanti this Saturday for their Glasgow bound services, with the majority of them being late and/or cancelled.

 

[SussexSeagull]

So the MD takes over the company, completely messes it up, blames everyone else, then leaves when it all goes wrong. Classic “seagull manager”………

Bit harsh on Graham Potter (football joke for you all there).

The reason I drag football into this is I am travelling from Durrington to Liverpool on October 1st and Manchester on October 22nd and usually would book a month or two in advance when the fixtures are finalised but due to the uncertainty am getting coaches up instead.

 

[DelayRepay]

I did kind of get the feeling that SP was a bit of a trial rather than a product in its own right, which would either be abolished as a failure or would entirely replace First Class. If they wanted to do a "proper" three class arrangement then it'd probably need to be materially different in terms of the hard product between the two - a fairly small meal isn't worth £100+ extra in its own right.

Perhaps a new MD will review things like that.

I wouldn't expect any changes in the short term. The new MD's focus needs to be 100% on actually running the trains, not faffing about making changes to the catering arrangements.

 

[Goldfish62]

Horrendous performance from Avanti this Saturday for their Glasgow bound services, with the majority of them being late and/or cancelled.

View attachment 120263

This really is disastrous. So many passengers are going to be lost to coaches and air.

 

[nlogax]

This really is disastrous. So many passengers are going to be lost to coaches and air.

Indeed. What's described there is precisely why I'm writing this from a seat in Heathrow T5.

 

[Brooke]

Indeed. What's described there is precisely why I'm writing this from a seat in Heathrow T5.

Yep, I’m another customer lost to air. I live near the Wharf, so it’s plane now for anywhere that City or Stansted service. No point even looking at rail; either there are no tickets, or there are no trains!

 

[Whistler40145]

Would the situation be different if Virgin were still operating the West Coast?

 

[nlogax]

Would the situation be different if Virgin were still operating the West Coast?

From my perspective as a mere passenger I have no idea. Reading through threads here it could be suggested that if it were still Virgin they wouldn't be treating their staff in a manner that leads them to opt to using their rest days for actual rest.

 

[JamieL]

This really is disastrous. So many passengers are going to be lost to coaches and air.

Agree with this - air is routinely cheaper, quicker (even with pre/post airport travel/check-in times etc) and more reliable than the trains. The benefit of trains was hassle free travel, door to door travel, not worrying about what is in each bag and the ability to get the laptop out and work. All of these benefits come to nowt when the trains don't run, or are declassified, or are so late that connections are missed, or which prematurely terminate ahead of planned destination.

I have an Avanti journey booked a week tomorrow and weighing up with to cancel and just book with easyJet, given its a fifth of the price and more likely to actually get me to my destination. What a damning statement for the railway network.

 

[Bald Rick]

Gus is a loss, knows his stuff. Off to drive the Class 50 more often I expect.

He was leaving anyway.

 

[The Planner]

He was leaving anyway.

I know, still stands though.

 

[Howardh]

Horrendous performance from Avanti this Saturday for their Glasgow bound services, with the majority of them being late and/or cancelled.

View attachment 120263

Can someone explain to me why the (for example) 1651 London - Glasgow is shown twice but with two different codes? I know that r/e airlines two or three companies can "share" a code, but this one puzzles me.
Also it makes a table look worse when looking at cancellations, looks like two trains cancelled when there's only one!

 

[philosopher]

Agree with this - air is routinely cheaper, quicker (even with pre/post airport travel/check-in times etc) and more reliable than the trains. The benefit of trains was hassle free travel, door to door travel, not worrying about what is in each bag and the ability to get the laptop out and work. All of these benefits come to nowt when the trains don't run, or are declassified, or are so late that connections are missed, or which prematurely terminate ahead of planned destination.

I have an Avanti journey booked a week tomorrow and weighing up with to cancel and just book with easyJet, given its a fifth of the price and more likely to actually get me to my destination. What a damning statement for the railway network.

Air travel unfortunately is appalling for the environment, particularly CO2 emissions. Given the issue of climate change is not going away any time soon, any issues that heavily encourages passengers to use air travel over train travel needs to resolved ASAP in my view.

 

[Howardh]

Air travel unfortunately is appalling for the environment, particularly CO2 emissions. Given the issue of climate change is not going away any time soon, any issues that heavily encourages passengers to use air travel over train travel needs to resolved ASAP in my view.

Not sure if this still applies, but are there still restrictions on domestic flights to Heathrow, eg. from Manchester? But it's correct that flying, even with bags, security etc is now less bothersome than going by rail and the difficulty of booking, overcrowding and stress of possible cancellations. However my point is if there are flight restrictions, then that leaves only the coaches as an alternative to Avanti - or driving yourself which is also bad for the environment.

Personally if we had "first class" coaches, or at least partially first class with 2 x 1 seating, I would take that and return to travelling between Manchester and London/SE as I used to when the trains ran a decent service. But right now I feel a little imprisoned sat here wanting to travel southwards but knowing it's near impossible; save for the slower Crewe/London route.

 

[Robertj21a]

Not sure if this still applies, but are there still restrictions on domestic flights to Heathrow, eg. from Manchester? But it's correct that flying, even with bags, security etc is now less bothersome than going by rail and the difficulty of booking, overcrowding and stress of possible cancellations. However my point is if there are flight restrictions, then that leaves only the coaches as an alternative to Avanti - or driving yourself which is also bad for the environment.

Personally if we had "first class" coaches, or at least partially first class with 2 x 1 seating, I would take that and return to travelling between Manchester and London/SE as I used to when the trains ran a decent service. But right now I feel a little imprisoned sat here wanting to travel southwards but knowing it's near impossible; save for the slower Crewe/London route.

Personally, I'll now often use LNWR for many journeys. They're really quite acceptable overall given the shambles of Avanti.

 

[Howardh]

Personally, I'll now often use LNWR for many journeys. They're really quite acceptable overall given the shambles of Avanti.

Yes, there's one problem for me, I used (underline used) to catch the 2100 Avanti from Euston to get me back into Manchester 2308 in time for the last train back to Bolton, 2330; any late running and I could leg it for the 2359 No8 bus. So there was leeway.

Don't think there's a suitable LNW leaving Euston 2000-ish which would get me back to Manchester via Crewe for that time. May be possible x Crewe but I think the timing's tight. So until the WCML get's it's house in order days out in London are out. I have a pal who wants an afternoon/early evening out with me in London but we both agree it's impossible to use Avanti so we won't bother.

So for the sake of green issues and tourism, Avanti needs sorting.

 

[fandroid]

It appears that every TOC needs DfT permission just to buy toilet paper, let alone recruit staff. There was the DfT-led push for voluntary redundancy recently; I don't see the 'saved' money being available again to recruit someone else...

It suits Shapps and HMG politically to have a major operator with "union problems". Don't expect any resolution or customer service anytime soon.

 

[Howardh]

I notice the Tory conference this year is in Birmingham, where Avanti needen't be used to get there, pity it's not in Manchester or Liverpool, we might get some first-hand experiences of the shambles.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

m someone explain to me why the (for example) 1651 London - Glasgow is shown twice but with two different codes? I know that r/e airlines two or three companies can "share" a code, but this one puzzles me.
Also it makes a table look worse when looking at cancellations, looks like two trains cancelled when there's only one!

From what I can see on RTT all the regular services (eg 1Mxx for Glasgow-Euston) are cancelled and replaced in the emergency timetable with 1Zxx equivalents with similar paths, but different stopping patterns.
Yesterday I think 6 of the 14 1Zxx services from Glasgow were cancelled.
RTT shows all the original 14 1Mxx as cancelled which is rather misleading as an overall view of what actually ran - 8 out of 14 is better than 8 out of 28.

There were certainly some significant delays, up to an hour, but also some trains were on time of even early at Euston.
There seemed to be significant delays to many trains between Carlisle and Crewe.
The RTT snapshot in #121 was evidently for Crewe, so doesn't wholly reflect the situation at the ends of the line.
The later southbound trains from Glasgow were also affected by late incoming services from the south.

 

[dk1]

I notice the Tory conference this year is in Birmingham, where Avanti needen't be used to get there, pity it's not in Manchester or Liverpool, we might get some first-hand experiences of the shambles.

I would imagine that week will be targeted by all rail unions. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if continuous action is announced from the 2nd to the 5th.

 

[Palmyra.]

Horrendous performance from Avanti this Saturday for their Glasgow bound services, with the majority of them being late and/or cancelled.

View attachment 120263

How many were cancelled?
I got the 6:06am from Euston to Glasgow yesterday and it arrived on time, I was completely shocked. Would you therefore advise it’s better to get the first trains in the morning as it seemed to run smoothly. Already worrying about my return journey.

 

[Dai Corner]

I would imagine that week will be targeted by all rail unions. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if continuous action is announced from the 2nd to the 5th.

Fortunately Birmingham is at the heart of the motorway network and has an airport with a good range of domestic routes. Conference delegates will have no problem getting there.

 

[dk1]

Fortunately Birmingham is at the heart of the motorway network and has an airport with a good range of domestic routes. Conference delegates will have no problem getting there.

Oh yes it will just be an inconvenience. ASLEF action alone knocks out Avanti, Chiltern. Cross Country & West Midlands Railway.

 

[Agent_Squash]

Fortunately Birmingham is at the heart of the motorway network and has an airport with a good range of domestic routes. Conference delegates will have no problem getting there.

you’d be surprised how many of their delegates were on the trains last year!

 

[Dai Corner]

you’d be surprised how many of their delegates were on the trains last year!

I suspect only the Transport ministers will risk it this year!

 

[43096]

I firmly believe the MD quit before things got a whole lot worse.

It's been posted elsewhere that he didn't quit.

 

[VP185]

It's been posted elsewhere that he didn't quit.

Official statements state he choose to stand down. Wether he received a little shove in that direction, who knows.

 

[43096]

Official statements state he choose to stand down. Wether he received a little shove in that direction, who knows.

Official statements will normally sweeten the position somewhat compared to the reality. Given the posting on another forum is from someone who knows what is going on, it is clear that he was sacked.

 

[Bald Rick]

I would imagine that week will be targeted by all rail unions. To be honest I wouldn’t be surprised if continuous action is announced from the 2nd to the 5th.

ASLEF maybe. I can’t see RMT doing that - many of their members can’t afford 4-5 days of lost pay in one pay packet, on top of the 8 days pay they will have lost by then In the last 4 months.

 

[ComUtoR]

ASLEF maybe. I can’t see RMT doing that - many of their members can’t afford 4-5 days of lost pay in one pay packet, on top of the 8 days pay they will have lost by then In the last 4 months.

You would have to be very unlucky to have been booked to work every single strike day. But it does make for nice headlines..