digitaltoast
Member
- Joined
- 19 May 2008
- Messages
- 132
To expand on the cryptic subject line, I found myself on an absolutely jam-packed shoulder-to-shoulder Crosscountry train from Birmingham to Bournemouth, which had been collecting "refugees" from other abandoned services. There had been a signalling power failure around the Oxford/Didcot area apparently.
As we waited, and waited, and waited, I overheard other passengers mentioning that this was quite a regular feature of the line recently.
Of course, it makes XC look bad - it's not their fault, but what happened next was totally unexpected.
Just after he had made yet another apology as we ground to another halt, he went off on one - very professionally, but you could hear the frustration in his voice. I didn't get every single word because some stupid woman started talking, but the gist was:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time those responsible for the railways started taking some responsibility". At which point, people started paying attention! He then went on to name a couple of ministers to write to, and also how to contact your local MP!
Brilliant! I heard a small ripple of applause from the next carriage. I wanted to shake that man's hand, but I never got to meet him.
I also want to write to XC and praise him for
A: Being able to speak legibly
B: Having some balls!
But, of course, I can almost guarantee expressing an opinion would get him into trouble, so for now he remains an unsung hero of the network!
(BTW, it wasn't all bad either; I was into refund territory and so were the 8 sardines around me who didn't know about refund-claiming and were very grateful!)
As we waited, and waited, and waited, I overheard other passengers mentioning that this was quite a regular feature of the line recently.
Of course, it makes XC look bad - it's not their fault, but what happened next was totally unexpected.
Just after he had made yet another apology as we ground to another halt, he went off on one - very professionally, but you could hear the frustration in his voice. I didn't get every single word because some stupid woman started talking, but the gist was:
"Ladies and gentlemen, I think it's time those responsible for the railways started taking some responsibility". At which point, people started paying attention! He then went on to name a couple of ministers to write to, and also how to contact your local MP!
Brilliant! I heard a small ripple of applause from the next carriage. I wanted to shake that man's hand, but I never got to meet him.
I also want to write to XC and praise him for
A: Being able to speak legibly
B: Having some balls!
But, of course, I can almost guarantee expressing an opinion would get him into trouble, so for now he remains an unsung hero of the network!
(BTW, it wasn't all bad either; I was into refund territory and so were the 8 sardines around me who didn't know about refund-claiming and were very grateful!)
