Sheffield mess up

[graham125hst]

As well as being interested in trains among other things I am a Sheffield Wednesday fan. I have just come accross this train related topic from the Owlstalk forum.

[quote='owl_83]
I am so angry!!:-x

I went to Barnsley station for train home to Chapeltown tonight about 4:45. Both the slow Leeds train and the fast train to Nottingham were delayed. An announcement was made saying the next train to arrive is the Huddersfield train to Sheffield that stops at all stops and terminates in Sheffield. It arrives at just after 5pm and everyone gets on, about 40 of us. When it sets off from Barnsley, the conductor announces that it is the fast Nottingham train and due to the delays caused by faulty points, it will be skipping Meadowhall and Sheffield and go straight through to Nottingham. Everyone starts asking why, getting angry with conductor. Conductor then locks himself in his train cabin. You can imagine, there were some irate people on this train. Couldn't do anything while it zooms through Meadowhall and Sheffield and just had to wait until I got to Nottingham.

At Nottingham some guards hand out vouchers to get free drinks at Nottingham station and we walk to the platform to go back to Sheffield. On the train back, conductor starts asking for tickets and asks why all of the tickets are from Barnsley. One guy explains the situation to him. His initial reaction was "not my problem, you all have to buy valid tickets from Nottingham". Well I thought this guy was going to knock him out. I think the conductor saw sense and then he locked himself in his cabin. The fast train stopped in Sheffield and Meadowhall and we had to get a local stopping train from there.

Three questions, why was an announcement made in Barnsley that the next train would be the Huddersfield train, even the screen said so. And why didn't the conductor ensure everyone knew it was going straight through to Nottingham when they got on the train. And upon realising their customers were expecting the Huddersfield train, why couldn't it then stop at Meadowhall?

Anyone know how I could not take this further?
[/quote]

 

[yorksrob]

I can empathise to an extent as I live at the Northern end of the line and the platform announcements are generally useless. They'll tell you if train is going arrive on time, but if there's a delay, or the train is cancelled, deathly silence usually ensues. Personally I think they need information screens but I can't see any one paying for them.

 

[northwichcat]

I think both Northern conductors are at fault here. In that situation it's imperative the conductor of the first train announces something like the following while the train is stopped at Barnsley "This is the delayed xx:xx Northern service to Nottingham. Passengers for Meadowhall and Sheffield should alight here and board the following Sheffield service. The next stop for this service will be Nottingham."

The second conductor should have firstly asked which train have you come down to Nottingham on and then checked that it did miss out Meadowhall and Barnsley. As the return service mentioned was obviously also a Northern service then it's Northern's duty to get them back to where they are supposed to be going to for free and compensated in due course as it was a fault by Northern that they ended up in the wrong place. If it had been an EMT service it would have been a different matter relating to tickets.

Also if someone pulled the emergency stop lever at Sheffield saying they had an important hospital appointment, would they have had a case for not having to pay a fine for activating it?

 

[ralphchadkirk]

Also if someone pulled the emergency stop lever at Sheffield saying they had an important hospital appointment, would they have had a case for not having to pay a fine for activating it?

See the doors not opening thread.

 

[ChrisTheRef]

See the doors not opening thread.

Oh don't even go there!

Northern are clearly at fault from not keeping passengers informed. The guy concerned should write their customer relations team a nasty letter, enclosing the tickets concerned.

 

[Capybara]

Hang on. Aren't we assuming something here? That is that the original report is accurate. The poster says that the train that was announced was the stopping train to Sheffield but do we know that this was the announcement and not an announcement and that a group of people simply heard one announcement and not another? These are football supporters, remember, and never underestimate the ability of a group of football supporters to catch the wrong train. And I'm allowed to say that because I am one. A football supporter not a train, obviously.

There's an interesting piece of choreography that plays out at Middlesbrough station every other Saturday. There's a 17:25 to Darlington. It's the first train westbound after the match finishes so there's always plenty wanting to get on. There's also an arrival from Whitby a few minutes before which terminates and has to clear the platform before the Darlington train arrives. Every time there are clear announcements that this train is terminating and is not the train to Darlington. Every time the terminating train fills up with passengers for Thornaby and beyond. And every time the train has to be cleared before it can leave the platform, usually leading to a late-running Darlington train. It's been happening for years.

 

[yorkie]

Also if someone pulled the emergency stop lever at Sheffield saying they had an important hospital appointment, would they have had a case for not having to pay a fine for activating it?

If it was not advertised to be non-stop and there was a platform face there, and the appointment was very urgent then I would not hesitate.

 

[royaloak]

If it was an EMERGENCY, why were you not in an ambulance?, the fact you are not means it is NOT an emergency so therefore you should be fined!

Of course it would be nice to get the WHOLE truth and ALL facts to do with this, but of course we only get one, very blinkered, side.

 

[ralphchadkirk]

My sentiments exactly Royaloak, but then again, when do people listen to common sense.

 

[northwichcat]

If it was an EMERGENCY, why were you not in an ambulance?, the fact you are not means it is NOT an emergency so therefore you should be fined!

What if you have a treatable form of cancer and must have treatment once a week to ensure you stay alive? I know TOCs don't guarantee to get you to a certain place for a certain time or to make your connection but could they really prevent someone from getting to your hospital appointment and risking their life just to meet puctuality targets?

 

[royaloak]

FFS how ridiculous is this getting. :roll:

See ralphs post above about COMMON SENSE!

 

[boing_uk]

To be fair, the OP is an entirely possible event. I too have been put on the wrong train by incorrect platform displays and announcements.

"The train now arriving at Platform 2 is the 09:22 Northern service to Colne, calling at..."

It wasnt. It was the 09:25 service to somewhere else because the Colne service was late and had to get off at Chorley and run across to the other platform, as did about 30 other people. Only knew something was wrong when the train pulled across on to the Up Fast.

Didnt even get much of an apology from Virgin trains, just the standard "we try to provide 100%" etc etc etc

 

[ChrisTheRef]

Sorry to tell people off, not really my place, but GET A GRIP!

Anyway....

I know football fans can be obnoxious idiots (I'm one myself, Come On Wigan!) but the fact that this person was listening to the announcements clearly shows they were actually paying attention and not just told "platform 3 for Sheffield" "oh, it must be this one then!"