Unhelpful "Help" point

[thenorthern]

At certain times pressing the information button on Help Points redirects to Emergency. I once used on at Liverpool South Parkway on a Sunday night wanting to know the best way to reach Stoke-on-Trent and felt very embarrassed when it redirected me.

On the plus side though when I spoke to them man on the other end he got the Liverpool South Parkway staff to make an announcement for me and when my train turned up I heard. ".....Will all passengers for Stoke-on-Trent please board this service and change at Crewe for connecting services".

 

[tsr]

With Southern, both the Enquries and the Emergency call go through to their Control, and it is staffed 24/7. And it is linked to CCTV at most locations, so they can see who is pressing the button!

Yes, indeed. Obviously, as you'll probably be aware, calls are graded by seriousness, and I believe they would be able to be put through to NRE somehow if they were to do with travel enquiries which were not in the best interests of Control to spend time answering.

I was at Selhurst recently just after midnight and someone wandered up to the Fast line platforms and tried to use one to squeeze info about unadvertised (ie. staff) stops of services to London Victoria out of Control. They weren't going to do that, as there was an option to double-back elsewhere, but seemed to carry on for a minute or so for their own amusement before putting the phone down.

It then fell to me to explain to the passenger that they weren't allowed to rely on the train arriving, but seeing as at least one TOC app actually showed the train they were after, I was on this one occasion going to tell them it was coming in about 5 minutes (whereupon I left, and it was then predictably subsequently delayed).

Wherever you get help, sometimes it just has to be limited!

 

[infobleep]

At the station I work at, both help point buttons go through to an employee at the TOC, no matter what time of day or night. I test it on my security checks.

I was surprised at the cluelessness of the person I spoke to at Weybridge and further surprised to hear it was routed to a call centre which was in no position to provide any useful information. "Must do better" is what I think about this and I will feed this back to SWT. I believe the station is unstaffed after 2040 so when the service is disrupted, the help point should be available to guide passengers or assist if they are stranded. To route help point calls to a call centre which is unable to help is irresponsible.

In my case I had other means of being resourceful, but then I do work for the railways. There were other passengers present who were pretty helpless, which isn't right.



I would say you've hit the nail on the head sir. However, it seems that it varies by TOC who the call goes through to - I wouldn't want to do so if it went through to 999 for example.

I was once stuck with other passengers at a station during disruption and it was late at night. It may have been Godalming or Farncombe. This being at least 6 years ago. People were pressing the help point button but got no response. So they and myself pressed the emergency response button multiple times. Again no response.

Now days I'd send a Tweet but didn't have such options myself back then.

Of course you'd get no reception at Weybridge to send the Tweet.

May be one day the DfT will consider it worth asking TOCs or Network Rail to put in wifi at stations where passengers are most likely to be changing trains.

 

[Agent_c]

I was once stuck with other passengers at a station during disruption and it was late at night. It may have been Godalming or Farncombe. This being at least 6 years ago. People were pressing the help point button but got no response. So they and myself pressed the emergency response button multiple times. Again no response.

Now days I'd send a Tweet but didn't have such options myself back then.

Of course you'd get no reception at Weybridge to send the Tweet.

May be one day the DfT will consider it worth asking TOCs or Network Rail to put in wifi at stations where passengers are most likely to be changing trains.

I think its becoming a requirement in future contracts.

 

[infobleep]

I think its becoming a requirement in future contracts.

Does that include deviations to existing contracts where they extend them or just brand new ones?

 

[DarloRich]

I went to visit somebody in deepest Surrey recently. I intended to catch the 2343 from Weybridge to Clapham Junction. I checked the train's progress about 15 minutes before arrival at the station (I was given a lift) and all seemed to be well.

I was dropped off at the station and said goodbye. I descended to the platform to find the train had been cancelled due to a signalling problem at Wimbledon. The next and final London service was at 00:29 and I wasn't sure if it would run.

I logged on to an online live rail map and it was clear that my intended train towards London had been diverted and had passed through Addlestone. With no staff in sight, I went to the help point for assistance. I pressed the information button and explained that the train had been cancelled. I asked for advice on how to reach my destination.

I was told several times that the 2343 was on its way and was 5 minutes late at Byfleet and New Haw. Even when I said it had been cancelled, I was told the information screen was wrong and it was on its way. I explained that the train had been diverted to avoid Weybridge, but again I was told the train would be arriving soon and that no further help or advice was available.

As I was getting nowhere, I gave up and thanked them for their time. I didn't fancy taking my chances with the 0029, so I rang SWT on my mobile. It turned out the problem at Wimbledon was clearing. SWT kindly arranged for a Special Stop Order (SSO) of the next train due to pass through and those of us at Weybridge were picked up at 2359.

I'm very grateful to SWT for doing that and the crew for agreeing to the SSO. However, who answers the help point information calls and why aren't they in a position to provide useful assistance?

Those help points are a total waste of time and offer little helpother than in an emergency. An utter waste of time and money

 

[acned]

Many years ago, when the St Albans Abbey branch ran later than it does now, and you could catch a train back to Watford Junction after "last orders", there were around 70 of us waiting at Abbey station for the last train. Time passed, and no train appeared.
There were no help points in those days, and no mobile phones either. As luck would have it, I had acquired from a friend in the employ of the railway, a BT number that rang through to a switchboard in BR, and they would put you through or try to help. I rang up, and asked for North London Lines control. Understandably, they were a bit reluctant to connect a tipsy sounding chap to the control office, but after I explained what the situation was the operator asked me to hold. When they returned, I was advised that regretably the last train was cancelled, however BR would reimburse my taxi fare if I wrote in. I duly did, sending in my original ticket, and received a refund, although I cannot recall whether it was by way of cheque or travel vouchers.