Still suck you know

As you may or may not have noticed I have been a little quite on my ranting about Southeastern.
Its not that they have finally pulled their fingers out and are providing a decent service. Hell has not frozen over there are no flying pigs so that hasn't happened.
I have changed jobs which means I don't have to commute everyday.
Yesterday I did commute though and was quickly reminded why I set this blog up.

Travelling from Ashford to London Bridge now costs an amazing £49.30 return fu**ing hell I just want to sit in a seat not buy the whole thing. There are adverts for taking you car on the Eurostar to Calais for £45 that's a car and possibly 5 people in it going under the channel. I am thinking of getting 4 people together and hiring a limo to take me to work it would be cheaper.

The train got me into work no problem it was the getting home that was fun.
I got into London Bridge that was a little bit more packed than usual to see my train has changed platforms. Alarm bells started to ring. Don't panic count to 10 I told myself.
Standing on the platform looking at the board with my train on it due to arrive in the next 2 minutes my phone rings and its my good mate Andy asking where I am "standing on platform 2 waiting" "you will be waiting a while" he said "all the lines out of Cannon street are shafted" I count to 20.
There was no news form the useful guards at London Bridge the train was on time according to the board but not here. Finally they said I am sorry but the trains out of Cannon street are a bit delayed as the signals are broken. Please wait on platform 2 till you die of boredom of give up and go back to work. The main entrance was closed for safety so if you were at Cannon street and we told you to go to London Bridge tough luck my friend I count to 30.

Andy turned up a while later with a sheen of sweat on his head after running to London Bridge to meet me. He was told to make his way to Cannon street by the staff there we hang around bitching about Southeastern to pass the time.
48 minutes late the train turns up on platform 1 not even the platform we were waiting at. So we rush along the crowded platform to get on and nearly get stampeded on by all the people getting off. I think the whole of Cannon street squeezed on to get to London Bridge and wait for hours for nothing to happen.
We go on the train and sat down, where did we sit? In the same place Andy was sitting in before the fucktards told him to go to London Bridge. The moral of the story is we wait for any kind of info from the crap guards at the station when it finally comes don't believe it the twats are making it up.

When we get to Ashford the train guard comes on and announces he is sorry for any inconvenience but the train is terminating here. If you wanted to get home to Ramsgate tough titty get off. The only reason he did this is because its the end of his shift and he would get home late. What about everyone else getting home late suck it up and do your job!

i have now filled out my delay repay and I will let you know how they stiff me out of that payment.

Nick Not missing Southeastern

Hottest day of the year since records and time began

Last night I got to Cannon street and guess what all the trains into Kent were cancelled. Any announcements no any idea when they will be moving again. Nope that would be remotely useful to the hot and sweaty commuters. I gave up turned round and went down into the depths of hell (or the London underground as it’s known).   The Tube was free as the rail service was all cocked up.  So me and my intrepid travel buddy Andy made our way to St Pancras for the HS1.

When we got there we demanded a free upgrade as we bought a ticket of southeastern to get us home and again they were failing to do so. Why should we have to shell out £5 for their incompetence? The poor lady selling the tickets said we cannot do that we are not allowed. “That’s not good enough” was Andy’s response. “I can get the manager you can talk to him”. The call went out for Tony Ellis the train line manager at St Pancras and guess what he was not there. He chose the time when angry commuters were turning up at the station to go off and see how things were running at Stratford station. His job is to support the passengers and staff. How can he possibly do that if he is not there?

£5 later we were on the train heading home to get in 20 minutes later than we would have if the service was any good. To upset me some more that Southeastern PR machine stepped into high gear. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-england-13935739 “Commuters forcing Southeastern train doors cause delays” The gist of it is on the hottest day of the year so far a train stopped outside Dartford for 3 hours. 

After three hours the people opened the doors and went along the tracks to get some water and stop themselves from dying. If you locked a dog in a car on a summers day for three hours without a window open the RSPCA would be called. So maybe we should stop Southeastern from keeping any people for 5 years they obviously cannot look after them properly. The other thing is how bad is the line that having one train rail turned off in Dartford breaks every bloody train coming in and out of London.

I have my complaint form and will update the blog if I get any response from SouthEastern gobshites 

Nick.

 

State the obvious and not really give any info

At Cannon street this morning the announcer told us we were 10 minutes late.  This was due to 3 minutes stuck outside Orpington and 2 minutes delay in the Tonbridge area.

Ok so that’s 5 minutes covered where were the other 5 then?

Did they just disappear in the tear in the fabric of space and time around London Bridge?

He probably thinks that he is doing a fantastic job for Southeastern, informing the customer regularly of what is happening to their service. Sits back with a cup of tea and a smug grin and thinks that will make their lives better. I have follow procedure 345 in the keep everyone happy manual.

Well not really you just stated the bleeding obvious really; we know we were delayed at Orpington. We do this journey every day and when the train stops for no reason we notice, (oh that’s a new garden or warehouse I am staring at).

Just for a laugh why not have a go at telling us why.  And don’t use the “a car crashed into a bridge” one I have heard that so many times.

I think the reason is not stated because they don’t really know. They are surprised as us when a train turns up on time.

Nick.

Cannon Street has new gates lets use them for no reason.

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According to my wife I can argue with Southeastern about anything. She is right

So I had a little trip from London to Ebbsfleet the other evening. I usually go from London to Ashford but I was meeting in Bluewater so I thought I will get the fast train to Ebbsfleet and get the bus from there. I looked on the Southeastern website for info and this is what it said

UPGRADE + HS – this is shown on a supplement ticket and must be accompanied by a Southeastern ticket that is not valid on high speed services. Please note Earlybird ticket holders are not eligable for a high speed upgrade.

So I thought alright must be valid as there are no other trains that got to Ebbsfleet apart from the High Speed so you can just have a normal ticket to Ebbsfleet to upgrade.

I bought my upgrade at St Pancras, just missed the train (the law of sod strikes again) and sat around for the next 18 minute journey to Ebbsfleet.

I jumped on the next train and sat back for my quick journey. The guard or "onboard assistant" as he announced himself came around checked my ticket punched a hole in it and even looked at my original ticket.

I jumped off at Ebbsfleet the new concrete jungle in Gravesend don't know why they renamed it. Was Gravesend not glamorous enough. I put my ticket into the machine and it just spat it out and didn't open up  the gates. I showed it to one of the 2 guards (not sure what official name they have but I shall call them "gate inspector team twat officers" or Gitto's) . The Gitto looked at my ticket and said can I see your original ticket. I showed him my monthly ticket and he said "that says Ashford, you will need to go to Ashford its not valid" at this point my blood started to boil, Me "That is not what your website says and it wasn't pointed out by the onboard assistant! ". Gitto "I am only going on what our training says sir, it says you have to have a valid ticket to the destination to get an upgrade" . Me "Well I am only going on what your website says!"  Gitto "I am sorry sir you will have to buy a full ticket" Me "no I wont" at this point getting out phone to show him the website. Me "what must I do I look on the site I get my ticket checked on the train and at the end of my journey you tell me I have the wrong ticket, What else can I DO YOU TELL ME!" at this point starting to get agitated . Gitto opens the gate and walks with me to a counter and hands me a complaint form "I am letting you through sir and giving you a complaint form."  ME "you can bet I am going to use it" and off I saunter with a bit of a spring in my step. In my youth I would do a lot to avoid confrontation but now days it makes me feel alive.  Southeastern Tut tut etc. 

Nick.

What the Delay repay means to us.

This is a mail sent to Roger Gale from Mike Gibson from Southeastern to outline what the Delay Repay compensation means to us poor sods who use the rail to get to work.
You will notice that they hope to have it up and running by summer, I will not hold my breath waiting for it to happen. Also I bet it when it happens, us poor plebs who use the service wont be told. It will just slip through quietly.  I plan to use it every time I can as i hope every one will.


Delay – Repay” compensation
Following the announcement last week that Southeastern was to introduce a “delay – repay” compensation scheme, you may have been approached by local rail users asking if the scheme applied to train cancellations. I accordingly thought that a short note outlining how the scheme works might be helpful in dealing with any constituency enquiries.

• The scheme is based on the principle of compensating passengers for a delay in the journey to their final destination of 30 minutes or more. A delay of 30 minutes or more will entitle the passenger to 50% of the single fare, a delay of one hour or more, to 100% of the single fare. So assuming the passenger’s train is cancelled and the next service to their final destination is not for 30 minutes then compensation would apply.

• However should there be another train to that destination, say, 10 or 15 minutes later, and the delay was below 30 minutes, then it would not.

• In the event of a cancellation leading to a missed connection, then again, assuming the delay in arriving at the final destination is 30 minutes or more, then compensation would also apply.

• The deciding factor for compensation is a delay of 30 minutes or more in the journey to the passenger’s final destination.

Introducing the scheme requires amendments to our Passengers’ Charter and we are statutorily required to consult with Passenger Focus and London TravelWatch before doing so. Discussions are currently underway and we expect to have the scheme up and running by the summer.

Dispatches

So did you catch dispatches on channel 4
Richard Wilson was traveling the country to see how shocking the rail service is in this country.
I am disappointed that he didn't say "I don't believe it!!" not once I say it myself at least once a month when I buy a ticket.
There were outraged people talking about how much it costs to get to Manchester from London etc.
I think it focused a bit to much on the easy target of how much it costs to use these crappy trains and not enough on the shoddy service we receive for the huge outlay.

There was a guy Chris who was discussing the SouthEastern performance on how the fairs have risen 13% and the service has got worse and they were insulting people by offering them a £20 Marks and Spencer voucher.
Well I am really insulted not to even get the insulting voucher. I have been complaining for months and have only received two emails which are the same patronising bullshit that they send out all the time. With the according to the passengers charter we don't owe you shit now pissoff! phrased slightly differently but that's the general gist of it.

Nick