Great Western Coffee Shop

I caught the20.37 ex Padd to Oxford (I think) on Sunday evening. No issues at the Padd end but became parent that the onboard CIS was blank. I knew where I was going and knew where I was. Train stopped at the stations advised on the indicators at Padd but nothing on board and no announcements either pre-recorded or bespoke. Arrived at Didcot where I got off. It was apparent that this was a single person manned train as the dispatch staff "tipped away" the driver and not a "guard."

Asked friendly platform staff person who told me that drivers do not do announcements on DOO booked runs but onboard CIS should have been enabled.

For anybody not knowing what was happening, could have been a bit disturbing.

Is this the norm, as first time for a while on late-ish Sunday train  out of Padd?

Some of us can remember when no trains at all had on-board announcements.

The announcements should (and usually are) done automatically.  The driver might not be aware they are not working as the cab is fairly well soundproofed, but if the are aware they are not working they have the facility to make manual announcements.

I have got on a Driver Only train at Paddington, and then we all had to get off because there was no onboard CIS. Walk through staff said that Driver Only train cannot operate without onboard CIS. Inconsistency somewhere?

And some of us dream of a return to those times. I'd much prefer to see someone taking responsibility and walking through explaining to passengers what's going on.

I don't think walking through a train for routine announcements of the "We are now approaching Coffee Shop Central" type is practical. For explanations of delays, yes, but given how angry some people can get over inconsequential things, maybe it's wiser to use announcements. In-carriage displays should be at least as useful – avoiding problems of accents, etc – but often seem to be plain wrong.  :(

No attention to detail. I often wonder why have all these helpful systems if they don't work 100%. From the moment technology is installed, the travelling public become reliant on it, so if it doesn't work properly, mistakes are made. If it doesn't work, don't have it and employ a person to do it instead.

Thank you. Exactly what I was trying to say, but far more erudite. Much appreciated.

They had a software update recently whereby the way you setup the CIS has changed.  It’s possible the driver hasn’t familiarised themselves with it. 

I got refused a Weekend First upgrade - apparently as there is no one to sell it, you can't have it.

Whether you can get it at a ticket office before travelling is unknown.

Via Seatfrog, maybe?

that usually costs more than £7.50.....?

And you need to be in possession of a ticket bought specifically for the trip - I don't think you can use Seatfrog with a season ticket?