Great Western Coffee Shop

My wife, our daughter and I caught the 1B26 (17:17 London Paddington to Cardiff Central) service as far as Reading on Wednesday, 22nd January before boarding a later service from Reading towards the westcountry.

The service should have been 10 carriages, with an incoming 5-car joining one already at the platform. The second unit arrived at about 16:50 and staff spent 35 minutes attempting to couple the two units together before finally giving up and using only the front set to form the service. As a result, it was dangerously overcrowded. At 17:37, 20 minutes after the scheduled departure time and the train still at the platform, an onboard automated announcement stated that the next stop would be Bristol Parkway. Cue absolute pandemonium with pax panicking and some attempting to get off. One passenger screamed at a member of the platform staff - asking whether the automated announcement was correct and whether the Reading, Didcot and Swindon stops were being dropped. Said member of the platform staff just shrugged their shoulders and told folk to get back on as they were attempting to dispatch the service. It was another 5 minutes before pax were reassured that the service would stop at Reading, Didcot and Swindon and the service could be safely dispatched.

A typical rush hour scenario I guess!

A typical GWR rush hour scenario