'Trip not as planned' - apparently on Crossrail between Bristol and Exeter ... ?

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Wiltshire Gazette & Herald:

Trip not as planned

WE decided to visit Exeter to look at the cathedral and watch the Exeter v Bath rugby match. I booked train tickets in early October for the 8.40am train straight through to Exeter arriving at 10.15am.

I collected tickets a week later but no seat reservations were supplied for the outward journey but they were for the return trip.

I emailed First Great Western and was eventually told to contact them in November which I managed to do, only to discover I had tickets for a ghost train (it was not running).

In the meantime I had bought tickets for the rugby match.

After several emails I got a full refund from First Great Western. When this came through I booked travel and seats from Bristol Temple Meads to Exeter on Crossrail and Chippenham to Bristol on First Great Western although it meant an hour wait in Bristol.

That was not the end of our trip as when the Crossrail train arrived it was four coaches instead of seven or eight. Our seats were missing.

The train staff apologised but it was not their fault so we journeyed to Exeter in a overcrowded train standing in a luggage compartment. We did see the rugby match but not the cathedral.

The train back to Bristol was seven coaches and nearly empty. We should have had a 30-minute wait in Bristol but First Great Western were 15 minutes late.

I would like to add that it was cold and facilities for waiting travellers are really poor with a lack of warm waiting areas, and it has been announced that fares are going up.

ROBERT KNIGHT
Via email

I'm not quite sure where to even start, in trying to reply to that one. 

[grahame]

I'm not quite sure where to even start, in trying to reply to that one. 

Dear Robert,

Thank you for using the train from Chippenham to Exeter.   

Can I suggest next time that you change at Westbury rather than Bristol?  The train staff on the train from Chippenham to Westbury and really great, and the cafe at Westbury is lower cost than at Bristol.  You also have lovely countryside to see, rather than Box tunnel which - if you believe everything you read - will cause real problems as trains rush through there.

Please sign up for our forum if you've any questions - I'm sure our Chris from Nailsea will be very happy to answer any question s you have about Taunton, which you pass through on the train from Westbury to Exeter.

[LiskeardRich]

Crosscountry Voyager I feel their pain!

[marky7890]

I think you mean Crossrail voyager 

[grahame]

I'm not quite sure where to even start, in trying to reply to that one. 

Dear Robert,

Thank you for using the train from Chippenham to Exeter.   

[snip]

I have to admit to waking ever so slightly ashamed of myself.

The mantra behind this forum is to help people who are not [all that] familiar with things railway as they wrestle with the absurd puzzles of the system - and not to make any fun of them when they don't use the right company name or are disappointed at something we take for granted.    It's somewhat different when we tease back and forth amongst established members.    Yes, I know that "Robert Knight" isn't a member here - but he could be, and as we're posting in a public forum he could find the answer or be pointed here.

Robert - I hope you'll use the train again.  And please ask us if you've any questions ahead of time, report back on your journey to give us the opportunity to explain, comment, perhaps suggest for your benefit and the benefit of other readers.

[Henry]

 Obviously not a regular rail user, this is why I believe the vital importance of the ticket office.

 Although yesterday was not a particularly good day to travel, he might have received better advice at a
 ticket office.

[froome]

I agree about ticket offices, and feel Robert Knight's message deserved a much better response. The confusion about Crossrail and Cross Country is something even regular rail users could easily do, and is a symptom of our confused rail system. The ghost train is intriguing, but I have myself booked tickets in advance and then later found that the train I'm booked on didn't exist, so isn't completely unknown. His points about lack of carriages leading to overcrowding, and about freezing platforms with nowhere warm to wait are well made, and no doubt experienced by most of us at times (finding somewhere warm to wait on Temple Meads is incredibly difficult even for those of us who use it often).