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willc
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« Reply #30 on: December 08, 2009, 00:26:04 » |
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Just to be different.. I actually prefer the XC▸ HST▸ sets above FGW▸ hsts or XC voyagers.
Those XC HST sets are actually quite nice. I do prefer their 1st class seating to FGW's slippy leather. However Arriva are apparently withdrawing two of the five sets from the December TT change, according to the Fact Compiler's Railway Eye blog. A rumour that XC have been denying for some weeks now. |
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dooby13
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« Reply #31 on: December 08, 2009, 12:49:02 » |
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I have to say I much prefer the X-Country service and trains, compared with FGW▸ . They actually have electric doors AND they have been known to keep them clean, unlike FGW. Obviously the cleanest trains I've ever been on were in Japan, and the dirtiest in Vietnam, but in all honesty, the late trains into Cornwall from London on a Saturday evening, are not far off the latter. Fetid disgusting things...but I digress.
I did have one bad experience with X-Country. St Erth to Sheffield return. Going up was fine, but coming back took 2 hours longer, as we had to go via Newport, Wales, to pick up a member of staff. How on earth is taking 6 full carriages, all the way to Newport and back (not a scheduled stop), to pick up one member of staff, in any way viable? Should have stuck the person in a taxi - it's not difficult is it?!
Eh? When did this happen? An unscheduled stop en-route maybe, but I find it hard to believe that a scheduled service would go so far off route to pick someone up. Is it not more likely that the diversion was because of engineering works or a short notice closure of the line between Gloucester and Bristol? And 6 full carriages? What were you travelling in? Yeah I was in coach F - but I suppose there could have been only 5 carriages. They eventually got a bit emptier through Plymouth, Snozzle and Truro. It was in October 2008 - the only announcement made was that we had to go to Newport to pick up a member of staff, and that no passengers should get on or off whilst there. The whole trip took AGES, but at least I can now say I've been to Wales! More recently I was on the FGW Plymouth to Penzance service on Saturday (5th December, 2009), and the train was in a sorry state. Litter absolutely everywhere, I don't think they'd sent a cleaner down after Paddington, bins overflowing, no water left in toilets, so bogs full of......, and no chance to wash your hands - good infection control that! And you still have to stick your hand out of the window to open the door, 21st century or what?! Not a single ticket collector between Plymouth and Penzance - they probably reckon the ticket barrier was in use at Plymouth, but as usual it wasn't. |
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« Last Edit: December 09, 2009, 08:15:11 by dooby13 »
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Tim
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« Reply #32 on: December 08, 2009, 13:24:03 » |
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Next time I won't bother buying a ticket, as I've never seen ticket collector on a Plymouth to Penzance FGW▸ train after 5pm - spread the word, IT'S FREE FOR EVERYONE.
...err no it's not. Deliberately travelling without a ticket in order to aviod paying for your journey is a crime for which I hope you get caught. Those of us with tickets end up subsidising folk like you. Edit by GrahamE to add comment ... This response and the subsequent ones now look a little out of place, as the original poster has updated his/her post. The original post, as quoted here by Tim, appeared to incite ticketless (and illegal) travel, which is something that this forum does not encourage, condone or facilitate. |
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« Last Edit: December 09, 2009, 09:36:09 by grahame »
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JayMac
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« Reply #33 on: December 08, 2009, 14:55:37 » |
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Next time I won't bother buying a ticket, as I've never seen ticket collector on a Plymouth to Penzance FGW▸ train after 5pm - spread the word, IT'S FREE FOR EVERYONE.
...err no it's not. Deliberately travelling without a ticket in order to aviod paying for your journey is a crime for which I hope you get caught. Those of us with tickets end up subsidising folk like you. I have to echo Tim's comment dooby13. This forum is not here to advertise or condone fare evasion. By all means gripe about the lack of ticket checking and working barriers but don't use the forum to 'spread the word' suggesting others break the law. Fare evasion is a criminal matter that could have serious consequences if you are caught and prosecuted. A criminal record could make finding employment more difficult, you could be named and shamed, you could be refused a visa to travel to certain countries and you could be banned from the rail network. |
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« Last Edit: December 08, 2009, 15:03:03 by bignosemac »
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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JayMac
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« Reply #35 on: December 08, 2009, 15:32:16 » |
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Shocking!   |
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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Super Guard
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« Reply #36 on: December 08, 2009, 15:43:45 » |
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One step closer to guards having them and fare evasion being wiped out  |
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Any opinions made on this forum are purely personal and my own. I am in no way speaking for, or offering the views of First Great Western or First Group.
If my employer feels I have broken any aspect of the Social Media Policy, please PM me immediately, so I can rectify without delay.
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JayMac
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« Reply #37 on: December 08, 2009, 16:06:48 » |
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One step closer to guards having them and fare evasion being wiped out can barely manage to issue guards with 'grippers', what chance tasers? "If you don't pay your fare I'm going to stab you in the thigh with my biro" |
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"Build a man a fire and he'll be warm for the rest of the day. Set a man on fire and he'll be warm for the rest of his life."
- Sir Terry Pratchett.
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thetrout
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« Reply #38 on: December 08, 2009, 16:19:28 » |
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"If you don't pay your fare I'm going to stab you in the thigh with my biro" Or turn around quickly with my Avantix▸ |
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Graz
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« Reply #39 on: December 08, 2009, 16:21:59 » |
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With some of the "people" I've seen guards have to deal with, I welcome this idea.
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woody
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« Reply #40 on: December 08, 2009, 16:31:47 » |
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More recently I was on the FGW▸ Plymouth to Penzance service on Saturday (5th December, 2009), and the train was in a sorry state. Litter absolutely everywhere, I don't think they'd sent a cleaner down after Paddington, bins overflowing, no water left in toilets, so bogs full of......, and no chance to wash your hands - good infection control that! And you still have to stick your hand out of the window to open the door, 21st century or what?! Not a single ticket collector between Plymouth and Penzance - they probably reckon the ticket barrier was in use at Plymouth, but as usual it wasn't. Next time I won't bother buying a ticket, as I've never seen ticket collector on a Plymouth to Penzance FGW train after 5pm - spread the word, IT'S FREE FOR EVERYONE.
[/quote]Some HSTs▸ between Plymouth and Penzance particularly the ones used by the hoardes of Cornish commuters to/from Plymouth are so grossly overcrowded that it is virtually impossible to check tickets anyway.The up 0844 and 1000 Penzance/Paddington and down 1306 and 1406 Paddington/Penzance HSTs are regularly delayed because of overcrowding between Plymouth and Penzance.Last Saturday I arrived in Plymouth from Exeter on the 1406 which had plenty of spares seats available only to be greeted by a mass of humanity waiting to return to Cornwall.The train left full and standing not just in the vestibules but end to end in the main gangway of every coach including the buffet coach.Absolutely no chance of adequate ticket checks under these circumstances.
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devon_metro
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« Reply #41 on: December 08, 2009, 16:59:15 » |
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More recently I was on the FGW▸ Plymouth to Penzance service on Saturday (5th December, 2009), and the train was in a sorry state. Litter absolutely everywhere, I don't think they'd sent a cleaner down after Paddington, bins overflowing, no water left in toilets, so bogs full of......, and no chance to wash your hands - good infection control that! And you still have to stick your hand out of the window to open the door, 21st century or what?! Not a single ticket collector between Plymouth and Penzance - they probably reckon the ticket barrier was in use at Plymouth, but as usual it wasn't. Next time I won't bother buying a ticket, as I've never seen ticket collector on a Plymouth to Penzance FGW train after 5pm - spread the word, IT'S FREE FOR EVERYONE.
Some HSTs▸ between Plymouth and Penzance particularly the ones used by the hoardes of Cornish commuters to/from Plymouth are so grossly overcrowded that it is virtually impossible to check tickets anyway.The up 0844 and 1000 Penzance/Paddington and down 1306 and 1406 Paddington/Penzance HSTs are regularly delayed because of overcrowding between Plymouth and Penzance.Last Saturday I arrived in Plymouth from Exeter on the 1406 which had plenty of spares seats available only to be greeted by a mass of humanity waiting to return to Cornwall.The train left full and standing not just in the vestibules but end to end in the main gangway of every coach including the buffet coach.Absolutely no chance of adequate ticket checks under these circumstances. Indeed, the last Saturday of November saw the train (1306 pad pnz) sit there for a whopping 9 minutes as passengers were forced on. In the end platform staff declared "no more"! |
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woody
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« Reply #42 on: December 08, 2009, 17:39:15 » |
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More recently I was on the FGW▸ Plymouth to Penzance service on Saturday (5th December, 2009), and the train was in a sorry state. Litter absolutely everywhere, I don't think they'd sent a cleaner down after Paddington, bins overflowing, no water left in toilets, so bogs full of......, and no chance to wash your hands - good infection control that! And you still have to stick your hand out of the window to open the door, 21st century or what?! Not a single ticket collector between Plymouth and Penzance - they probably reckon the ticket barrier was in use at Plymouth, but as usual it wasn't. Next time I won't bother buying a ticket, as I've never seen ticket collector on a Plymouth to Penzance FGW train after 5pm - spread the word, IT'S FREE FOR EVERYONE.
Some HSTs▸ between Plymouth and Penzance particularly the ones used by the hoardes of Cornish commuters to/from Plymouth are so grossly overcrowded that it is virtually impossible to check tickets anyway.The up 0844 and 1000 Penzance/Paddington and down 1306 and 1406 Paddington/Penzance HSTs are regularly delayed because of overcrowding between Plymouth and Penzance.Last Saturday I arrived in Plymouth from Exeter on the 1406 which had plenty of spares seats available only to be greeted by a mass of humanity waiting to return to Cornwall.The train left full and standing not just in the vestibules but end to end in the main gangway of every coach including the buffet coach.Absolutely no chance of adequate ticket checks under these circumstances. Indeed, the last Saturday of November saw the train (1306 pad pnz) sit there for a whopping 9 minutes as passengers were forced on. In the end platform staff declared "no more"! This situation has gone on for far too long and FGW seems powerless to do anything about as it gets ever more desperate finacially as the year on year franchise premium increases kick in while the Dft simply ignores the far south wests rail woes as it has bigger fish to fry. |
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dooby13
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« Reply #43 on: December 09, 2009, 08:20:48 » |
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If the ticket conductors can't be bothered to go down the train to collect tickets, what do they expect? What exactly are the staff doing the whole way from Plymouth to Penzance if they aren't cleaning the place or collecting tickets?
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Tim
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« Reply #44 on: December 09, 2009, 09:17:43 » |
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If the ticket conductors can't be bothered to go down the train to collect tickets, what do they expect? What exactly are the staff doing the whole way from Plymouth to Penzance if they aren't cleaning the place or collecting tickets?
dooby, The staff are either busy doing something else or they are lazy and can't be bothered. We can argue over which one it is until the cows come home(I expect it is a bit of both - guards do have other more important safety critical roles over and above checking tickets but the variation in checks between different staff members leads me to belive that their is also a motivation/moral/management issue with some Guards that needs to be addressed). But that is a completely separate issue to fare evasion. Just because your ticket isn't checked doesn't mean that you don't need to buy one. |
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