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Tuesday, July 12, 2011
Well, one was supposed to be at the hustings in Swindon on Sunday 10th - and did finally get there, albeit late, with no thanks to the rail companies or the police.
Arriving at Castle Cary station in time to catch the train just after 3pm, police were already in attendance and the station was packed. Apparently there had been a festival nearby, there were a lot of people on the station returning home from it.
Still, we bought a ticket for the next train, paid, and waited.
Then, one discovers why the police are in attendance.
The train has been oversold. On boarding the train, we're treated to repeated announcements that the train is going nowhere until 50 passengers leave.
The next train is in 2 hours and misses many connections, but even so about 30 people did leave.
Understandably reluctant to leave, most passengers remain. At which point police, by now there were 7 or 8 officers present, board the train and order many passengers off, along with a rail announcement that there would be a replacement train in 30 mins as an extra service.
One saw a woman threatened with a section 5 public order arrest for daring to complain, and spoke to a number of other passengers who said that they had experienced or seen the same.
Still, objections made no difference, the police hounded numerous paying customers off the train. Immediately as the train departed it was then announced that there was no extra train being supplied, it was already full, wait for 2 hours.
In fairness, most - but not all - police there were actually very respectful and courteous, but one didn't realize that we were a police state where you could be threatened with arrest for daring to object to being refused a service which you have just paid for. How about arresting railways staff for selling tickets they must, by that time, have known were unavailable.
By this time, of course, the station manager had vanished, leaving a lot of unhappy punters. Perhaps wisely, the police turned a blind eye to many of the festival goers smoking cannabis whilst waiting.
So there we were, left waiting 2 hours for a train, no chance of an immediate refund so we could get a taxi, and no taxi paid for by the rail company as is the norm if a delay will be huge.
Ticket prices go up and up, standards of service get lower and lower. Aren't our privatised railways, protected by the police to ensure that they do not have to deliver on what you paid for, and indeed that they can continue selling it to other poor mugs, just great?
Oh, and the train we finally boarded after a huge delay - just as overcrowded as the last we were forced to leave as the photos prove. Apparently it wasn't a safety issue there then.
*I had intended to write up a full report for SWN on the Swindon hustings, but, in light of arriving late and missing a fair chunk, including Nicks opening speech, I believe it would be fairer to pass the buck and let someone else do it. It would be fair to neither candidate for the report to come from someone who missed 45 minutes of the nights proceedings.
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