Grrrr! South West Trains! Grrrr! I am lucky enough to live in the North so do not have to use South West Trains on a regular basis (‘regular’ not being a word I’d use to describe them however…), but as my partner lives in Guildford I occasionally use the service to travel from Guildford to Waterloo.
On the whole I would describe the services as unreliable, and the trains as creaky and stuffed to the brim with passengers – despite the first class carriages being virtually empty. I will give them one praise which was when I was sitting in the corridor on a packed train, where a heavily pregnant woman with children was also being forced to stand (where is chivalry!!) and a guard came through and said we could all sit in first class.
I have to tell you about a recent experience with the company which left me speechless. One Sunday morning I arrived early (and not so bright) at Guildford station to catch the 9.48am train to Waterloo. The train was due to arrive into Waterloo just after 10.30am, giving me almost an hour to get across London to catch the 11.30am train from St Pancras to Sheffield, on which I had reserved a seat. When I arrived at Guildford station however, I found bemused passengers standing around, and an array of messages on the information board stating that all trains were severely delayed – engineering works apparently. The train I was due to catch was running half an hour late. I knew that this wouldn’t give me much time to get across London to make my connection, and there was no other London train due in before it, despite me being 20 minutes early for the train.
My partner suggested it might be an idea for me to get a taxi over to Woking, where services run more frequently. I spoke to a member of station staff who was helpful and said that the train I was due to catch was in fact running more than half an hour late, and that if I got a taxi to Woking I stood a good chance of making my connection, and that I should get my taxi fare refunded. He even gave me a form to fill out to do so. So off I go, shell out £12 taxi fare, and managed to get a train to London in time to make my connection.
All well and good. I sent off my form complete with copy of my ticket and taxi receipt, and sat back and awaited my cheque. But no! South West Trains eventually replied, and the envelope was sadly cheque free. Their reasons for not giving me a refund were that….
1. I had not been delayed by more than an hour. This was correct, but only because I had got a taxi. Had I waited for the delayed train, then I would have missed my connection, and would have had to get the next Sheffield train which would have got me in over an hour after the intended one.
2. (and this is the real stinker) According to South West Trains, a ‘connecting service’ is one which allows an hour to connect to other London terminals. The train I was intending to get allowed 57 minutes to get across London….. 3 minutes less than their stated 60 minutes!! So my train was not a connecting service and thus a refund would not be provided. I thought this was pedantry in the extreme, especially as the train enquiry site linked to via South West Trains’ own website actually suggests an even later train leaving Guildford to catch the 11.30 to Sheffield, and thus even less time to get to St Pancras.
I’m not going to let the matter rest and will be pursuing it and will let you know the outcome.
To finish off I will quote from the letter sent to me by South West Trains in which they “hope that you will find future journeys more pleasant”. I certainly will as next time I will be going by car!
This is only a one off experience though. So i don't think you can judge the company just by this. And also Engineering works are done by NETWORK RAIL and not SWT so you cannot argue and blame them because all engineering works are stated upfront on their website
Katieshaz 15.04.2004 19:20
Thank goodness First Great Western is my local train service!
The old South West trains are awful, what's the point in having all those empty 1st class compartments? And why would any one pay extra for that? Very odd. No buffet carriage either on these old trains and disgusting, dirty toilets!!! The new trains are very nice though.
LostWitness 02.02.2002 19:10
Oh dear - not a good experience then? I don't use this carrier, but they always seem to be on strike when I watch the news, so I'm rather glad I don't rely on them! :O)
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Feb 1st, 2002
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