After a particularly awful train journey following a long shift at work, many people on the train were threatening to ‘get in touch’ with First to kick off, so I thought I would get involved myself. Trains aren’t the cheapest of expenditure for us students, so when basic human rights are violated on these journeys, I would not expect to have to pay for the pleasure. I imagine many of you will have experienced what I am talking about here, and this is my email to First group, who run this particular service from Manchester Piccadilly to Preston.
Dear good people at First,
I am sending this email with regards to my journey on a recent service of yours, which departed from Manchester Piccadilly at 17:46, from platform 14 on 24th November. The train was destined for the colourful location of Preston, where I reside and frequently commute to for university. However, I am sure you are aware that problems in Oxenholme cancelled a service on the same line around this time, causing all its intended passengers to overspill onto the Preston train.
Now this would be no problem, had extra carriages been provided to deal with the tidal wave of people now trying to board this train, all of whom seemed to have a suitcase of some kind. I am not aware of the protocol for complaining about squalid and inhumane conditions on your trains, but I am including my story to raise awareness of the kind of suffering that occured for a fee of £10.65 (railcard fare from Stalybridge). Hopefully measures can be put in place to prevent this from happening in future.
Upon boarding the train, I managed to place my hold-all bag in the storage facilities provided, but was forced to squash into the corner near the door with my remaining groceries at my feet. More and more people continued to pile into this tardis, until eventually we had to take a deep breath and the doors were closed. At each station an incomprehensible amount of people seemed to be trying to get on board, whilst the few wanting to leave were wished ‘good luck’ in their attempts to manoeuvre the sardined crowd.
As the journey progressed, humidity levels increased and tired legs of people who, like myself, had been on their feet all day started to reach dangerous lactic acid levels. By this point, my groceries had gained freedom inside the carriage and were kicked between commuters as they shuffled to get on and off; at each stop I would have to prevent cans of food and fruit from rolling off onto the track. I also fortunately managed to rescue my laptop from this same fate at Bolton station.
It wasn’t all despair though, as misfortune effectively unites the British population – whether it be the weather, some new found way to tax us or just general moaning about our ineptness at sports. This situation actually created camaraderie and got people conversing with each other, without the aid of alcohol. We made light of our predicament having a grumble about that sort of thing and having generally decent conversation, ignoring the gross invasion of personal space.
Eventually, very sweaty, I arrived in Preston to huge sighs of relief; the swelled train ejected me onto the platform and I escaped from this prison of perspiration.
I am not particularly looking for a refund, but please don’t make me go through this again when I have had to fork out for a ticket. Usually you are by far the best/ most efficient form of public transport so endeavour to do what you can.
Regards,
Daniel Love
(Train Commuter)
Dear good people at First,
I am sending this email with regards to my journey on a recent service of yours, which departed from Manchester Piccadilly at 17:46, from platform 14 on 24th November. The train was destined for the colourful location of Preston, where I reside and frequently commute to for university. However, I am sure you are aware that problems in Oxenholme cancelled a service on the same line around this time, causing all its intended passengers to overspill onto the Preston train.
Now this would be no problem, had extra carriages been provided to deal with the tidal wave of people now trying to board this train, all of whom seemed to have a suitcase of some kind. I am not aware of the protocol for complaining about squalid and inhumane conditions on your trains, but I am including my story to raise awareness of the kind of suffering that occured for a fee of £10.65 (railcard fare from Stalybridge). Hopefully measures can be put in place to prevent this from happening in future.
Upon boarding the train, I managed to place my hold-all bag in the storage facilities provided, but was forced to squash into the corner near the door with my remaining groceries at my feet. More and more people continued to pile into this tardis, until eventually we had to take a deep breath and the doors were closed. At each station an incomprehensible amount of people seemed to be trying to get on board, whilst the few wanting to leave were wished ‘good luck’ in their attempts to manoeuvre the sardined crowd.
As the journey progressed, humidity levels increased and tired legs of people who, like myself, had been on their feet all day started to reach dangerous lactic acid levels. By this point, my groceries had gained freedom inside the carriage and were kicked between commuters as they shuffled to get on and off; at each stop I would have to prevent cans of food and fruit from rolling off onto the track. I also fortunately managed to rescue my laptop from this same fate at Bolton station.
It wasn’t all despair though, as misfortune effectively unites the British population – whether it be the weather, some new found way to tax us or just general moaning about our ineptness at sports. This situation actually created camaraderie and got people conversing with each other, without the aid of alcohol. We made light of our predicament having a grumble about that sort of thing and having generally decent conversation, ignoring the gross invasion of personal space.
Eventually, very sweaty, I arrived in Preston to huge sighs of relief; the swelled train ejected me onto the platform and I escaped from this prison of perspiration.
I am not particularly looking for a refund, but please don’t make me go through this again when I have had to fork out for a ticket. Usually you are by far the best/ most efficient form of public transport so endeavour to do what you can.
Regards,
Daniel Love
(Train Commuter)