National Express Coach Reviews

National Express Coach
★★☆☆☆
1.8
19.0% of users recommend this
  • Value For Money

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Latest Reviews

“Discrimination on National Express ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by MagMa420 on 04/01/2024

On 09/12/2023 the driver of the the 025 coach from London Victoria to Brighton refused me entry to the coach, as my ticket was, according to him, not valid. In fact, it was perfectly valid which has since been confirmed by the coach company. But he refused to even discuss what his issue was, even though I presented him with both a printed and digital copy. I haven't encountered anyone as rude and dismissive as him in a public facing role. I am a female and it was late at night and I felt extremely vulnerable. As a result I had to spend £100 getting a taxi to my destination, which I really can't afford. It was really upsetting incident.

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“unresponsible drivers”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Aleks1718 on 05/12/2023

Passengers, I was going to Stanset airport few weeks ago. I waited in front of the bus for a few minutes for him to read my ticket because my trip was important. and I showed the driver my ticket and he let me on the bus... When I arrived, I reached Luton. I was in shock. I had to quickly catch a taxi(135pounds) to get to Stanset because the driver didn't even want to talk to me. Passengers, advice, I believe that you can travel on old NE tickets because the drivers do not read them, or cannot read them, or are not even interested in informing the passenger that this is not the right bus. So my advice is, if you have old tickets or tickets from another city, use them because drivers don't read them anyway. Often the driver is busy putting your luggage on the bus and you can also enter without checking your ticket. I filed a complaint with NE and my taxi fare was not refunded. National Expres has stupid regulations that the passenger's responsibility is what bus and where he gets on, the driver doesn't care. This is super irresponsible. So be careful and take advantage of the stupidity of NE and their drivers.

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“Disgusting left juveniles and families at risk”

★☆☆☆☆

written by 1947Glass on 13/10/2023

My wife and i bought a ticket from heathrow T4 to Bournemouth with National Express after a very long flight. The attendent at the airport came out and declared to the crowd of 30 of us that our coach will not be arriving. He told us that we all will be getting on to the coach to portsmouth and they will be dropping us off in southampton and a further coach will be getting us to bournemouth. We ask for the guarantee of this and he said the national express will never leave anyone stranded i promise. When we got to southampton there was a coach but with not enough room for all of us. 17 of us were left in southampton andf told taxis or a coach will be with us in 5 minutes. the crowd left of 17 people included a family of 5 with a small baby who didnt speak english and anther couple with a baby and 2 young 16 year old girls who were here from switzerland. Without a care in the world for any of these people National Express left us all stranded without anyone turning up after 45 minutes.. We all scrabbled around trying to flag down taxis to arrange transport but when we left there was still a family of 5 left there at midnight. Getting home at 1am nearly 3 hours after we should of was a disgrace. I contacted customer services today and they stated taxis were sent and i advised that was untrue as we were there waiting. I asked to speak to a manager who first said he would refund my ticket and taxi but went back on his word and said later that he would not refund the ticket as he got us half way home. Outrageous.I then asked to go through to the complaints dept and was told that now i had dealt with him then he would not put me through to a complaints dept as he dealt with it. I then asked for the name of the taxi company he said he had paid to collect us . He told me they did not know the taxi company. This is the same taxi company he said they had paid to pick us up that did not arrive but he did not know who they were ???!??! . The fact this company left so many families stranded and offer no apology or damages for this is disgusting. luckily we had good people in the group that helped out the people whose first impression of our country was this disgrace of a company. Like me if you were one of this group contact trading standards and lodge a complaint so this does not happen to other families or youngsters . National Express you should be ashamed !!!!

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“Worse service ever ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Kamryni183 on 08/09/2023

This coach service never been reliable. Each time made me late and once delayed for 3 an half hours. And never gets on time so if your going to travel make sure your other plans 1 hour ahead, because you won't be on time for sure.

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“Customer service is a STAR!!”

★★★★★

written by Feruz on 18/08/2022

Today 18/08/22 my mother was left stranded at a bus stop in Coventry and called me panicking. She said that her coach came but left her without stopping. Due to the train strike she was left there. I called customer service and spoke to a nice guy. He informed me that I would have to change the ticket with £6 fee and the next bus would arrive to London at 11:30 as it’s not direct. I said that I could not make that decision on my mothers behalf so I asked him if he could call me back in 10 minutes after I’ve spoken to my mother. He called me back 15 minutes later and informed me that he has already spoken to my mum and got her a new ticket for the next day. He was very sympathetic and extremely helpful who went beyond to help us. My mother felt betrayed by the driver but quickly regained her faith in kindness thanks to him. I hope he knows how truly he made our day.

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“A true passive aggressive British review ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Holt277 on 07/12/2018

I was going to write an obscene review saying how I really feel, but I was not allowed to add various words into my review by this website, so I've decided instead to do a proper, British review which I hike will get across the point of the company resembling excrament. Let me just say if there was any other way to get from Canterbury to London, I would take it, because national express even with its student discounts is incredibly expensive and they search for any possible way to, shall we say given the word restrictions, have affairs you over. The only redeeming factor is that most, but certainly not all, bus drivers are nice. The same cannot be said for customer service people who will be unsympathetic to any simple mistake you make, and charge you more than double the cost of your ticket. They make ebinizar Scrooge look like mahatma Ghandi. Now all the same, ideally I'd want to meet with the CEO of national express as it would be a dream come true. Only a temporary suspension of the law surrounding assault would make that moment greater still. Ideally I'd like to say to him, dear sir, I do not imagine you have many friends, and I think it's about time I told you why. You strike me as being, a donkey hole and I worry you are a psychopath. I feel obligated to inform you that you might be able to increase your popularity by caring about other people, and actually being loving. In the mean time, I hope you get three Christmas ghosts visit you for Christmas, you peace of very smelly digested food

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“Not impressed”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 15/09/2018

It was a Christmas time a few years ago when I started doubting if National Express was a good company as I had always thought it was. The employer collecting tickets (supposed to be his job but was more less just stressing) and driver at Stratford was literally shouting at people standing outside trying to get in. He was not able to instruct us, or create any sort of queue system. Extremely stressful situation. This Wednesday, after a few years, me and my husband used National Express bus from Stanstead airport to Stratford again. Big mistake. And I was shocked again: 1/ driver didn`t even check our tickets or the bus and stopped me that the bus was full - in a very rude style!!! We had pre-booked tickets for the bus so thought this might interest him. I knew it wasn`t anything I did as I didn`t have a chance to say a word. The driver managed to speak to all of us at the beginning about a possible rubbish we might leave behind. It was in such a style that I thought we were in a war zone. I can`t even say a classroom because he was like from an army. I even told him to calm down. Honestly, do something about it: train your staff to behave and respect your customers, train them to be able to manage stress and crowds and most importantly how to talk to your customers. The level is very low at the moment!!!

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“Worst service ever!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 06/02/2018

I was suppose to be at the airport at 6am, went to catch the bus at 4 30am with my printed ticket. I ve bought the ticket with the proper time, when i ve showed my ticket to the driver he couldn t see the time. He said my ticket was an open ticket and the bus was full, when there were just a few people on board. He didn t allow me to get in, instead of scannig the sku code of my printed ticked he just shut the door telling me to catch the next bus, wich was 30 minutes later. I paid 19 pound for my ticket and i didn t have the chance to use it. Because of this VERY NICE PERSON i ve spent 151 pounds on a cab! If was catching the next bus i would had Lost my flight.

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“Journey, fine.... But lack of Information disgraceful....”

★★★☆☆

written by IDeeDee on 29/01/2018

Arrived at Heathrow - you know, Britain's "Flagship" airport, the "busy one" - at about 22:00hrs. Terminal 4. Thought to ourselves "Catch the Brighton via Gatwick National Express bus....". Oh, dear.... After 15 mins of searching outside the terminal and asking we found where to stand (any one of three stops) but no information about schedules in view, the waiting room locked up, no staff, and nothing at all on the actual bus stops to verify we were in the right place.. Now, I'm British. I automatically assume that attempting a journey on buses or trains will be largely a matter of guesswork and pot luck. But this is Heathrow Airport; destination of thousands of foreign visitors who, reasonably one might think, might expect (or need) some kind of clear guidance - at the very least some obvious indication of where to stand(!!). Instead they get a lack of information and guidance that would disgrace a backwoods Italian town bus depot... I saw at least eight potential customers wandering round fraught (these were the ones who found the right place to stand at least and verified it with me) before they gave up and got taxis because of the uncertainty... Genuinely; God help anyone from overseas... As far as the buses themselves went; One bus pulled up with no destination marked up and a driver surly when asked (apparently it was noted on the handwritten spider-scrawl on a piece of paper stuck to the front of the bus; somewhere called N@vIG~). One half-empty 727 Gatwick-bound bus simply drove past without stopping. One "Not In Service" bus pulled up. The driver got out. Opened up the bus. Stared at all the waiting people, then got back in his bus and drove off..... Eventual a bus going our way and actually marked-up (Gatwick) arrived. We had arrived at the bus stop about 22:30. Got home about 01:30...... The journey was fine, but the information at Heathrow (HEATHROW!!!) was very, very poor. We had to poke about about to find any - and uncertainty after 16hours travel is something one does not need - and as an example of "Welcome to Britain" National Express's lack of interest in their overseas customers' needs this was, quite frankly, embarrassing. National Express need to seriously up their game in this regard.

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“Blatant Profiteering”

★★☆☆☆

written by Happichappie on 08/01/2018

Yesterday I looked at prices for a trip - £54- went to book it and it had risen to £58, so clicked onto "Live Chat" and queried why. Answer "... we must have sold some so put the price up..." Blatant profiteering

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“Good reliable service.”

★★★★☆

written by lucylu75 on 19/11/2017

I regularly travel overnight to various destinations for both pleasure and work. The NX buses seem reliable, in the main running to time and drivers are mainly friendly. Granted, the coaches aren't made for luxury but as long as you plan ahead a few weeks they are far cheaper than the train or flying. I've travelled some long distances for less than £20 return on both National Express and the Megabus. I more than often manage to sleep. The toilets can be a bit hit and miss but after years in the forces I've been in far worse places and if you guys if everybody sat down a lot of Tha sloshy stuff through the grid on the floor could be avoided. The seats have got better over the years although, inflight entertainment in the seat backs would be a good thing. I would recommend it to anyone who is able bodied and as far as I'm aware if you have physical issues, you can book a seat with a bit of extra leg room. I'm just back in Manchester after an overnight from Bath via London. Left at 2015 arrived at 0555. I slept reasonably well and ready for the day. Of course comfort could be improved but for the cost its a good value service.

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“Always delays at Luton”

★★★☆☆

written by ReaganHayes on 29/10/2017

Overall it is a fairly good service, but lately we experienced continual delays when taking our coach at Luton airport. At least three times in the last six months we have been told that our service had been cancelled for various reasons and we had to wait for the next services. Even if overbooked, tickets are still sold at the airport and tickets bought online do not get any advantage as it should be. Very disappointing for a company of this value.

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“Nation Express's misleading "cheap" fares”

★☆☆☆☆

written by DisgustedNationalExpressCustomer on 18/10/2017

I bought National Express tickets while in Canada, and thought I was buying flexible tickets. I quote from my original ticket: "This flexible fare ticket allows you to board any available coach 12 hours before or after your planned departure time." My daughter was late getting off the plane at Heathrow where we were picking her up. When we got to the National Express counter, we were told we would pay an extra 83.60GBP because our ticket routed through Victoria Station and the only available bus leaving, had a direct route. The rude, impatient sales lady told me that if I wanted to wait for the same route, we wouldn't have to pay, but it would be a 5 hour wait. WHAT?? Very, very misleading, National Express. Your website made NO mention that the exact routing would be the only insured fare. NONE. Maybe in the wee small print somewhere. But none on the main site, and none on my ticket. Totally disgusted!! My sister, who didn't have to pick up anyone at Heathrow, was able to get train tickets from Liverpool St train station for 10 GBP!!!! And it took her 2 1/2 hours, versus our 4 1/2!!! Do yourself a huge favour--take the train. By the way, I am trying to get my money back, and will be filing a complaint with Transport Focus U.K. I'm also a UK dual citizen, and will see if there is a way of complaining to my MP. I do not like being taken advantage of, and this company really did a number on me.

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“Poor duty of care ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by tkHagan149 on 28/09/2017

I traveled from victoria couach station London to Chester on the way the drive stopped for 15 minutes, I went to use the loo and when I get back the bus has gone leaving me in the middle of no where, I called the customer service but of no benefits. The following day called to make complaint I was told it's my fault for not returning on time? I asked what happened to customer care or duty of care to their customers to makesure they're safe and check to see before leaving? It's really poor service. Now I understand you pay for what you get but definitely national express will not have my money and makesure families and friends away from them.

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“disgusted!”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Izaiah265 on 01/08/2017

My daughter just got the bus from Luton Airport to Cambridge. The online fare quoted £19.20. When she got on the bus, the driver told her it was £23. As she only had £20 pound notes.(she would have given him another £20) he refused to let her on unless she had the exact money of £23. in other words he would have sent her off the bus had some stranger not given her £3.to make up the fare. This was at 2am in the morning. Besides the misquote of the fare online. I am appalled that a driver would be willing to let a young woman get off the bus and have to wait two and a half extra hours until the next bus because she did not have the exact fare that was a miss quote to begin with. Digusting!!!! What kind of cold hearted people are employed in this company??? Where is the human factor? Where is the good service?

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“Rude,rude,rude drivers.”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Janat89 on 19/07/2017

I have used national express before but my latest journey was very unpleasant. I was yelled at by a driver in front of everyone, other passengers were as shocked as me, the driver of an earlier coach wouldn't let me on as I was booked on a later one, understandable I suppose but he didn't need to drive off with a half empty coach laughing at me! My coach had forgotten to change the destination name on the front so I didn't get on as it went no where near my home. One of the coach staff arranged for me to catch up at the bus station then I got shouted at again by this driver as they had to wait ten minutes for me.i couldn't use the toilet as the coach was quite full of workmen asleep across two seats and blocking the access, reached my destination in need of the loo and distressed, my family want to take it further but I just won't use them again, also I will urge everyone I know not to go through the same experience as me

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“Poor quality customer service”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Lawrence482 on 29/06/2017

Avoid this company! First of all when we wanted to take a coach at 8.45 from golders green to the airport, the driver said that they no longer allowed to sell tickets on board, all those without tickets need to go to the ticket office that located on the other side of the road. 3-4 ppl at the same time started to run to the other side of the road in between the cars to get a valid ticket. Just a note: tickets are £11 from london victoria to the airports. From golders green its £12.. Never mind. Needless to say that the 8.45 driver didn't wait for the 4 of us even though there was almost 10 available seats on that coach. When the next one came (9.20) we have seen ppl getting tickets for £11 to the airport. So how is that work, isn't clear at all. Driver was rude, i kindly asked to place my hand luggage on the top of others if he can as im carrying fraigle items, he simply ansvered he doesnt care and just dropped it into the cargo. Im using national express for the past 4 years but lately just became a big disappointment. National express bus company, never again.

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“horrible, uncomfortable abd irritating ”

★★★★★

written by SladeButcher130 on 24/06/2017

Your service almost cost me my job when i was booking it showed me direct Liverpool only to be calling at different stops and was more than 30mins late with out any update or apology from the driver i wished I never used this service

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“Horrible Service Ever”

★☆☆☆☆

written by on 16/04/2017

The bus service was awful! I tried their service for a few times but they are mostly awful! When they say they leave at 9, it means that they close the door somewhat 3-4 minutes before that and do not accept any more customers even though you try very hard to try to get noticed. When they say 9, it means the bus has already reached the gate to go out of the bus station. I do not recommend their service at all! if you are thinking of buying their tickets, STOP! please buy a train ticket or another bus service, please! I do not want anyone to go through what i did. I was stranded and had no where to go when the bus just left me, and i had to get a taxi to the nearest train station just to get home that night! NATIONAL EXPRESS IS THE DEFINITION OF HORRIBLE!!!!!!!

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“Do not accept a job ”

★☆☆☆☆

written by Kamrynn481 on 07/04/2017

Accepted a job with this major company.never have I been messed about so much.even hr ignore you .I'm 2200 out of pocket by accepting this role an the pre sure its put on my relationship has been bad biggest mistake of my life DONT ACCEPT A JOB with these arsholes

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Asked by Bandit209 on 6th December 2016 Report this content
Am I able to get a tea or coffee on board? I am traveling from Sterling to Norwich. 

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Answers (1)
Report this content Roger50 Written on: 17/12/2016
There is a toilet but you can't actually buy a drink on board. Do remember that longer distance National Express journeys usually make a scheduled stop at a service area where refreshments can be bought. A word of warning, the driver will not be impressed by passengers who return late from such scheduled stops and may even leave without passengers who fail to make it back on time.
Asked by cavehill on 29th December 2015 Report this content
I was travelling from Fareham Hants to Westbourne Poole and the driver did nor announce we had arrived at Westbourne. Are drivers supposed to announce when we arrive at stops?

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Report this content Roger50 Written on: 01/01/2016
I don't think so but if he was aware that your ticket was for Westbourne he should have alerted you. Both National Express and Megabus crew do normally make passengers aware when destinations are reached but like bus drivers I don't think that there is a legal or company requirement to do so.
Asked by mileton on 28th May 2015 Report this content
Does anyone know the nearest stop to chessington theme park please from bridgwater ?

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Report this content Roger50 Written on: 30/05/2015
Sorry about this but National Express isn't so good for Chessington World of Adventures. You can get to Staines, Guildford or Woking but all would then involve an onward journey. Try these and then look at Traveline to KT92NE to see which suits or look for an alternative means of travel. Sorry I can't be more helpful.
Asked by Domgeyton on 4th September 2014 Report this content
How reliable are they? I will be catching a flight and can't afford to miss it

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Report this content stephenwoods116 Written on: 05/09/2014
Put it this way if the bus breaks down they won't hire you a taxi to get there. Please see my review
Asked by saisykhanb on 4th September 2014 Report this content
Does anyone know what the fare from Victoria coach station to Scotland is?

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Report this content Bandit209 Written on: 06/12/2016
Depends is it London Victoria and where about in Scotland
Asked by Coppertop59 on 9th August 2014 Report this content
I travelling from Newcastle upon Tyne to Rome in October. Has anyone done this?

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Asked by johnmarton on 14th February 2014 Report this content
Are there toilets on board for long trip, London to Manchester?

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Report this content willywake Written on: 14/02/2014
yes travelled northampton to gatwick toilet at back of coach
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