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“why do i ever bother travelling by train?”

written by Xaltair on 25/01/2015

unbelievable - i travelled from Brighton to Bristol on Saturday and bought return ticket to come back the following day (Sunday). That morning, checking the website, i found that all bar 1 train was cancelled with no reason given and no alternative provided.
I called national rail enquiries and was shocked by the lackadaisical 'don't care' attitude - the man i spoke to will badly informed and had to keep putting me on hold to refer to his supervisor. I asked whether i could return to brighton via london (the one train that was actually running), even though my original route was not via london. After many attempts he finally confirmed that i woudl need to pay an additional £20 on top of my £67 return ticket, to go via this route. When i pointed out that this was my only option to return on that day and asked whether the additional fee could be waived, he said it was not his problem and i would have to go to the train company themselves to get this agreement. I do think the privatization of the trains in this country leaves a lot to be desired - i will try to remember this conversation when i am next tempted to use the national rail service again :-(