written by McKinneyrh325 on 24/02/2019
I took the return train from Birmingham new street time 10.14pm Fri 22/2/19 with my 8 yr old nieces back home to Coventry. The train slowed down to stop at Tile Hill, Coventry and the carriage train doors did not open to let us off the train. the was only a couple of seconds between the train stopping and then taking off again. there was 4 people that need to get off at Tile Hill. The train carried on until the Canley, Coventry stop. we got off the train and ran to the train driver to tell him. he rang to his office and told us to get back on the train to central Coventry. there was a 25 minute wait for the next train back to Tile Hill. by this stage I had a very scared 8 year, an autistic young adult who his mum and sister left in my safe hands to help him get on the correct train back home who neither of us knew each other. Due to the wait time and our safety I end up paying for an uber to take all three of us to Tile Hill. It became an expencive night. plus a scary night for my niece and the young autistic adult that was with us. your driver has a duty of care and safety to the passengers on their trains. however he was far to eager to finish his shift. what if the carriage doors opened and the driver didn't give enough time for passengers to get off the train and an accident happened. I had a child with me and what if she got left on the train as I got off first so I could help her off the train and the doors shut and drove off with her on the train by her self. its in forgivable to think what would or could have happened.
written by 238O'Reilly on 12/11/2017
Absolutely awful, it is a lottery whether trains will turn up or run with any semblance of punctuality. When things go wrong (as they frequently do) nobody has a clue what is happening. IGNORE advice on alternative routes, in my experience when the system collapses in a heap it is better to go out for a meal or shopping as the alternative routes can be a wild goose chase and actually make things far worse. And if you end up abandoned in some place you know nothing about after following their advice you will not get any help or support. Hopefully the next franchise will be better than these incompetent muppets.
written by Valentino277 on 03/11/2017
I hate London Midland. We were catching the train because I had a very important meeting. As I got to the door, the train driver smirked at me and closed the door. I went to his window and he just smiled and drove off. This train service is absolutely stupid. DO NOT USE IT!!!!
written by Abagail81 on 23/06/2017
ive lived in Hampton in Arden for the past year and not once has the train been on time. I cannot believe how poor the service is. The ticket machine is always out of service and then I have to queue at Birmingham new street to get a ticket and get told off for not buying a ticket before - I can't! It's an unmanned station with a broken ticket machine. Often the display boards which tell me just how late my train is going to be are broken so I never know if I'm going to stand there for 20 minutes or an hour. ALSO often if the train is really delayed then they just cancel it and miss out Hampton but no one tells you until the train physically goes past without stopping. This train line pretty much ruins the start of every evening for me. I don't understand how it's allowed to be this terrible. If I was this terrible at my job I would be fired. Why on earth are they building HS2 when they can't even get these services right. Shame on you London midlands for even charging people money for this service
written by Crosshz293 on 24/03/2017
Oh Dear. Oh Dear. Oh dear. Paid for first class ticket from Crewe to London. I am shocked. The cabin is exactly the same as the standard class. Terrible. The seats are exactly the same. old. Warn out. There is no difference between standard and first class other than blue curtains and a power supply by your seat. The chairs are terrible, if you dont get a table its impossible to do business on. And there is as little as 2 tables per first class cabin. So good luck making your journey productive if you dont get a table seat. There is no food/drink service. And the biggest criminal offence; its 2017 and there is no WIFI !!!! OMG. Who is in charge of this joke of a company? NO WIFI? How can you do business on this train?! Furthermore, you are taking from your passengers charging them triple for a joke of a service that is no different than standard class. In a word; DISHONEST. Some idiot thought it would be a good idea to fence off part of the standard train and dress it up with curtains and some power supplies and charge you 3 times as much. Fool me once, but never again. AWFUL. Standard on Virgin trains is 100 times better and is cheaper. I have learnt my lesson today! Never again. On a positive note, the train was on time and arrived on time. No complaints there.
written by Bruno446 on 05/03/2017
the person I dealt with was fantastic and helped me get to the right train. Really friendly and informative. Thanks to him. He deserves a pay rise.
written by Landen75 on 05/12/2016
Weekend ruined completely. Thanks for nothing. Customer relations are terrible too.
written by Flip563 on 16/11/2016
The old mixing deck offered a practical and panoramic view of times and prices. It was great and quite user friendly. The new website is unclear and unhelpful if you want to make use of the best ticket offers. it is like looking for a needle in a haystack through a keyhole. It is simply frustrating. I regularly used London Midlands no questions asked; now for the first time in years I was driven to look to other sites for alternatives providers and even reconsidering bus journeys. The new site offers a narrow view and unhelpful to making a comparison in regard to fates, prices and availability. The loss of confidence in the website has really knocked down what used to be a well established trust. A major disappointment!
written by on 14/11/2016
Every morning there is never enough seats on the journey to work & invariably many commuters have to sit on the floor or stand up when the space is unavailable to even sit on the floor. The company operates under a system of profit before consumers as they don't need to or care if they provide a decent service as people have to use their service for work/college/school etc.
written by oliviii on 13/11/2016
got the ten to 5 train on a friday to Hereford at Birmingham new street , 4 coaches long got a seat. Arrived in hereford on time and stress free. Train was cleaner and more smother ride than Arriva trains wales which i had get on from hereford. Good job London midland.
written by garywu on 12/11/2016
Booked first class tickets with london midlands to travel from euston to crewe and boarded a train which was packed. Fortunately I reached the train and found a seat early otherwise there wouldn't have been any point in paying for first class. Other unfortunate passengers ended up standing wherever they could find room. Seats were barely padded and could barely fit my bottom. No wifi on board and was double my travel time versus Virgin trains. First class with this service was worse than standard class in virgin trains. I would hate to know what standard class is like. Next time I will double check which service before booking as I booked my tickets thinking I got a bargain for first class tickets.
written by Joyce414 on 12/10/2016
Travelled 1st class return from Euston to Stoke. 4-coach commuter train, no food, no wifi, train packed so 1st class 'declassified'. Return journey identical with the added tweak of no working toilets. Guard made a long rambling announcement that he had tried to arrange a toilet stop at Milton Keynes but had been prevented by a 'HIGHER AUTHORITY'because a VIRGIN TRAIN BEHIND needed the same platform. What on earth would he have expected the Virgin guard to say by way of explanation for the resulting delay? Never used them before, never again.
written by Massey226 on 22/09/2016
Upgraded to First Class for a two hour, very early train to London from Stafford. WHAT A JOKE - at our expense! Other than a piece of paper towel on the headrest, and a socket - we'd have not known we weren't in standard class with £40 still in our pocket. Seats were threadbare, and all the bounce had gone out of the seat, so no additional comfort whatsoever. I wrote in to complain, but the response was well prepared, and probably issued many many times before. We have alternatives, and will never use this joke of a train company again.
written by Bluenose46 on 03/09/2016
Following mine and my sons experience of a return journey from London Euston to Lichfield Trent Valley last Friday 2nd September 2016, I only wished that I had looked on here first as had I done so I would have certainly gone to Birmingham and used Virgin!. For the whole hour and a half journey we had to stand up in the mainly in the doorway area and I was quite shocked to learn from quite a few other people who were obviously regulars on this train from hell that it was a constant occurrence. It is an absolute disgrace that people in much more need of a seat than me and my 17 year old son who are fit and healthy had to really struggle and some were going the whole distance to Crewe. A truly appalling experience and in a total of 150 reviews on this site there are 126 1* reviews says it all. A message to London Midland please listen to the customers who pay your wages and seriously think about spending some of that £13 million of the alleged money you have available on extra carriages as what use is wifi when you can't even sit down.
Written on: 13/09/2016
As a regular user of the route, I have experienced the overcrowding on the route, however the walk on fare is dirt cheap so I regard it as travelling 3rd class to London. The trains can only be 4 coaches long as some of the stations that it stops at in the Stoke area have short platforms. Trouble is everyone wants to travel on it because the fare is so cheap compared to Virgin. Your other option is to pay a bit more and take the London Midland train to Rugby and change onto a Virgin Train at Rugby.
written by on 26/08/2016
Unfortunately missed my train because the platform conductor decided to do a last minute ticket check need I say more...
written by on 17/08/2016
Apparently London midland are quite happy to charge first class and not have enough seats so you have to stand. You pay first class but no guarantee of seat or offer of refund if you have to sit on the floor.
written by Philwalker54 on 08/08/2016
would like to say a massive thank you to a station cleaner at Crewe who went above and beyond to return some very important documents that i left on a train. Thank you so much, its so nice to know that there are people like you who will help some one in need.
written by Manningxi215 on 03/08/2016
I had a tight schedule and London midland screw it up.6:33 morning train cancelled on Monday .They could have send me a message so that I could catch an earlier train .Horrible experience .
written by Mods on 28/07/2016
The journey was so long. Got on Virgin to Rugby earlier that afternoon the journey only lasted 48 minutes. On my return journey London midland took over an hour and a half. So annoyingly slow. I wouldnt recommend this train if you in a hurry. Too many stops.
written by on 17/07/2016
Tired after nice holiday in Wales. large rucksack and bag and well in time for 8.21 pm train to Kings Norton, 7 minutes away by train from University Station. what could go wrong even though it's LM. Then the usual the time the train was expected outpacing the actual time, then it was delayed and then finally cancelled. The next disappeared after news it would be delayed and the next the usual time expected out-pacing the time on the time on planet Earth. (I worked it out that, given the timings on the arrival board, the train must have been going backwards). Finally, as I was losing the will to live, the train going to Redditch reached the delay stage, but miraculously appeared, probably finding its way for the time/space continuum. It was packed and was one of the most unpleasant journeys I've had. One woman had a bicycle and had no chance. God knows what time she got home. I did feel for the female ticket collector who did her best, but was visibly affected by the whole experience. As a regular customer of LM (I have no choice!) I'm amazed I'm still surprised by them.
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Stansalt's Response to Flip563's Review
Written on: 26/11/2016
Must agree with you, just tried it rubbish . If they weren't so bad at everything else you'd think they did it on purpose.