London-bound trains currently banjaxed

[NooBHA]

If you can get to Clapham Junction you can get a London Overground train - I think you can get a London Overground train from one of the Croydon stations as well cant remember which Croydon station it is though. That saves going into central London

 

[Carrot Cruncher]

If you can get to Clapham Junction you can get a London Overground train - I think you can get a London Overground train from one of the Croydon stations as well cant remember which Croydon station it is though. That saves going into central London

Clapham Junction, yes. West Croydon, no. That bit of line heads north east.

 

[dwayne]

You can go from clapham junction to shepherds bush nice and easy

 

[Ninja Elephant]

Getting home is a giggle. The train I am on is technically the 23:32 from Victoria, stopping everywhere it possibly can. No communication really, that's what is a shame. Services coming up on the board and then going off again is one thing, but not telling anyone what is happening is another. They've got problems on the track, ok - but let us know what you're doing about it, please! Do we flock to the first leaving train, or will the next one be quicker, and definitely run? Someone must know?

QPR match programme is not good at all.

 

[Beach Hut]

Sh1te journey home, Southern need to diversify and perhaps consider alternative business products as they are poor at train running

 

[Pinkie Brown]

I mean if you bought a day return to London at 8am and rocked up at 8pm saying you never went and wanted a refund you'd need proof you never went, if you bought a ticket at 7am for the 715am and it was cancelled and you went back for a refund you'd get that on the spot

I claimed off South Eastern a few years back when I rocked up at the station to find the whole network in chaos due to a derailment. Trains kepts slipping back until finally the screen went blank. I paid online in advance. There was no open ticket office at the station so I emailed their customer relations mob. I claimed for a refund of the tickets, telling them I couldn't travel an appointment as I would have missed it blah blah etc. They refunded without quibble, only asking for a photocopy of the tickets. A couple of weeks later they sent me credit vouchers for £24.

 

[Uncle Buck]

It took over three hours to get from Hove to London Bridge yesterday, due to the signal failure etc.

Highlight had to be on the Southern service from East Croydon to London Bridge. It stopped just short of London Bridge for about 10 minutes. At which point the driver announced to us that we were currently on a train.

It is that sort of attention to detail that makes Southern the company they are.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

They are ****ing robbing stealing anally raping ****ing ***** frankly

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

I'm stunned that Southern Railway's systems are that sophisticated. Most of what I witness when it comes to season tickets is still done via paperwork. They don't appear to control their data in the interests of customers at all. I look forward to the 21st century arriving (although at the moment it appears to be running a little late.)

Which of course is the right answer.

 

[Ernest]

They are ****ing robbing stealing anally raping ****ing ***** frankly

Tell us how you really feel

 

[beorhthelm]

Sh1te journey home, Southern need to diversify and perhaps consider alternative business products as they are poor at train running

their communication blows hairy mountain goats, but i don't know why people blame Southern for a signalling problems.

 

[Tony Meolas Loan Spell]

Tell us how you really feel

To be fair thats actually quite moderate from me.

 

[Cowfold Seagull]

Yesterdays problems seem to be ongoing. Just had a call from the wife who went to Chichester for a day's Christmas shopping. Went to Chichester station to catch heer train back to Horsham, to be told that due to signalling problems very few services are running.

She managed to catch a Brighton service as far as Barnham where it has decided to terminate. Who knows when she will get home?

 

[Ninja Elephant]

their communication blows hairy mountain goats, but i don't know why people blame Southern for a signalling problems.

The majority of complaints are about the communication, on the grounds that it is imaginary.

 

[Herr Tubthumper]

Wouldn't happen in Germany

 

[Guinness Boy]

I've only had to go to London twice this month. Yesterday for QPR. Today for a company and management meeting and Xmas drinks. EVERY journey was over half an hour late. I will be delay replay claiming tomorrow.

 

[Southwick_Seagull]

The majority of complaints are about the communication, on the grounds that it is imaginary.

This.

Yesterday I was at Worthing station on my way to the game and watched 2 trains to Brighton go past while I waited for the London Victoria train. The train showed as being on time right up until the point it was supposed to have arrived and then it went back 20 minutes and a few moments later cancelled. The announcer at the station then proceeded to do a tannoy announcement stating that the train had got held up due to the signalling issues, and actually had not yet even arrived at Littlehampton (the starting point of the service). The signalling issue may well not be Southern's fault but if they had said earlier that the train was stuck elsewhere and it would be unlikely to be at Worthing for some time, as opposed to the boards showing it as being "on time", I could have gone into Brighton on one of the earlier services and gone up from there.

Some things Southern can't control but their service is incredibly poor, particularly when you consider the prices charged,

 

[Guinness Boy]

This.

Yesterday I was at Worthing station on my way to the game and watched 2 trains to Brighton go past while I waited for the London Victoria train. The train showed as being on time right up until the point it was supposed to have arrived and then it went back 20 minutes and a few moments later cancelled. The announcer at the station then proceeded to do a tannoy announcement stating that the train had got held up due to the signalling issues, and actually had not yet even arrived at Littlehampton (the starting point of the service). The signalling issue may well not be Southern's fault but if they had said earlier that the train was stuck elsewhere and it would be unlikely to be at Worthing for some time, as opposed to the boards showing it as being "on time", I could have gone into Brighton on one of the earlier services and gone up from there.

Some things Southern can't control but their service is incredibly poor, particularly when you consider the prices charged,

Spot on.

We were waiting for the 13.47 direct to London from Portslade. It was showing as "on time" on the board so we let a Brighton service go. Then I checked my train app and it suddenly looked like it had never left Littlehampton. We went to ask the ticket man what was happening and he didn't have a clue. Eventually he agreed it was delayed or cancelled because my train app on my phone said so.

This morning I had to go back up to town for meetings. I wanted to get the 8.46 from Brighton. It is just the wrong side of the rush hour cut off but I can never get a seat on the 8.48 from Portslade. When I got to the station and bought my ticket I was told that connection was fine. By the time I got to Brighton it was cancelled. No bother, I was told to get the 9.02 to London Bridge. About six minutes before that was due to leave it was moved to "delayed" and everyone was told to get the 9.06 to Bedford. That involved a change so I decided to get a later Gatwick Express. Lucky really as the Bedford train left very late and was overtaken by ours at Haywards Heath.

Let's be clear here. If a signal breaks then that is unfortunate but it can happen. No one can stop jumpers or crazy graffiti artists. What you need at that point is a coherent strategy to get running back to normal as soon as possible and accurate, speedy information to be relayed to the stranded customers. Southern cannot do that and it reflects very badly on their staff, managers and bottom line.

 

[Ernest]

The things I hear and it is rank incompetence that stops the communication, take the phones off the Conductors which gave them all the running delays etc and not ensure that a/ they all have new ones and b/ they all are working when they get them.

That is something that could be done and would improve the information flow, that it is not is an example of the management and their inability to run a train company.

 

[Ninja Elephant]

This.

Yesterday I was at Worthing station on my way to the game and watched 2 trains to Brighton go past while I waited for the London Victoria train. The train showed as being on time right up until the point it was supposed to have arrived and then it went back 20 minutes and a few moments later cancelled. The announcer at the station then proceeded to do a tannoy announcement stating that the train had got held up due to the signalling issues, and actually had not yet even arrived at Littlehampton (the starting point of the service). The signalling issue may well not be Southern's fault but if they had said earlier that the train was stuck elsewhere and it would be unlikely to be at Worthing for some time, as opposed to the boards showing it as being "on time", I could have gone into Brighton on one of the earlier services and gone up from there.

Some things Southern can't control but their service is incredibly poor, particularly when you consider the prices charged,

Spot on.

We were waiting for the 13.47 direct to London from Portslade. It was showing as "on time" on the board so we let a Brighton service go. Then I checked my train app and it suddenly looked like it had never left Littlehampton. We went to ask the ticket man what was happening and he didn't have a clue. Eventually he agreed it was delayed or cancelled because my train app on my phone said so.

This morning I had to go back up to town for meetings. I wanted to get the 8.46 from Brighton. It is just the wrong side of the rush hour cut off but I can never get a seat on the 8.48 from Portslade. When I got to the station and bought my ticket I was told that connection was fine. By the time I got to Brighton it was cancelled. No bother, I was told to get the 9.02 to London Bridge. About six minutes before that was due to leave it was moved to "delayed" and everyone was told to get the 9.06 to Bedford. That involved a change so I decided to get a later Gatwick Express. Lucky really as the Bedford train left very late and was overtaken by ours at Haywards Heath.

Let's be clear here. If a signal breaks then that is unfortunate but it can happen. No one can stop jumpers or crazy graffiti artists. What you need at that point is a coherent strategy to get running back to normal as soon as possible and accurate, speedy information to be relayed to the stranded customers. Southern cannot do that and it reflects very badly on their staff, managers and bottom line.

Completely agree with these sentiments, I have no problem with signalling failings and the like - Southern can't do anything about that but they have to be better at telling you what's happening - if they can't run a train because it didn't get to where it starts from, say that. I could understand if they don't want a load of people showing up at Brighton and causing carnage there, but they absolutely should have said/done something and tried to educate their paying customers about the options, and the realities. I was at Victoria at 23:10 last night and waited patiently for an announcement about what was going to happen, it never did. The first announcement came just after the Brighton train was posted as leaving from platform 13. By that point, we all knew where to go so the announcement was redundant and that frustrates me because it didn't need to be like that.

I'm a customer experience kind of guy, if it's bad because you messed it up that's one thing but as in this case, if it's bad because of someone else but you didn't step up and do your part, then it's a negative experience of you. Yesterday was a negative experience of Southern because of their handling of a situation which wasn't actually their fault. But they lose, because they hid from me and the other customers who wanted to get home.

The things I hear and it is rank incompetence that stops the communication, take the phones off the Conductors which gave them all the running delays etc and not ensure that a/ they all have new ones and b/ they all are working when they get them.

That is something that could be done and would improve the information flow, that it is not is an example of the management and their inability to run a train company.

Is there any reason at all to think that the guy with a mic at Victoria couldn't have made regular announcements to let people know what the latest was? Or to even acknowledge that there were dozens of people waiting for information, and an idea of how they were getting home? Are the station announcers empowered to get on the mic and say, "Well folks, we're sorry but we've got problems here. This is what happened earlier on today, this is why it's causing us problems now, this train was meant to arrive here from x but that didn't happen so it can't be here now to run the service but we have this train which is running, and will arrive at x. I'll keep you updated with any new information as it happens, but in the meantime thank you for your patience and to those of you who have paid 50p to use the facilities, I hope it a glorious experience."

What would you have said, if you could?