SASTA - what an absolute shower

[Napper]

Utter joke. Fortunately WFH today. And I notice there is no link in their message to the "train crew recruitment page"

On the subject of compo though, they say you can apply if more than 30 minutes late so does that mean I can't claim for the cancelled 1800 from Victoria last night? I was going to get that but as it was cancelled ended up getting the 1815 instead, so technically I wasn't more than 30 minutes later than I would have been had the 1800 run.

Check the sniper page and find a train you can claim for. Will be plenty of options.

 

[Tom Hark Preston Park]

On the subject of compo though, they say you can apply if more than 30 minutes late so does that mean I can't claim for the cancelled 1800 from Victoria last night? I was going to get that but as it was cancelled ended up getting the 1815 instead, so technically I wasn't more than 30 minutes later than I would have been had the 1800 run.

At what point in our nation's history did some twunt of a rail 'regulator' decide that 29 minutes late was any kind of acceptable failure? It really is beyond pathetic. Worst thing is, people in this country just sort of shrug it off as being down to the fact that our trains are, always have been, and doubtless always will be, unspeakably shit. Wouldn't happen in Germany or any other part of the first world.

 

[Monsieur Le Plonk]

How is looking so far for those trying to get back from London?

 

[CPFC G]

http://www.realtimetrains.co.uk/

Handy website for people who want to claim money back and can't remember which of your trains was cancelled or late.

 

[West Hoathly Seagull]

This is what you get when you click the hashtag #southern:

https://twitter.com/search?q=#SouthernTrains&src=hash

They clearly don't know someone has got in and hacked their site. Unless it's a member of staff having a laugh.

 

[ForestRowSeagull]

I've just received an email rejecting my delay repay claim as 'Having checked our records for the details of the delay you provided to us, our systems show that we did not have a train depart at the time you specified' OF COURSE YOUR RECORDS SHOW THAT, WHY WOULD I BE CLAIMING IF IT DID LEAVE ON TIME

 

[Cosmic Joker]

Utter joke. Fortunately WFH today. And I notice there is no link in their message to the "train crew recruitment page"

On the subject of compo though, they say you can apply if more than 30 minutes late so does that mean I can't claim for the cancelled 1800 from Victoria last night? I was going to get that but as it was cancelled ended up getting the 1815 instead, so technically I wasn't more than 30 minutes later than I would have been had the 1800 run.

You've made me feel like I'm a bit shady as I've never let that stop me claiming the full cancellation compensation. On that argument you could only really claim if you were going for the last train of the night and there was no other way of getting home.

For cancelled trains, the 30 minutes refers to the difference between the timetabled arrival time at the station you leave at, compared to the actual arrival time of the train you end up getting instead. Looking at Realtime trains and assuming you were going all the way to Brighton, the 1800 was due to arrive at 19:10, whilst the 1815 was due to arrive at 1921 (public timetable - two mins later than in working timetable) but actually arrived at 1930. So in this case the total delay was 20 mins, so you can't claim for that. But if the same thing happened again and the 1815 didn't arrive until 1940 or after then you could claim for it.

Same principle applies to missed connections en route. You can claim if 30 mins or more late at your destination station compared to when you should have got there using a valid connection (i.e. one that will show up in a journey planner or published timetable, not a two or three minute job).

 

[BBassic]

When it comes to delays, "Signalling problems" appears to cover basically ANYTHING. A guard admitted as much to me on the way back from the QPR game.

This has wound me up for years.

I've stopped commuting now but when I was the excuse for delays was always 'signalling problems'. I sent them an email once complaining about with the general message being "If signalling problems are continually affecting your services why don't you FIX AND/OR REPLACE the equipment?"

I got a generic "We've taken your comments onboard blah blah blah shut and give us your money and shut up and squeeze onto our overcrowded shitehouse service and shut up and pay you little gibbon".

 

[pasty]

Looking at Realtime trains and assuming you were going all the way to Brighton, the 1800 was due to arrive at 19:10, whilst the 1815 was due to arrive at 1921 (public timetable - two mins later than in working timetable) but actually arrived at 1930. So in this case the total delay was 20 mins, so you can't claim for that. But if the same thing happened again and the 1815 didn't arrive until 1940 or after then you could claim for it.

That's kind of what I thought. On a side note, I would like to know where Realitime trains get their info from. You rightly assumed I was on the 1815 to Brighton and (albeit only 2 or 3 minutes) it absolutely definitely arrived AFTER 1930

 

[Titanic]

That's kind of what I thought. On a side note, I would like to know where Realitime trains get their info from. You rightly assumed I was on the 1815 to Brighton and (albeit only 2 or 3 minutes) it absolutely definitely arrived AFTER 1930

If you run the National Rail app on your phone... it FREQUENTLY marks the train you are travelling on as as having arrived BEFORE you actually reach the station

 

[Cosmic Joker]

That's kind of what I thought. On a side note, I would like to know where Realitime trains get their info from. You rightly assumed I was on the 1815 to Brighton and (albeit only 2 or 3 minutes) it absolutely definitely arrived AFTER 1930

Well, as I understand it, it comes from the railways own internal reporting systems - about the only place info that detailed could come from - but in a simplified format. So there could be a few things going on to cause minor discrepancies - 1) how well the railway system is tuned into Greenwich time, which shouldn't be too difficult to be exactly right 2) what the trigger point is for marking the train as arrived - if this is the head of the train entering the track section for occupying the platform line, then at a long and slow speed approach to a terminal platform such as at Brighton that could easily add a minute. The arrival time should relate to when the doors are opened, but that's almost certainly not automatically reported. I suspect it relates to when the whole train is recorded as being in the track section including the platform 3) RTT actually said 1930 and a half but I didn't bother quoting the half 4) whether your own timepiece was accurate to the min (i'm not claiming it isn't of course) and whether you checked it as the train stopped/doors opened or only after you got out on the concourse or barriers.

I've just put in claims for two journeys in the last week, Chichester to Littlehampton changing at Barnham on the 16th - 45 mins late due to cancelling the connecting train from Barnham (which would have been missed anyway had it left on time) and then the next one running 17 late. Then 1610 Chichester to Victoria on Monday which was cancelled at Horsham due to a fault happening when they tried to join the two halves of the train. The following train ran 24 late by the time it got to Vic and was slower with an extra stop at Redhill anyway, so added up to arriving exactly an hour late. The arrival times on RTT do seem to match to about 1 min with what I remember on my leaving the trains.

 

[Beach Hut]

****wits, 17:18 Victoria to Littlehampton on time on the departure boards then at 17:10 cancelled

 

[Simster]

****wits, 17:18 Victoria to Littlehampton on time on the departure boards then at 17:10 cancelled

That really is classic SASTA. Utterly turd.

 

[Ernest]

****wits, 17:18 Victoria to Littlehampton on time on the departure boards then at 17:10 cancelled

Don't forget delay REPAY and get a CLAIM in

 

[Ernest]

I see today that there is more industrial unrest in the pipelines on Southern with Driver Only Operation trying to be brought in against both RMT and ASLEF's agreements, this could be a bitter one

 

[8ace]

Don't forget delay REPAY and get a CLAIM in

 

[Ernest]

 

[Beach Hut]

Don't forget delay REPAY and get a CLAIM in

Do I not like that, meandering towards Brighton very slowly

 

[Lower West Stander]

****wits, 17:18 Victoria to Littlehampton on time on the departure boards then at 17:10 cancelled

This is unreal

 

[dazzer6666]

On train from London Bridge. Stopped at E Croydon to 'wait for a driver'......