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Train breakdown on 4th of May - Tim Jordan (9th May 2005 - 16:27:37) Like many other commuters on the 4th May I was more than a little inconvenienced by the train breakdown at Farncombe at 1842 and consequent bunfight to get on buses at Guildford where unfortunate passengers who had been waiting for buses to their destination for 45 minutes were shoved out the way by freshly arrived passengers. In addition the chance of getting on a Liphook bus looked low hence I had to take the first bus to Petersfield and get picked up from there. I have complained to SWT and was rather surprised to receive a response in 4 days from the chairman Graham Eccles (hint: email him at the obvious email address) I attach the letter and response for your interest , I'm sure he won't mind me publishing it as there is nothing personal in it. "Dear Graham, I am writing to you to complain about the shambles that was the London Waterloo to Portsmouth service last night. Previous experience of the poor quality of your customer service department means that I have no interest in complaining to them. There were people stranded at Woking with no idea of how to get home for several hours last night. No-one said there were buses running from Guildford. Even when the buses arrived, people who had been waiting for the buses for 45 minutes or more were shoved out of the way by people who had just arrived at Guildford. As usual, no attempt by your staff to communicate what was happening. Surely you have contingency plans for trains breaking down? Yet again I will be writing to the government suggesting they revoke South West trains franchise as soon as possible. How many letters will it take?" Reply "Thank you for your email of 5 May. I was sorry to note your concerns with the delay you and your fellow passengers experienced on the evening of the 4 May and I thank you for bringing your concerns to my attention. First however, I acknowledge your comments in relation to our Franchise and I am especially concerned to read your views on my Customer Relations team. They are highly skilled in all matters of correspondence and they remain best placed to ensure detailed replies to your concerns. Your comment however, has been brought to the attention of the Customer Service Centre Manager and my apologies for any disappointment with previous correspondence. Regrettably, you had not enclosed the time you travelled or your final destination. However, you mention delays on the Portsmouth route so I have therefore ascertained you are referring to a unit defect at Farncombe which occurred at 1842, during the pm peak hours. A brake defect had occurred and as safety is paramount the affected service came to a halt. As such, this resulted in congestion whilst the problem was rectified and the build up of trains sorted out. When there is such disruption, we have to use many contingency measures to try and get trains and crews to their correct locations, so that the advertised timetable is restored as soon as possible. During this process some trains may have to be cancelled, terminated short of their destination, or run direct to their destination. Inevitably, this means that some customers are inconvenienced more than others, although we do try to plan the service so that this affects the minimum number of customers overall travelling throughout the area. Widespread delays and extensive alterations to advertised schedules often make the relaying of current information to customers difficult, especially as details of a particular train may be updated at very short notice. While it does not mitigate the inconvenience you were caused, I can give my assurance we do appreciate the difficulties it creates and are actively seeking to improve how we pass on information. I also note your comments on the replacement bus service, which ran from Guildford, these buses were delayed in arriving at Guildford due to road congestion. Although this was out of control I am sorry this further exacerbated the delay to your journey. Please accept my renewed apologies and thank you again for taking the time to write to me. Yours sincerely Graham Eccles Chairman and Managing Director" So nothing particularly interesting, although I was impressed with the response time. Tim

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