Railing Against the Rail: My Amazing Adventure with FGW

Sun 2 Nov 2008, 13:12

Mr. Rowland,

I am writing to you in complaint at the way I have been treated by First Great Western in an incident that occurred on Friday, October 24th, while travelling on the northbound 16.48 from Oxford station.

But it reflects a larger issue shared by other passengers regarding the negligent (and sometimes belligerent), attitude of some FGW staff and employees towards passengers who travel on the Cotswolds line with their bicycles. As you may know from my previous communications via Hannah , I am a daily, working commuter from Charlbury into Oxford who choses to avoid driving into Oxford by carrying my bicycle on the train. You are probably already aware that over the past 6 months there has been an increase in 'utility' cyclists who now use the train at peak times. In the past month, I have been twice refused transport on the 16.48 from Oxford to Charlbury, due to the bike slots on the cycle carriages being full. On one occasion, I was forced to get off the train at the instruction of the train guard, although there had been ample room for my bicycle between two carriages.

The 16.48 from Oxford to Charlbury is an essential journey to me because I have a 9 year old daughter at Charlbury primary school who completes her after school activities at 17.00 and waits for me to pick her up. If I am unable to pick her up, she is left on her own.

Because of this and the occasions I was refused transport, I have followed FGW's advice and reserved places for my bicycle on the 16.48 return journey starting yesterday (Friday, October 24th), but also for the following Monday and Tuesday. I would do so everyday except that FGW makes no provision for block bookings of bike reservations, nor can I book the reservation online.

Yesterday, (October 24th) I was on the north bound platform at Oxford station at 16.35 with ample time to catch the train. I was positioned at the far end of the platform where I anticipated the bike carriage of the train to pull in. I was engaged in conversation with a teacher who also commutes regularly on this line with his bicycle. We were discussing FGW's attitude towards their cyclist passengers and what steps we could take to ameliorate the situation.

The 16.48 pulled in about ten minutes late, which is fairly normal. What was disconcerting was that it was a short train from London, Paddington running at a peak time. Several other cyclist had also joined us at the bike carriage. The train guard then announced that he only had room for three more bikes in the bike carriage. I volunteered that I had a reservation whereupon he and another member of staff informed me that the reservation carriage was at the opposite end of the train.

In spite of my extensive investigation of bicycle reservations that morning, this was the first time anyone had bothered to mention that there was a separate carriage for bikes with reservations.

I was then obligated to fast walk the full extent of the train while the train staff became visibly agitated. Having reached the rear end of the train, I then had to request a member of FGW staff that they open the reserved carriage which required a different key than the front bike carriage. Once the carriage was open, I placed my bike on as quickly as I could but couldn't help noticing how there was room for another two bikes in the carriage, in spite of the restrictions imposed by the train guard at the front of the train. I quickly added I was getting off at Charlbury and rushed off the train.

When I dismounted from the bike carriage, I rushed to the first passenger carriage which was so full you couldn't even open the door. I rushed to the next carriage door, same situation. A member of staff then shouted something unintelligible at me, I rushed to the next carriage door and was able to just squeeze in amongst the passengers who had overflowed into first class. The train departed the station. Coming into Charlbury, I pushed as far as I could to the exit but as I mentioned previously, the train was too full and clearly oversubscribed. When the doors opened it took awhile for the passengers to disembark. Without actually pushing people out of the way, there was no physical way off the train. When I got on the platform, I rushed towards the rear where my bike was stored. Unfortunately, there was no accompanying train manager or other staff member present to open the carriage. Because there were so many people, I had time to wave at the train manager who was standing on the platform towards the middle of the train. I shouted for assistance and gestured with my hand in a key turning motion while pointing to the bike carriage. The train manager observed me, looked me in the eyes and completely ignored me.

It began to dawn on me was was about to happen so I shouted louder not to close the doors as my bike was still on the train and waved again, for him to open the bike carriage. The last I saw of him was his signal to close the doors, his mounting the train and the train doors closing.

I shouted as loud as I could that my bike was still on the train as the train left the station.

Now I was in a quandary as to how to retrieve my bike that had been taken by FGW without my consent and the fact that my daughter was now waiting for me to pick her up and I had no mode of transport to reach her in good time. I used the phone on the platform that put me through to National Rail enquiry who tried transferring me to FGW. To no avail; each attempt to communicate with FGW was diverted to a call centre or customer relations who had no idea who to refer me to. After half an hour of frustrated attempts to communicate with anyone in responsibility at FGW (between 5 and 5.30 pm!), the south bound train pulled in and I was obliged to find the driver and ask him what to do. He was sympathetic to my predicament but added that there was nothing he could do and that I had to speak to the operations department at FGW. I then tried navigating FGW's communications again and was clumsily advised I might try lost property. But my property wasn't lost, I explained, it had been taken against my will. Finally, out of desperation, I was only able to get through to someone who dealt with emergencies when I asserted that I had a serious emergency to do with one of the trains.

Finally, a Luther Richards was able to contact the driver of train on my behalf and arrange for the same train to rendezvous on the platform at 19.50. Luther assured me that the train guard would be told to unlock the bike carriage and make sure my property was returned to me. (Luther Richards was responsive and conscientious, unfortunately in stark contrast to my other experiences that evening).

By this time I had arranged for my daughter to walk into town by herself and went to meet her.

At 19.35 I was back on the platform waiting for the train carrying my bike.

Needless to say, it was late and arrived at 20.00 with no sign of the train guard.
Finally, one of the cleaning staff who had been with me on the first journey and was aware of my predicament, got on the train and found him.
The train guard appeared completely confused; was able to open the train carriage but explained that he had been told to meet me in Oxford.

It was the same train guard who didn't open the reserved bike carriage on the north bound16.48, at his discretion.

You can imagine how upsetting and time wasting this experience has been. It would be nice to think that this was an exceptional event and that I was particuarly unlucky. But I don't believe that to be the case. Comparing my experiences with other commuting cyclists on the same line, it is pretty clear that FGW has adopted an at best, indifferent attitude towards its cycling passengers, and at worst overtly hostile. I have heard FGW train managers on more than one occasion express their preference that bicycles be banned from rail travel. And yet, it is at their discretion that we are permitted to travel.

So what do I want?

I would like a full apology for the disgraceful manner in which I have been treated by FGW official staff.

I would like the senior management to address the reality of an increase in utility cyclists using the line and the establishment of a uniform policy for their train managers to accommodate our use of the line, not an arbitrary policy of discretion that is clearly at the expense of the passengers.

I'm tired of hearing platitudes and rationalisations from FGW, I would like this company to assume some responsibility for its franchise as a service provider of essential transportation in this region. I also demand that their staff adopt a more respectful attitude towards its customers, especially those of us who are regular train users and who are consciously trying in our own small ways, to reduce congestion on our highways and pollution to the environment we all share.

Sincerely,

I. Goldkind

Dear Mr Goldkind,

As Richard is on leave I am assuming responsibility for responding to his e-mails - I hope that this is ok with you.

Thank you for your e-mail and for setting out in detail the problems you had on 24th October with your reserved cycle on the 1648. You ask for a full apology and I have no hesitation in giving you one. This really was not acceptable and I fully appreciate your frustration.

The initial problem was caused by the change from a HST to an Adelante train. This was due to a shortage of High Speed Trains that day. The substitution did mean we did not need to cancel the train altogether but the cycle storage facilities are different on this service.

Normally with a HST six cycles are taken in the guards van at one end of the train and everyone knows what to do and where to go. An Adelante carries three cycles at one end of the service, and three at the other. Not ideal I agree, however these trains are being phased out of our service in the coming months.

The station dispatcher at Oxford will announce if the train is in a different formation or made up of a different set. I am told by the Oxford Station Manager that this would have happened on the 24th, but he also notes that it can be difficult to hear these announcements at the north end of the platform. We always try therefore to alert customers using platform colleagues, but clearly this did not happen on the 24th, and I am sorry that this caused the initial delay in loading your cycle.

From your comments I suspect that the Train Manager was not keen on carrying cycles at both ends of the train, (it can cause delays leaving the platform) but that he relented (at least as far as loading onto the train was concerned) as you had a reservation. It is of course not for individual Train Managers to decide if they will take cycles at both ends. They should do so without question and I very much regret that this did not happen on the 24th.

There are serious problems for us (and our customers) when we do not leave on time because of the single line. There is no excuse for not releasing your cycle at Charlbury however. It is unfortunate that you were not able to get off the train more quickly, but as you make clear this can depend on other customers and it's important that our on board colleagues are alert to the cycles they have on board and keep in mind where they are due to be taken off.

Having let you down by leaving with your bike still on the service, I am very disappointed that we did not then provide a seamless service to return it. It should have been possible to more quickly reassure you as to what would happen with the bike - the service you had from Luther, should have been the service you had from the very first call. We would not have been able to return it to Charlbury any quicker than it was, but you should have had this reassurance right from the start and felt confident about what was happening and how it would be returned.

You raise the issue of increased cycle usage on the Cotswolds in general, there is evidence for this, and it does present a challenge. That is not an excuse for anyone to suggest that cycles should be banned, or to make cyclists feel unwelcome; but as you know if we miss our booked slot on the single line it can mean lengthy delays or even partial cancellations. We are therefore doing all we can to make sure we leave on time. Too many of our “dispatch delays” are being caused by loading and unloading cycles. This is not your problem but ours, and we need to do better at making sure we have given you all the support you need to be able to get on and off the train quickly.

I also hope that we can encourage more cyclists to opt for folding bicycles. These can be taken on any train, in any carriage as they take up the same space as a suitcase. I know they are not to everyone's choice. That said, we are not going to be able to offer more on board cycle storage space – there simply is no extra room for them, and unless more people move to folded bikes, we will eventually reach capacity (at least for peak time services).

Your case has however prompted us to look again at what is currently offered, and what is currently going wrong, and we have picked up a number of issues from Oxford. These will be reviewed (we have a member of staff who looks specifically at cycle policy and encouraging the use of integrated travel) and I hope that you will find less problems in future.

Indeed I hope I may have already solved one problem for you immediately. If you email xxxxxxx with your train times and dates we will be happy to make block cycle reservations for you by email. This can normally be done for around three weeks at a time. I hope that this might in some small way start to reassure you that we are not anti-cyclist, and are keen to resolve the problems you and others are currently experiencing.

I know that your e-mail was written to make me aware of the problem and to seek improvements, and not to seek any sort of compensation payment, but I do think that some goodwill is also warranted, not just for you but also for your daughter. I have therefore arranged for two complimentary First Class tickets to be sent to you which I hope you can use to take her (and your bike) on a journey of your choice with First Great Western.

By the way, on the issue of respect for customers, there should be no need to ask for a more respectful attitude to be adopted; you should already be treated with every possible respect and this will be reiterated. All on board and Station colleagues are about to undertake a training package entitled Putting the Customer First. We mean it and we expect them to deliver. I have made sure that the Train Crew Manager is aware of your complaint and we will conduct a full conduct investigation. For reasons of employee confidentially we don’t release the outcome but this was serious, and will be treated seriously.

Thank you again for the email and again my very full apology to you and your daughter for the inconvenience caused.

Kind regards,

Lesley

Lesley Colman
Customer & Stakeholder Liaison Manager

Dear Lesley Colman,

Your apology on behalf of First Great Western is gratefully accepted. I am going to let my daughter read your response so that she understands that the incident that led to her not being met by me was a mistake made by adults and that adults (who yes, do make mistakes), can acknowledge their errors and try and learn from them.

If my complaint has led to a reassessment towards cycling passengers traveling by rail by FGW in general, and your staff are being reminded that cyclists are not extraneous nuisances but passengers as well, then it was well worth taking the matter up with your office and I thank you for your time and consideration.

For what it's worth, I've already noticed a marked improvement in the attitude of your staff who open and close the cycle carriage in my journeys this week.
I do appreciate that FGW is in the process of phasing out some of your redundant rolling stock and that you are taking into account space for bicycles, although to be honest, I do occasionally notice that the cycle carriages are also used to store the trains catering equipment.

But, there is another issue that's arisen from my experience that you touched on in your reply and which I believe Chris Bates has raised with your senior management. That is the difficulties communicating from the platform directly with FGW staff who can communicate with the actual train drivers and guards. My experience was relatively benign, if annoying, but I couldn't help wondering at the time of my trying to contact FGW, what if my issue had been an actual emergency?

I will take you up on your offer of a three week block booking reservation for my journey as well as the first class tickets and once again I appreciate the candid and courteous manner in which you have handled my complaint.

It makes a big difference to know that you are being listened to; and this in itself, is by far the best compensation of all.

I. Goldkind