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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 21, 2016 22:25:44 GMT
A spin-off from the Bad Behaviour At A Show thread, to vent when you don't even get to the theatre in time to experience the bad behaviour of the audience because your journey has been so screwed up. Inspired by tonight when my Great Northern train was 50 minutes late so I arrived 15 minutes late to a concert and had to watch the remainder of Act 1 from the back row of the balcony rather than the front row of the stalls.
Last Tuesday the same train was 20 minutes late so I had to dash round London in 30 degree heat to arrive in time.
In February my train to London got about 2 miles out of Cambridge, stopped for 45 minutes then went back to Cambridge! Cue frantic phoning to the Duchess to return try my ticket for that night.
In January I went up to Sheffield for the first time ever, to see Showboat. It took 4 trains & 3 of the 4 were late so instead of arriving an hour early I arrived 10 mins before the performance & had to frantically find my way to the theatre in an unknown city. On the way back again 3 of the 4 trains were late.
I could provide many more examples but for now I'll give other people a chance to rant!
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Post by Michael on Sept 22, 2016 5:05:08 GMT
Not exactly train company, but somehow related:
Back in August 2014, I stayed a weekend in Milton Keynes to see the Rock of Ages UK tour. My hotel was in the MK Dons stadium, roughly half-way between Bletchley and Milton Keynes, so I took a London Midlands train from London Euston to Bletchley on Friday. However, the service was shut down on Saturday and Sunday because of track works and rail replacement buses were operating. Luckily, I had booked an afternoon flight from Heathrow - had I known this before, I'd have booked my flights to and from Birmingham instead.
On Sunday morning, I got relatively early to Bletchley station, but no rail replacement buses were to be seen. The first bus arrived with a 20min delay (Bletchley is only the second stop on the bus' route), and a girl and I boarded the empty bus. The driver, however, was completely clueless and had no knowledge of the place. He had his satnav set to the next stop - Leighton Buzzard - but constantly ignored its instructions (he took wrong exits from several roundabouts, turned wrong, ended in roads too small for such a big bus and eventually had to reverse and turn back). Finally, we made it to Leighton Buzzard station (after asking several pedestrians the way) with a one hour delay. Still no additional passengers to board the bus, and the girl and I could finally convince the bus driver to skip all the other stations and drive directly to Stanmore tube station - we were really afraid we'd never make it. Well, almost, as we "settled" for Hemel Hempstead, where we got with a 20min delay. From there, we followed another bus and finally got to Stanmore, where I boarded the tube to Heathrow and still got my flight.
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Post by longinthetooth on Sept 22, 2016 15:37:07 GMT
I was wondering about this too. I'm not entirely sure it was 100% the fault of the railway company, as floods had caused the initial train delay, but the organisation during the course of the morning was shambolic. My usual journey to London is approximately 40 minutes. On this particular occasion it took three and a half hours. We were told we would probably have to make two changes and then catch a bus, due to flooded track, but as I had plenty of time I decided to give it a go. Unfortunately, after having made the first change, the second train ground to a halt and after ten minutes an announcement was made that it wasn't going anywhere other than back where it had come from, so we could either get out and try to catch a bus (not the original bus they had mentioned, we hadn't got that far), or go home. Still thinking I had plenty of time in hand, I decided to go for the bus. Unfortunately, it wasn't a rail replacement bus, but the regular service, which was totally overwhelmed by the number of passengers waiting for it. Three buses came and went as the clock ticked on. Then, fortunately, someone who had booked a cab asked if anyone wanted a lift to the nearest tube station, so I and a couple of others jumped on board. I hadn't appreciated, however, just how far away and how slow the District Line was, and therefore how late I was going to be.
This leads to another question. How late is it acceptable to be, before you throw in the towel and don't go? I mentally decided half an hour was my limit. I arrived 20 minutes after the start (I haven't mentioned up to now that the show was Aladdin, so maybe it wasn't such a bad thing ....) but the staff at the theatre were great and escorted me to my seat as soon as an opportune moment arrived.
The journey home was yet another story, with no trains whatsoever to my home town (and no explanation), so I had to catch a train on a totally different line and catch yet another bus home.
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Post by synchrony on Sept 22, 2016 16:25:25 GMT
In February my train to London got about 2 miles out of Cambridge, stopped for 45 minutes then went back to Cambridge! Cue frantic phoning to the Duchess to return try my ticket for that night. YESSS!!!! I was on that train too!!! So frustrating!!! Although I remember sitting there thinking about how happy I was that (unusually) I wasn't actually going to London to see a show! Getting to Liverpool Street that night wasn't any better, since that line was closed due to a broken down train! My latest annoyance was last Friday. I missed Groundhog Day to to a) horrific traffic meaning that a 40 minute journey took over 2 hours, and then b) finding that the next train was cancelled anyway. Grrrr.......Still. The box office managed to sell on my £21 stalls ticket. Someone's lucky night.... |
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Post by synchrony on Sept 22, 2016 16:27:48 GMT
Not exactly train company, but somehow related: Back in August 2014, I stayed a weekend in Milton Keynes to see the Rock of Ages UK tour. My hotel was in the MK Dons stadium, roughly half-way between Bletchley and Milton Keynes, so I took a London Midlands train from London Euston to Bletchley on Friday. However, the service was shut down on Saturday and Sunday because of track works and rail replacement buses were operating. Luckily, I had booked an afternoon flight from Heathrow - had I known this before, I'd have booked my flights to and from Birmingham instead. On Sunday morning, I got relatively early to Bletchley station, but no rail replacement buses were to be seen. The first bus arrived with a 20min delay (Bletchley is only the second stop on the bus' route), and a girl and I boarded the empty bus. The driver, however, was completely clueless and had no knowledge of the place. He had his satnav set to the next stop - Leighton Buzzard - but constantly ignored its instructions (he took wrong exits from several roundabouts, turned wrong, ended in roads too small for such a big bus and eventually had to reverse and turn back). Finally, we made it to Leighton Buzzard station (after asking several pedestrians the way) with a one hour delay. Still no additional passengers to board the bus, and the girl and I could finally convince the bus driver to skip all the other stations and drive directly to Stanmore tube station - we were really afraid we'd never make it. Well, almost, as we "settled" for Hemel Hempstead, where we got with a 20min delay. From there, we followed another bus and finally got to Stanmore, where I boarded the tube to Heathrow and still got my flight. I'm feeling stressed just reading this story. |
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Post by Dawnstar on Sept 22, 2016 18:37:34 GMT
This leads to another question. How late is it acceptable to be, before you throw in the towel and don't go? I mentally decided half an hour was my limit. I arrived 20 minutes after the start I think this depends partly on how long the show is. The latest I have ever been due to trains was half an hour late for ENO's Rosenkavalier back in 2008. Rosenkavalier, for those who don't know, has 3 acts each of which runs an hour or more. Therefore my half an hour late meant I still got five sixths of the piece, plus having already seen it on other occasions I could come in part-way through Act 1 & still know what was going on. If however I was half an hour late for a piece that ran, say, 90 mins & which I did not know then I would be much less likely to go in that late. In February my train to London got about 2 miles out of Cambridge, stopped for 45 minutes then went back to Cambridge! Cue frantic phoning to the Duchess to return try my ticket for that night. YESSS!!!! I was on that train too!!! So frustrating!!! Although I remember sitting there thinking about how happy I was that (unusually) I wasn't actually going to London to see a show! Getting to Liverpool Street that night wasn't any better, since that line was closed due to a broken down train! Yes, it's quite impressive they managed to screw up both lines at once! I wouldn't have bothered getting the Liverpool Street line anyway though as I reckon I'd have not got there till about the interval & that is not worth it in my opinion. Providentially, the emergency cover did one more show later in the week and I made it to that. |
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Post by lynette on Sept 22, 2016 19:03:12 GMT
In February my train to London got about 2 miles out of Cambridge, stopped for 45 minutes then went back to Cambridge! Cue frantic phoning to the Duchess to return try my ticket for that night. YESSS!!!! I was on that train too!!! So frustrating!!! Although I remember sitting there thinking about how happy I was that (unusually) I wasn't actually going to London to see a show! Getting to Liverpool Street that night wasn't any better, since that line was closed due to a broken down train! My latest annoyance was last Friday. I missed Groundhog Day to to a) horrific traffic meaning that a 40 minute journey took over 2 hours, and then b) finding that the next train was cancelled anyway. Grrrr.......Still. The box office managed to sell on my £21 stalls ticket. Someone's lucky night.... O dear. Hope you can rebook. Can you? |
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Post by lynette on Sept 22, 2016 19:03:48 GMT
Michael, just caught up with your saga. This is, you realise, the basis for a play. Get writing.
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Post by Deleted on Sept 22, 2016 19:23:53 GMT
This leads to another question. How late is it acceptable to be, before you throw in the towel and don't go? I think the only time I've given up was when someone was threatening to throw themselves off the Gade Valley viaduct that carries the M25 over the West Coast Main Line. After sitting at Kings Langley for three hours I decided it wasn't worth continuing with the journey and went home. The most frustrating delay was when my train broke down at Tring. In British Rail days that wouldn't have been a problem: the next train would have stopped to pick up the stranded passengers. However, the rules put in place as part of the privatisation process prohibit trains from stopping where they're not booked to call, so even though several following trains stopped at Tring because the signals were against them none of them were allowed to open their doors to let the stranded passengers continue their journey. If the train crews and signalmen were allowed to use their own initiative to keep things moving we could have been on our way in ten minutes. As it was we were at Tring for more than an hour. On the subject of railway bureaucracy, a few years ago I went on a tour of Bletchley signalbox just after it was decommissioned. One of the disturbing features about it was the two chairs for the signalmen and the five chairs for the officials from the train operating companies who were there to make sure that whatever the signalmen did wasn't going to be to the disadvantage of their respective companies. |
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Post by Michael on Sept 22, 2016 19:34:25 GMT
Michael, just caught up with your saga. This is, you realise, the basis for a play. Get writing. Well, by the end, I was in cold sweat as I had a flight to catch. I was sat in the first row directly behind the driver and, whenever he did the opposite of what his satnav told him, I was going like arghhh and mumbled to myself "for crying out loud, it said take the second exit from the roundabout, not the third". Heck, he was even ignoring the traffic signs that said Leighton Buzzard et. al. I made my flight in the end, but it'd have been less nerve-wracking and most likely even faster had I taken a train from Milton Keynes to Birmingham and then another train from there to London (assuming they weren't affected from the track closure). |
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Post by theglenbucklaird on Sept 22, 2016 20:50:39 GMT
Michael, just caught up with your saga. This is, you realise, the basis for a play. Get writing. Well, by the end, I was in cold sweat as I had a flight to catch. I was sat in the first row directly behind the driver and, whenever he did the opposite of what his satnav told him, I was going like arghhh and mumbled to myself "for crying out loud, it said take the second exit from the roundabout, not the third". Heck, he was even ignoring the traffic signs that said Leighton Buzzard et. al. I made my flight in the end, but it'd have been less nerve-wracking and most likely even faster had I taken a train from Milton Keynes to Birmingham and then another train from there to London (assuming they weren't affected from the track closure). To be fair there is about ten different ways from Bletchley to Leighton Buzzard even though it is ten miles. |
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Post by synchrony on Sept 22, 2016 21:52:07 GMT
My latest annoyance was last Friday. I missed Groundhog Day to to a) horrific traffic meaning that a 40 minute journey took over 2 hours, and then b) finding that the next train was cancelled anyway. Grrrr.......Still. The box office managed to sell on my £21 stalls ticket. Someone's lucky night.... O dear. Hope you can rebook. Can you? Sadly not since it only had a few more days to run, was sold out and I had no more free evenings either :-( Will have to wait for it to return. |
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