Another rant about bikes and trains

Simon Brooke

My niece came down from Edinburgh at the weekend, with her
new bike[1]. Normally she comes down by bus and I meet her
at Dumfries, which is half an hour's drive away. She could
get to Dumfries by train, but that means one train into
Glesca, change stations, one train down to Dumfries. So I
met her at Lockerbie, which is nearer an hour away.

Today, she has to go back. So she phones up Virgin to book
her bike on the train.

Sorry, Dave, I can't do that.

You apparently can't (officially) book a bike on a virgin
train at anywhere but the station of departure. You can't do
it on the Web. You can't do it on the phone. And you also
can't do it at all, apparently, on the day of travel,
because 'bookings have already closed'. No apologies, no
attempt to be helpful. My niece, who has worked in the past
as a call-centre droid, didn't shout at her. It wouldn't
have done any good.

But seriously what sort of a service is this? We were
supposed to spend two hours of Sunday driving into Lockerbie
(or, indeed, six hours of Sunday cycling to Lockerbie) in
order to carry out a transaction which should have taken
under a minute online? It's total bloody madness!

[1] And I'm even more impressed by what EBC can supply for
£215 than I expected to be. It has the most complete set
of braze-ons you'll see this side of a Dawes Galaxy.
It's beautifully finished, well equipped, and not too
heavy; will suit her very well.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ ;; If God does not write
LISP, God writes some code so similar to ;; LISP as to make
no difference.

MSeries

I am not doubting what you have been told, I have made a booking at Sheffield station for a journey with Virgin Trains from Leeds to Berwick-upon-Tweed. They didn't need any persuation to make the booking for me so it all seemed to be totally official.

wheelsgoround

Is your niece really called Dave?

pistolpete

It's the same with GNER. You can book your bike on the train when you buy your ticket, but if you buy an open return you have to go to the station to book the bike for the return journey.

Last year I was told by a member of the station staff that they can't book the bike on the same day. Fortunately another member of staff told me she could sort it out for me and she did.

The thing that shocked me about bikes on GNER is that they can carry so few bikes - it's either 3 or 5 can't remember exactly. The reason why it's so few is coz they lie them down so they take up a lot of space.

A word of advice for anyone taking their bike via GNER to Kings Cross - make sure you're as near the front of the train before it stops at KX because they open the goods wagon doors and just leave the bikes on display for any would be thief to steel.

clarky44

[1] And I'm even more impressed by what EBC can supply for
£215 than I expected to be. It has the most complete set
of braze-ons you'll see this side of a Dawes Galaxy.
It's beautifully finished, well equipped, and not too
heavy; will suit her very well.

Simon,

Have been thinking about an EBC Tourer. What did your neice Dave buy?

Steve

__________________
In the land of the blind the one eye'd man is king.

Take of the name of a famous Scottish relative for my email address

Just Zis Guy

Simon Brooke wrote:

> You apparently can't (officially) book a bike on a virgin
> train at anywhere but the station of departure. You can't
> do it on the Web. You can't do it on the phone.

If so that has changed in the last couple of months since I
last booked mine by phone.

--
Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Simon Brooke

in message <5j1as1-lq.ln1@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk>, Simon
Brooke ('simon@jasmine.org.uk') wrote:

And the follow-up:

> You apparently can't (officially) book a bike on a virgin
> train at anywhere but the station of departure. You can't
> do it on the Web. You can't do it on the phone. And you
> also can't do it at all, apparently, on the day of travel,
> because 'bookings have already closed'.

We arrived at Lockerbie station where the booking clerk
informed us that she was not able to issue bicycle bookings
at all. Not for today's train, not for tomorrow's train, not
for next weeks train. This had to be done, she said, by
telephone. My niece politely asked her for a complaints
form, and went away fulminating. Fortunately when the train
came in we were able to get the bike aboard, and as my niece
pointed out, if they wanted to throw her off the train, the
next stop was Edinburgh anyway.

--
simon@jasmine.org.uk (Simon Brooke)
http://www.jasmine.org.uk/~simon/ ;; Generally Not Used ;;
Except by Middle Aged Computer Scientists

Mseries

Simon Brooke wrote: , Dave, I can't do that.
>
> You apparently can't (officially) book a bike on a virgin
> train at anywhere but the station of departure. You can't
> do it on the Web. You can't do it on the phone. And you
> also can't do it at all, apparently, on the day of travel,
> because 'bookings have already closed'. No apologies, no
> attempt to be helpful. My niece, who has worked in the
> past as a call-centre droid, didn't shout at her. It
> wouldn't have done any good.

A few months ago I booked me & my bike on a Virgin train
from Leeds to Berwick-upon-Tweed. I made the booking at
Sheffield station.

Jon Senior

In article <pan.2004.07.12.10.01.41.515503@nospam.nospam>,
john@nospam.nospam says...
> On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:35:03 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote:
>
> > My niece came down from Edinburgh at the weekend, with
> > her new bike[1]. Normally she comes down by bus and I
> > meet her at Dumfries, which is half an hour's drive
> > away. She could get to Dumfries by train, but that means
> > one train into Glesca, change stations, one train down
> > to Dumfries. So I met her at Lockerbie, which is nearer
> > an hour away.
> >
> > Today, she has to go back. So she phones up Virgin to
> > book her bike on the train.
> >
> > Sorry, Dave, I can't do that.
>
> Contrast with GNER's attitude:
>
> You can take your bicycle with you on GNER trains at no
> extra cost but you must reserve 24 hours in advance as
> space is limited. To make a bicycle reservation, call GNER
> Telesales on 08451 212 525 or ask in the Ticket Office at
> any National Rail Station.
>
> Pretty reasonable, IMHO.

Especially as the 24 hours in advance is not actually
necessary. Most stations will write you out a card then and
there (They can check the availability on the system first)
and if time is tight, they will usually suggest that you
just see the guard and explain. The only GNER trains that
actually have a 3 bike restriction are the HSTs (Not sure
what this is... just remember getting on one once!). They
have the three hooks for hanging bikes. The newly refitted
Mallards have six Sheffield Stand style racks in the guard's
van with straps for each and the older trains have oodles of
floor space in which to lay down your bike.

I like Virgin trains (Mainly 'cos I like Mr. Branson) but I
can't help but wonder what they're playing at with things
like this. Concerted letter writing campaign anyone?

Jon

Colin Blackburn

On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 11:01:42 +0100, John Hearns <john@nospam.nospam> wrote:

> On Mon, 12 Jul 2004 09:35:03 +0000, Simon Brooke wrote:

>> Today, she has to go back. So she phones up Virgin to
>> book her bike on the train.
>>
>> Sorry, Dave, I can't do that.
>
> Contrast with GNER's attitude:
>
> You can take your bicycle with you on GNER trains at no
> extra cost but you must reserve 24 hours in advance as
> space is limited. To make a bicycle reservation, call GNER
> Telesales on 08451 212 525 or ask in the Ticket Office at
> any National Rail Station.
>
> Pretty reasonable, IMHO.

Reasonable for booking for longer journeys yes, but both
companies are unreasonable (officially) for short journeys.
Between Durham and Newcastle (one stop) there are three TSOs
(or is it TOCs?), GNER, Virgin, and Arriva. In fact the
Arriva service was two separate TSOs effectively but they
are now reduced to just their Transpennine services and thus
reduced in frequency. Only Arriva will take bikes on spec,
the others both require advanced reservations even if the
guard's van is empty and even if the bike is being
transported one stop, ie it can't affect future reserved
bikes (though often the services terminate in Newcastle so
the point is often moot.) Some guards are nice enough to
accept bikes under such circumstances but others dutifully
follow the official line.

Colin

Just Zis Guy

Simon Brooke wrote:

> That's what Virgin's telesales people said this morning.
> However, see my other followup, the station booking clerk
> told us that she was not able to make a bicycle
> reservation at all - it had to be done through telesales.
> So it seems that the front-line staff at both ends - on
> the telephone and on the stations - have been instructed
> not to issue bike bookings.

A case for Hanlon's Razoe, methinks :-)

> If you can do it on the Web (and for heavens' sake you
> surely ought to be able to do it on the Web), I'd be
> grateful if someone would point out where.

No, you can't do it on the web - I phoned.

--
Guy
--
May contain traces of irony. Contents liable to settle after
posting. http://www.chapmancentral.co.uk

Tony R

"Simon Brooke" <simon@jasmine.org.uk> wrote in message
news:uufas1-e21.ln1@gododdin.internal.jasmine.org.uk...
> in message <2lf5ouFc4pj1U1@uni-berlin.de>, Just zis Guy,
> you know? ('outlook.bugs@microsoft.com') wrote:
>
> > Simon Brooke wrote:
> >
> >> You apparently can't (officially) book a bike on a
> >> virgin train at anywhere but the station of departure.
> >> You can't do it on the Web. You can't do it on the
> >> phone.
> >
> > If so that has changed in the last couple of months
> > since I last booked mine by phone.
>
> That's what Virgin's telesales people said this morning.
> However, see my other followup, the station booking clerk
> told us that she was not able to make a bicycle
> reservation at all - it had to be done through telesales.
> So it seems that the front-line staff at both ends - on
> the telephone and on the stations - have been instructed
> not to issue bike bookings.
>
> If you can do it on the Web (and for heavens' sake you
> surely ought to be able to do it on the Web), I'd be
> grateful if someone would point out where.

This sounds quite familiar to me. Last summer Virgin's
telesales people wouldn't let me book a bike on one of their
trains. I could book me but not the bike which had to be
booked at the place I bought the ticket. The journey started
in Holyhead and finished at Penzance so 3 train companies
were involved and the train ticket was combined with a ferry
ticket. The other 2 train companies had no problem
(something Northern and Great Western?) but the middle
section Virgin wouldn't do. And this was about 8-10 weeks in
advance. In the end I phoned their customer
service/complaints line and the person at the end of that
line booked the bike on in about 3 seconds without a murmour
of protest. It was alot of unnecessary hassle though (and
expense - phoning abroad) and they claimed they were
technically unable to send me confirmation of the
reservation because the customer service dept. and ticketing
dept. ran totally different computer systems - slightly
implausible I thought. So right up to boarding the train I
was a bit nervous as to whether I'd be able to travel or
not. And then I got on and had to hang my poor bike by its
rim in a cubby hole.

tony R.

Geraint Jones

Jon Senior <jon@restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk.remove> wrote: (
The only GNER ) trains that actually have a 3 bike
restriction are the HSTs (Not sure ( what this is... just
remember getting on one once!).

The HSTs are the diesel (ans subsequently electric) loco-
hauled trains that were introduced at Modernisation. I'm
sure some other anorak will correct me, but I think the
"high speed" bit of high speed train refers to the
capability of achieving 90mph in service.

Mseries

Clive George wrote:
> "Geraint Jones" <Geraint.Jones@20040712102603.wolfson.oxf-
> ord.ac.uk.invalid> wrote in message
> news:cctp3s$pj0$1@daedalus.wolf.ox.ac.uk...
>> Jon Senior <jon@restlesslemon_DOT_co_DOT_uk.remove>
>> wrote: ( The only GNER ) trains that actually have a 3
>> bike restriction are the HSTs (Not sure ( what this is...
>> just remember getting on one once!).
>>
>> The HSTs are the diesel (ans subsequently electric) loco-
>> hauled trains that were introduced at Modernisation. I'm
>> sure some other anorak will correct me, but I think the
>> "high speed" bit of high speed train refers to the
>> capability of achieving 90mph in service.
>
> I always thought HST were the 125mph ones. (the original
> pointy ones, all diesel).
>
> cheers, clive

Yup HST is the anoraks name for InterCity 125