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Louis Mendez’ journey back from Blackpool

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  • edited January 29
    Louis should reach out to fellow journo Rod Liddle. This is a tailor made story for the Sunday Times…state of the railways etc and a mention of Charlton Athletic as well
  • Sorry to read of your unwanted experience, @LouisMend.  Unfortunately, it is nothing new.

    Your story brought back memories of a similar experience I had in the (pre-mobile phone)1980s with Virgin Cross Country, making a work-related journey from Reading, via Birmingham & Manchester, to my then home in Derbyshire.
    For no obvious reason (weather fine, no strikes) the whole rail system was in chaos that afternoon/evening.  Very long & stressful story cut short, my journey similarly ended with a taxi (at Virgin's expense) from Manchester, arriving home in the small hours.

    I subsequently moved to Reading, but still had family in the North West, so had many other opportunities to experience the dubious joys & overcrowding of the Cross Country service - suffice it to say that as soon as I passed my driving test and could afford to buy & run a car, the trains lost my custom for long distance journeys.

    As @clb74 observed above, Andy Burnham (Mayor of Manchester) has been complaining about Avanti to all & sundry for ages. 
    At one stage, it did look as though the government might remove their franchise, but instead they announced last September that Avanti had made "significant improvements for passengers", and awarded them a new long-term contract.  
    https://www.gov.uk/government/news/avanti-west-coast-awarded-long-term-contract-after-significant-improvements-for-passengers#:~:text=Starting on 15 October 2023,point with 3 months' notice

    So @LouisMend, I guess you might console yourself with the thought that it might have been a lot worse if you had been making the same journey last year, before Avanti made their improvements!!  No?  I don't blame you!
  • Also I've got to come out in defence of @golfaddick here, I thought he was taking the piss and having a laugh. 

    Bad experiences are where you are able to judge the actual operational effectiveness of lots of things. So many people had horror stories of getting back from Accrington last season and the lack of an actual continuity plan by rail operators is enough to make me go "no, fuck that". Its one thing getting stuck after the last train home in London but another entirely to get stuck in the east Midlands reliant on a service being sold to us as the future but in reality is like rolling a dice. At least if I drive my destiny is mostly in my hands 
  • Carter said:
    Also I've got to come out in defence of @golfaddick here, I thought he was taking the piss and having a laugh. 

    Bad experiences are where you are able to judge the actual operational effectiveness of lots of things. So many people had horror stories of getting back from Accrington last season and the lack of an actual continuity plan by rail operators is enough to make me go "no, fuck that". Its one thing getting stuck after the last train home in London but another entirely to get stuck in the east Midlands reliant on a service being sold to us as the future but in reality is like rolling a dice. At least if I drive my destiny is mostly in my hands 
    Yep obvious joke. 

    Anyway it’s the weirdos who get coaches  we should he laughing at 
  • We often used trains for weekends away in the past and whilst I’d rather them to driving on a long trip, we always take the car now. Won’t book tickets in advance as you just can’t rely on them to not be on strike, not running or using rail replacements. 
  • Carter said:
    Also I've got to come out in defence of @golfaddick here, I thought he was taking the piss and having a laugh. 

    Bad experiences are where you are able to judge the actual operational effectiveness of lots of things. So many people had horror stories of getting back from Accrington last season and the lack of an actual continuity plan by rail operators is enough to make me go "no, fuck that". Its one thing getting stuck after the last train home in London but another entirely to get stuck in the east Midlands reliant on a service being sold to us as the future but in reality is like rolling a dice. At least if I drive my destiny is mostly in my hands 
    For me going to Charlton has always been a day out with (or without!) the family.

    But sitting in a car for 4 - 10 hours is not a day out for me so I simply do not go regularly to games (home or away) if there is no reasonable train service. 

    I realise that others will not go if they cannot park within a few minutes of the ground. I was like that when I first got my car.

    Others seem to enjoy a day out on a coach with like minded people - although I have never really got that.

    I'm sure there are even people who wouldn't bother if they couldn't walk to the ground and be home by ten past five. I first started going to Charlton because I lived half a mile from Selhurst Park and it seemed natural to pop out on a dull Saturday afternoon for an hour or two to watch some footy even if I didn't really know who was playing!

    Any business needs all these options (and probably more) to be available if it is going to thrive. So the least the club and its supporters can do is try to help each with these issues other rather than bickering about it!

  • Carter said:
    Also I've got to come out in defence of @golfaddick here, I thought he was taking the piss and having a laugh. 

    Bad experiences are where you are able to judge the actual operational effectiveness of lots of things. So many people had horror stories of getting back from Accrington last season and the lack of an actual continuity plan by rail operators is enough to make me go "no, fuck that". Its one thing getting stuck after the last train home in London but another entirely to get stuck in the east Midlands reliant on a service being sold to us as the future but in reality is like rolling a dice. At least if I drive my destiny is mostly in my hands 
    For me going to Charlton has always been a day out with (or without!) the family.

    But sitting in a car for 4 - 10 hours is not a day out for me so I simply do not go regularly to games (home or away) if there is no reasonable train service. 

    I realise that others will not go if they cannot park within a few minutes of the ground. I was like that when I first got my car.

    Others seem to enjoy a day out on a coach with like minded people - although I have never really got that.

    I'm sure there are even people who wouldn't bother if they couldn't walk to the ground and be home by ten past five. I first started going to Charlton because I lived half a mile from Selhurst Park and it seemed natural to pop out on a dull Saturday afternoon for an hour or two to watch some footy even if I didn't really know who was playing!

    Any business needs all these options (and probably more) to be available if it is going to thrive. So the least the club and its supporters can do is try to help each with these issues other rather than bickering about it!

    I completely agree, and taking everything at fave value. If there is a half decent turnout of my friends going I always want to get the train and I banged on about this particularly when shitarse was around that network rail and Greenwich Council were doing more to reduce attendances than us boycotting and the twunt who owned us. Driving is a choice forced on me due to the trains being shit, I'd always rather get on a train, have a beer, chat to my mates, listen to stuff on headphones or even have a kip than drive but its so unreliable and any time I get a sniff of the words replacement and bus service I'm out
  • 12 of us booked for Fleetwood.
    Fully expecting to bump this thread on the 17th of march
  • Sponsored links:


  • Train drivers at Avanti West Coast will see their fee for an overtime shift increase to £600 following a deal between the company and union Aslef.

    Avanti said it hoped offering more attractive terms to its drivers to work extra shifts would make its services "more reliable and resilient".-

    https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-68650114

  • Not from £0 to £600.
    And it is overtime.
    I don’t get it.
    Why doesn’t the company look at how many regular hours drivers get paid for, and then sort out how many trains you can run according to those regular working hours?
    If overtime is vital to run the service is it really overtime, or is it simply the time necessary? Therefore you have to employ enough workers on regular hours to run the service.
    I don’t believe access to overtime work is an entitlement in an employment contract, is it? I always thought doing some overtime if the opportunity arose, like covering for sickness, was a kind of bonus opportunity.
    The basic pay ought to be enough so regular staff don’t feel compelled to work extra.
  • Fcuking hell, I was (7 years ago) a senior project manager, running projects with budgets of millions and onbording billions of assets and my daily rate was good at the time but stress and agro was huge and they get this for sitting on their arse ....
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