The trains we deserve 2

Last week, I took the train through to Glasgow for the evening.

I arrived at Haymarket station at just after 10 past six, and went to buy a ticket.

"Do you want to travel on the 6:18" asks the woman in the ticket office "or wait for the 6:33, when you'll be able to use a cheap day return, which is £7 cheaper".

I had time in hand, and getting paid nearly £30/hour to sit and read at Haymarket, rather than in Glasgow, seemed a good deal. So I bought the cheap ticket and set out for the cafe...

Only to be stopped by the ticket barrier: because my cheap ticket wasn't valid on the 6:18, I wasn't even allowed onto the platform until after it had left! So I couldn't sit in the station cafe to read. In fact, I couldn't sit anywhere: there are no facilities of any kind outside the ticket barriers - not even a bench to sit on. So I had to just stand in the ticket office for 8 minutes until the guy manning the barrier realised that the earlier train had gone, and let me onto the platform.

Since Margaret Thatcher has left us a railway system dedicated to maximising ticket revenue, having to pay more to travel on certain trains is what I have come to expect. But preventing access to seats and the waiting area seems to be taking things too far. Presumably they are doing this to stop people sneaking onto the wrong trains. Which would not, of course, be a problem if they were going to check the passengers tickets.

So rather than have enough staff to enforce the complicated ticket restrictions that they have chosen to impose, they force passengers (i.e. their customers) to literally stand around in doorways until they can be trusted to go near the trains.

Customer Service, Scotrail 2008 style...

Robert.