Complaining to Virgin Trains

Activism

Sun 4 August

After being held up out of my skin while going down to London a few weeks earlier, I figured that the return on my time (half the ticket price back, at least) merited a sharp letter. This was said sharp letter.

To: Customer Relations Manager
Freepost Virgin Trains
PO Box 713
Birmingham B5 4BR

Dear Sir or Madam,

Enclosed is the ticket for my journey from Birmingham New Street to London on July 14. As the code will show, I was unfortunate enough to be on the 1445 departure, which was delayed over two hours near Nuneaton, and for about ten minutes on departure from New Street and arrival at Watford Junction. The train finally arrived at about 2025, around 3.25 hours late.

Under the terms of your "Passenger's Charter", I hereby claim for a full refund of the fare paid. The claim form distributed - number [deleted] - is enclosed: all points noted in the comments section are also addressed in this letter.

On joining the train, I was thoroughly confused by the complete lack of stickers indicating the train's destination in the carriage windows. The monitors at New Street were providing misleading information, and I had to shout into the train to ensure it was the correct one. While the lack of stickers is a small matter, it does save everyone a lot of trouble.

The staff in the buffet car declined to offer complimentary non-alcoholic drinks while stocks remained. This expressly contradicts your charter.

While the train manager did provide an explanation for the delay, his announcements could barely be deciphered. Announcements from the buffet car were perfectly comprehensible. I became increasingly irritated by the manager's repetition of the phrase "we apologise for any inconvenience this delay might cause." Passengers were over three hours late - this will have caused severe inconvenience to us all, and it would have been appropriate for the announcements to reflect this.

Finally, I must query the wisdom of allowing simultaneous closures on lines through Coventry, Wolverhampton, and Banbury, thus forcing all London traffic through Nuneaton. I appreciate that this is not a matter directly under Virgin Trains' control, but I am certain that your company can bring pressure to bear on future trackwork plans.

I look forward to your response.

We're still waiting...