http://www.peterboroughtoday.co.uk/ViewArticle2.aspx?SectionID=845&ArticleID=1885809

35 hours a week????? I wish....................

Thinking of using the trains at the weekend??....forget it if my experience this weekend is anything to go by. My son and I set off for London on Saturday to watch football, so we had to be at KX by around 2.00pm, we aimed to catch the 12.15 however that just said "delayed" on the board as did all south bound trains, there was a signal failure south of Grantham and no trains were getting through. Now I know once again that "its not GNER fault" but it would be nice if their staff on the station could give people some advise. "any idea when the trains will be moving again?" "how long do you anticipate this delay being?" "should we catch the 12.19 very slow FCC train that takes 1 hour 35 mins to get to London or will the GNER be a better option?" I might as well have been speaking to a brick wall. They did not know and did not seem to care. As has been mentioned on here by GNER staff, the attitude is very much "its not our fault". Well its someones fault and passengers need help and advise from front line staff.

19 years of this crap made me think getting the slow FCC would be the safe bet, and despite taking 1 hour 40 mins to get in KX it still beat the GNER. This train was so packed by the time it reached Potters Bar that people were left on the platform. This was mainly due to the larger amount of Gooooners who all got off at Finsbury park. We managed to get to our game with 15 mins to spare.

Coming home was little better, the 18.00 was so full that we just squeezed on at 17.45. There were over 40 people standing in our vestible area. This time we shared the GNER experience with half the Toon army, who seemed to have booked every seat on the train. We eventually arrived into Peterborough 10mins late, having stood in a very packed area all the way. For the experience of the FCC journey down and standing all the way home my son payed £24.60.I have just booked return flights to Portugal next month for less than that, prehaps Easyjet could buy GNER when it finally all falls apart.

The only good news of the day was free parking in the GNER car park, the barrier was "permanently up" so we saved a fiver..whoop blooody whoop,I would rather have a train service.

At Chritmas in the past I remember GNER restricting the number of passengers on their trains, by checking seat reservations and issuing a limited number of boarding passes due to saftey issues. I wonder why this does not apply to the trains at other times of the year, if anything had happened to either of those trains, the consequences could have been catastrophic with that many people "wedged" in.

P.S the underground service was little better. With the Circle line closed, District line partly closed and No Piccadilly traind stopping at KX.