Many thanks to our mate and fellow blogger over at the Ticket collector.
http://www.theticketcollector.co.uk/wordpress/

ATOC and the Daily Mail have teamed up to give a free Family Rail card which is valid for 3 months. With the summer coming it's an ideal time to apply for one. Applications close on April 24th and will be valid until July 31st. Having had one before they do save families a shed load of money on train tickets.

Click the link to apply:
http://www.family-railcard.co.uk/dailymail/

Finally achieved job stability in the big smoke, so cashed in on the company season ticket loan at the beginning of April, for an annual P'boro->London season. "Haha," thinks I. "Let's not part with £stupid to GNER, but £less to Queensgate for parking instead, as recommended on this very blog."

Riiiiight.

If nothing else, it's popular. The nice lady on the other end of the email address said, and I quote "At the moment we have a waiting list which I can put you on if you wish." The waiting list is three months, so, if your season ticket is coming up for expiry any sooner than August? Get on the list NOW. Sadly, this means GNER got another 3 months of extortionate parking charges out of me.

That'd be me then. Regular on the 0615 -> London, and the 1610 or 1720 back.

Thanks to Fentyke for the welcome, and the posting rights: I've enjoyed this blog since I discovered it, and it's great to be a bigger part of it.

GNER are giving 12000 single tickets between London and Leeds for a fiver but only if you book on line.

THAT FRACKING GOOD VALUE from a company not known for cheap tickets.

Perhaps they'll be offering discounts on season tickets next? Then again, perhaps not.

To book visit http://www.gner.co.uk/GNER/Tickets/_LeedsLondonOffer.htm

I read this blog entry on another blog site: -http://almostalwaysthinking.wordpress.com/2007/04/13/grrrner/

For anybody who can't be arsed to read it, apparently a woman got on a GNER train which was travelling in the direction she wanted to go, but didn't stop at her station. The guard, 'laid into' (his words not mine) this woman for getting on a train which didn't stop at the station to which she was travelling and for not having a ticket which was valid once the train had passed 'her stop'.

It's alledged the guard implied that the midlle class lady was trying to cheat and that she was stupid. The lady was left embarrassed and close to tears and the blogger felt the guard could and should have handled the situation more sympathetically.

From my point of view I've seen guards handle these situations both profesionally and sypathetically and appaulingly. I agree that the lady was stupid and just because she looks respectable and middle class doesn't mean she isn't trying to cheat. However we and the guard in question don't know if she's trying to cheat or not. No matter how stupid she's been or pissed off he is with her, he has to give her some benefit of doubt and treat her with respect.

To Penfold who has joined Platform6, Shahmaker and I as a regular contributor.

Many of you will have seen his multiple comments so he's no stranger to this site.

It's a pleasure to have you on board mate.

If anybody else is interested then please PM me.

I spotted this little Gem in the Current Bun (Sun) this morning, although it's connected to Southeastern and not GNER.

Rail passengers are being weighed. SouthEastern have fitted special devises which measure the combined weight of passengers in each coach. Apparently the combined weight will be divided by 11st 7lb to calculate the number of passengers on board which will tell SE if the coach is over crowded and if they need to introduce more or less trains to cope with demand. I would have thought the number of faces pressed against the window would be just as effective.