On a journey from London King’s Cross to Edinburgh Waverley with LNER, I had a ticket for the 14.00 train. I am a student and was moving back to Scotland from London for the new college year, carrying three large suitcases.
I was unable to get on the 14.00 train as it was full. Seeing me struggling to board, a member of LNER staff told me to get on the next train at 15.00. She assured me my ticket would be valid, so I took her advice and waited for the next train.
I checked with customer services and was satisfied my ticket would be valid. To my surprise, therefore, the ticket manager on board told me it definitely wasn’t. I explained the whole situation, however she insisted that customer services would have issued a new ticket for the 15.00 train if my story was true.
I was upset by her aggressive manner, insisting my story wasn’t true. She got a colleague to join in the conversation and demanded I pay an additional £88.30 to stay on this train. Seeing no other way out and very intimidated, I agreed. I immediately demanded the money back but haven’t received a reply.
EB, Edinburgh
LNER says it has reviewed your complaint and is making contact to resolve it, adding: “We appreciate the ticketing system can be confusing. To ensure customers are travelling on the appropriate train a series of announcements are made on board before departure. This allows those with invalid tickets the chance to depart the train.” It says it is taking the allegations about the crew’s conduct very seriously but points out that “the on-board train manager did use discretion and offered the option to upgrade EB’s ticket to an Anytime Single, rather than issuing a significantly more expensive new ticket”. As a goodwill gesture, it is offering a voucher to use on your next journey.
And finally…
Reader MH has a cheery tale: “I had a pair of Randolph sunglasses for more than a decade. Last week a weld failed and a lens fell out and smashed. I emailed Randolph, and by return it asked for the model number. Within a week they sent a new pair, free, from the US. No questions asked. Good, eh?”
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