It was a surreal sort of day, as I drove Sam towards school I noticed that the all the girls heading for Laura's school were armed with large soft toys. Laura explained that to support Children in Need they were having a 'take your teddy to school' day. I asked why she did not have her teddy bear with her and she said that the sixth form were doing something different, they were having a 'wear your pyjamas to school day' but she had wisely decided that she would rather pay not to wear her pj's! It wasn't until I watched Children in need tonight that I realised that a number of companies were also doing a 'wear your PJ's to work' thing. Thankfully Cross Country have been too busy getting on with the first week of the franchise, so the travelling public were spared the horror of encountering Robbie in his PJ's on his way to work. You know what he's like, any excuse to take his clothes off, he would ha jumped at the chance to go to work in his pyjamas - scary! It has been so cold at Northampton station in the last few days that he would have had a serious case of frostbite - imaging explaining that at casualty!
Well, it didn't take long did it? we are still in the first week of the new franchises and there is already fighting talk from East Midlands Trains passengers at Kettering and Wellingborough. EMT found themselves on the TV news this evening, in their infinite wisdom they have withdrawn the option of seat reservation for season ticket holders and the passengers are furious. It seems obvious to me that people who pay an arm and a leg for a season ticket would expect something as basic as a seat, but apparently East Midland Trains didn't foresee the consequences of their action. Clearly they haven't got a clue about customer service, one traveller described the service as the worse she has experienced in 20 years. I am tempted to suggest that they may as well abolish the coaches and replace them with cattle trucks so that they don't need to bother with seats at all. The irony is that if they packed cattle in the train in the way that they pack people in, they would be breaking countless laws and regulations, it seems a shame that the welfare of passengers does not merit that much attention. Déjà vu, it could be FGW all over again. Another own goal for the chinless wonders at the DFT who make these batty decisions about franchise changes. My anger about this issue extends far beyond the Cross Country situation, I still haven't forgiven them for merging Wessex trains with FGW last year, the date they chose for the merger speaks volumes - 1st April!!!
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