we were in the UK for a funeral. Our two children popped over as well for a few days to attend said funeral, as it was their Pop who had passed.
However one of the funnier stories of our time over there involved the kids. They flew into and out of Manchester airport. As no one (including us!!) wanted to be in Manchester for 7am to pick them up; as we were staying two hours away, so they decided to take the train up to Carlisle and we would pick them up from there. It was relatively cheap and they got to see some of the countryside while traveling up.
They had only been on the train half an hour or so, when they pulled into Preston; which turns out to be a main hub. There was an announcement on the train that they driver was taking his break ??????? (we were all stunned with this!!) Okay, so the kids sit there, and a few minutes later there was another announcement that the train was now cancelled as they didn't have a driver....WTF????? (again this also shocked us)
Luckily the kids will talk to anyone and they got talking to a fellow passenger who was heading to Penrith, which is the stop before Carlisle. Our daughter recognized the town's name, so knew we would come and pick them up from there. They go with this guy to another train and get on board the train. (This guy also told them how to get a refund) They are sitting there waiting for it to leave. Then there was another announcement, that the original train was now running!!!!
So back they go to the original train and they travel up to Carlisle. Shockingly they were only an hour late.
So a few days later they have to travel back down to Manchester again by train. The day they left they had booked seats for around 7pm, as they were staying overnight at the airport and flying out the next morning. That day it was pouring down, torrential rain. So by around 3pm we saying to them you'd best check the trains and see if they're still running. At that point there were numerous cancellations, so they rebooked for the 4pm train that was still running and headed out to the station, as it was around half an hour away. My brother and hubby drove them down. As they were driving down to the station daughter received a cancellation notice for all trains running down to Manchester. So brother and hubby drove them all the way down to Manchester.
This time it was a landslide that had closed the line at Lancaster. Luckily with both these problems daughter got her train fares refunded.
Fast forward to this summer and again daughter and her family were in London and went to visit my mother and took the train up to see her. We were all on pins and needles as to whether the trains would run. They did with no issues I'm pleased to say.
The sad thing about this story and I am sure the readers in the UK will confirm none of this is unusual with the UK rail system.
I can't comment on the rail system here in Canada, as I have never used it. If you have in Canada, please let us know how you got on. Or if you're from another country, do you use your train system to travel around?
5 comments:
Not that I have heard a driver taking a break and the train being cancelled, but yes the train system over here can leave a lot to be desired at times. I drive, but lately have been parking at the GO/TTC station and using the trains. The amount of delays are ridiculous, these last two weekends the GO train line I use was not working at 100% in some form or the other.
Our rail system is shocking.
We live about an hour away from the city and we only get one train an hour. Even in peak time
Suffice to say, we don’t rely on the public transport system. We all have our cars and it’s easier to just drive where we want to go
The only time we do use the trains is when we need to get into city central. The parking costs are exorbitant. So you usually end up getting to where you need a few hours early because you don’t want to risk your train being cancelled
No trains or buses where I live, but Via Rail sometimes has a few problems when we would take a trip by that.
God bless.
I've never used the train system here in Canada, beyond the GO train from Oshawa to Toronto a few times. My dream is to take the train out west but it hasn't happened and it's way too costly to even contemplate now.
Believe me, nothing is worse than Amtrak!
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