Festive travel chaos – Passenger Focus response

29 December 2014

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Passenger Focus, said

“There will be thousands of passengers who have been left angry and frustrated by today’s events. We have heard and seen passengers standing for hours on trains, locked outside stations and left to find out what to do by themselves. Passengers booked tickets and made travel plans based on the promises made by the industry. That trust has been broken today.

Clearly the priority is to get things moving again. Then the review must start to make sure the lessons of today are learnt and built into future projects. Why was work done on the East Coast when the West Coast was shut? How good was information provision? What was the contingency plan if King’s Cross was shut? Given that there were also problems at Paddington, was there too much optimism in what could be achieved over Christmas? Passengers will want to know the answers to these and other questions. Passenger Focus will play its role in this review.

“In the meantime every single passenger affected should claim compensation. Send a clear message to the industry and make sure your voice is heard.”

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