Here is the letter that Robert Edmondson wrote.

Missed Train

On Friday the 27th April 2012 I travelled on the 19.40 London Midland Train to arrive at Rugby at 20.17 with the intention of catching the 20.23 Virgin connection to London Euston arriving at 21.14, a regular change made by many commuters due to the quicker travel time of the Virgin Train service. I have made this journey many times before, travelling almost 20 times during the last half year and have never experience anything worse than a minor delay.

On this particular instance though the London Midland Train was delayed by around 6 minutes, arriving into Rugby at roughly the time the Virgin Train was due to depart. Indeed upon arriving I could see the Virgin Train waiting on the adjacent platform with the doors still open. However, the second the other commuters and myself got off the London Midland Train the Virgin train doors immediately closed. Not realising what was happening at the time myself and the rest of the commuters attempted to board the train. However, the buttons did not respond and after about 30 seconds the train began to depart while we were still attempting to board the train. As many passengers were touching the train at the time of departure this was an extremely dangerous thing to do as the train jolts on departure and a commuter unsteady on their feet could easily have fallen into the gap between the train and the platform. Indeed, neither myself or any of the commuters I spoke to after remembered the guard whistling to signal the trains departure.

The end result was that many people missed their connection to London at a very heavy time penalty and a potentially dangerous and surely illegal train departure.

I find it hard to believe that the driver of the Virgin train was not aware of the London Midland train pulling along-side him and must also have known about the many commuters who would be attempting to transfer to his train. In addition, the absence of the guard suggests this was known and deliberately ignored, perhaps due to a rivalry with London Midland train company.

Having missed my stop I had no choice but to re-board the London Midland train on which I was informed by the guard that the reason we were delayed in the first palce was due to a Virgin train holding them up earlier in their journey, He stated he believed it to be the 18.35 Piccadilly to Euston service.

In all, as all commuters who wished to make this change had paid extra for the improved speed of the Virgin service but missed their change and were placed in a dangerous situation due to errors, both on Virgins behalf, then I feel a full refund and apology should be a matter of common courtesy.

In addition, due to the dangerous release where the driver and guard must have been fully aware of passengers attempting to board while they began to move I feel that severe disciplinary action should be taken against the members of staff involved. If an elderly person had fallen onto the track during this move then I'm sure there would have been severe criticism of Virgin in the press and the company should strive to, and be seen to strive to, prevent this scenario from occurring again.

I await with interest their response to this e-mail,

Dr Robert Edmondson

Dear Sally,

Thank you for your response. It was very interesting. However, I would be grateful if you could clarify the following points:

a) Was the London Midland train indeed delayed due to a late running Virgin train in the first place?

b) How was it not in the interest of the passengers to delay the train by what can be no more than 30 seconds to allow passengers to make their connection else face major delays? I myself could have boarded if given only a few extra seconds. The doors literally shut in my face. I am not talking of a delay of even a minute for the train.

c) Did the Virgin driver know of the late arriving connecting train and realise it would only be a matter of a few seconds delay to allow passengers to board?

d) The train did indeed depart while passengers were attempting to board which is surely dangerous. I am sure this can be confirmed via CCTV at the station. Can you confirm if Virgin Train's safety checks include ensuring passengers are clear of the train before departure and if these checks were made in this case?

e) Why were the passengers attempting to board the train not informed in some way of the imminent departure of the train for their own safety? Doors often close automatically and may not be always associated with the train moving.

As you suggested I will contact London Midland Trains and ask for their views on this matter.

Kind Regards,

Robert

Robert,

To send a message to Sally you will need to go to her reply at 17:48 on 29th May 2012 and click on 'REPLY TO THIS MESSAGE BY EMAIL' just below the message, and past the text into this. Although you have posted you reply to the campaign it is unlikely that Sally will notice this as it would rely on her periodically rechecking the web page.

Best regards,

Paul (FixMyTransport Volunteer)