Cardiff Gp & Train Times Problems

[ipswichwitches]

I would be interested to hear from anyone who travelled to Cardiff by train from Swansea way for the GP.

 

My parents, plus 2 others, stayed at Swansea, with relative, and planned to get the train to Cardiff as in previous years. At Swansea they were told the last train back to Swansea would leave at 10:20, not 11:01 as in previous years. A bit of a rush, but achieveable. Based on this information they bought their tickets.

 

When they got off the train some friends who they met at the station, pointed out a notice telling them that the last train back to Swansea was 9:45. Customer services told them they had decided not to run a late train. This meant my Dad had to get the next train back to Swansea and then drive back to Cardiff, or miss the end of the GP.

 

A strongly worded letter will soon be arriving at First Great Western seeking full compensation for all journeys made etc. I would like to know how many other supporters were affected by this as ammunition for the letter?

 

Ian

[SCB]

The last Cardiff to Newport train was at 10.20. I got to the train station at 10.40 and managed to get on the trian that did not leave until about 10.50! We were tightly packed in too!

[superstar]

We, and another group of friends, travelled in from Newport, as we have done for the past three or four years having never had to worry about what time the last train would be. On arriving at the station, notices were posted all over the doors as you left stating the last train to Newport would be 10:20. My friends actually asked a member of staff if the notices were correct and had it confirmed that the 10:20 was definately the last train. A bit tight we thought ~ lets hope there are not too many spills. As it worked out with the first race not starting until about 7:20 and the Final having to be re-run, we left the Millennium Stadium at 10:15, missing both the presentation and the fireworks, to make the mad dash back to the train station, only to be met by a huge queue and a 20 minute wait for a train!!! I have to say that this did spoil our enjoyment of the evening somewhat as this has never been a problem in the past. To also be told by station staff when waiting for the train ~ 'Oh, when there's an event on at the Stadium, we always have extra services laid on' beggers belief when earlier in the day the message was most definately 'no train after 10:20'!!!!! I sympathise with your problem but you can take comfort in knowing you were not alone in being affected by the rail networks' lack of organisation and planning!!!

[markpoulton]

The last Cardiff to Newport train was at 10.20.  I got to the train station at 10.40 and managed to get on the trian that did not leave until about 10.50!  We were tightly packed in too!

<{POST_SNAPBACK}>

 

I too was on the 10.20 back to Newport, very unpleasant. I came out of the stadium as soon as the last race had finished in case the train left on time, missing the presentations and fireworks display (I assume there was one). At that time there were already a lot of people queueing who had left early as well.

 

No point arguing with the rail authorities about train times because they will do as they please.

 

Maybe BSI could consider running the parade at 6.00 to enable racing to start at 6.30 instead of the almost 7.30. Emails to BSI or even Terry Russell to negotiate through Sky TV may help because their coverage was pretty hopeless as they had to wait for racing to start. Any casual viewers who switched on at 7.00 may have have turned off before the first race as thay just talked about nothing.

[SCB]

In fairness, not saying it right, but I have never rushed out for the train and always made it in time. Basically, the train waits until everyone is out. Last year we were the last people out of the stadium and still made the train, this yera I tried to get into a club with my sister but she had no Id so we decided to head back to Newport, knowing the train would not have left by 10.20.

[ficklefan]

I pre-booked tickets on the internet about 4 weeks before the GP, and had a choice of 10pm, 10.36pm or 11pm from Cardiff Central to Bridgend.

 

On arrival at Bridgend for the journey into Cardiff there was a poster up saying "last train back from Cardiff 10pm".

 

As the last race finished we rushed to the station and got there about 10.15pm to be told the 10pm had left, but another train would be put on for 11pm. We then stood in the queue until 10.55pm when security let us into the station.

We missed the presentations and the fireworks because of some very poor communication by the rail companies.

 

To add insult, when we got back to the campsite at Trecco Bay the people that had driven into Cardiff had got back before us. So much for public transport.

Why don't we all drive into Cardiff next year and gridlock/pollute the place?

[Shalewhale]

From the Engineering Work and Timetable Changes Circular Number 10, Saturday 3 to Friday 9 June 2006:

 

Table 130

 

AW Services Only

 

Engineering work will be taking place at Cardiff Central from 1500 Saturday afternoon.

A special service will run on the Cardiff Valleys network all day Saturday. Passengers are advised to check posters at local stations prior to travelling or check the ATW website.

 

Now i'm not defending ATW or FGW, just giving a reason. Obviously their customer service and communication could have been better, but its easy to be wise after the event.

 

If you feel strongly agrieved I suggest you write to either First Great Western or Arriva Trains Wales, but I doubt it will get you anywhere as they have technically done nothing wrong.

 

And please bear in mind that sometimes these engineering works are planned and executed at very short notice - and regretablly there will be times when they clsh with major(ish) events.

Edited June 6, 2006 by Shalewhale

[ipswichwitches]

Whilst I understand that some engineering works are unavoidable and can run on later than planned, that doesn't alter the fact that FGW were giving out misleading information.

 

Surely staff at Swansea should have been aware of any special timetables in place and not said that the last train from Cardiff to Swansea would leave at 10:20, only to find out via posters at Cardiff station that it was due to leave at 9:45.

 

Anyway, my parents will try to claim for all the extra expenses incurred, but I don't hold out much hope.

 

Ian