Ok So I sent the (very long - sorry) email below to Southern on Sunday, following previous failed conversations and emails. I copied in Crispin Blunt. Today, I received a phone call from a senior manager at Southern and we discussed the matter for 45 minutes. He was actually very reasonable and understanding and admitted Southern had made mistakes around communication. Annoyingly I cant remember his name, but he is due to email me so I can let you know. And he will be coming on Tuesday. However, 2 points that came out of our call that I wanted to share and ask for opinion to all those interested: a) I was told, outright, that Southern would not be offering compensation or reduction in season ticket prices, regardless of the result of the petition. Do we have a plan B? E.g. consumer watchdog? Mass protest at Office of Rail Regulator? Group visit to Govia Head Office? Writing to newspapers? b) I might have told a little white lie (!) - saying that the group was considering taking legal advice both on the compensation point and on the legal requirement for public consultation. Im not aware of anyone having actually done this! Has anyone? Is it worth considering? I for one would be willing to chip into the costs of doing so. Better still - any qualified lawyers reading this? Greg (long email to Southern below for reference). ........................................................ Dear Sirs, Having had several different phone calls, emails and conversations with various staff at Southern Rail, none of which have led to any satisfactory resolution, I feel no choice but to make a formal complaint. I am sending this to the Reigate and Redhill user group also, for information, and have also included my local MP Crispin Blunt in this email. Mr Blunt - I am sending you this for information, as a member of your parliamentary constituency. I am very aware that a large number of constituents have raised concerns to you on this subject, and I am aware that you have written an open letter to Southern on this subject, which I and others appreciate. I understand you are also aware of the petition on change.org which is currently on around 800 signatures. I would be very happy to hear from you personally on this subject, and would also be very happy to discuss this with you personally. My phone number is 07814 730619. To those at Southern, I would like a senior manager to CALL me (not email) about this, and give me a thorough response to all my questions below. A follow up email would also be helpful, though this does not negate my request for a phone call from a senior manager. I understand that changes are needed as service to London Bridge from 2015 to 2018 is reduced due to reduced capacity. However, I do not understand why the Redhill to Reigate line is more heavily impacted than other lines into London Bridge. If services are to be to significantly reduced, it is surely only fair (c.f. the current petition) that season ticket prices are reduced. My annual season ticket costs around £3,500 and if you are going to cut my service by (say) 20% - whether within your control or not - it is only reasonable to reduce my season ticket by a similar price. Despite me pointing this out to a Southern Manager over a fortnight ago, the post January changes are STILL not shown on the mobile version of your website. They are on your full website, but not the mobile site. This is extremely unhelpful for commuters who regularly look for information on their mobile phones while travelling. According to the Surrey Mirror in their article in September (surreymirror.co.uk/Uproar-changes-Redhill-London-Bridge-trains/story-22940634-detail/story.html), Southerns spokesman Chris Hudson is quoted as saying the changes have been widely communicated. They have not. For those who have not been on the website, they are unlikely to even know there are changes. There have been no posters at stations, and no announcements on trains. The same Surrey Mirror article quotes Mr Hudson as saying that the changes would be available 12 weeks in advance. This also was not true - and the information was on the main website 8 weeks in advance at best. No apology has been made. There has been no public consultation to the changes, despite the massive importance to local commuters from Redhill and Reigate. I understand from the Redhill and Reigate Rail User Group that this may even be against the franchise agreement that Southern Rail operate through, and this has been raised with the Office of the Rail Regulator. A few weeks ago, when I was trying to understand what the changes were going to be (before they were on the website) I asked several members of Redhill station staff if they could give me details of the changes. None of them were able to do so. One of them even told me they werent aware there were any changes, and another told me were just platform staff, we dont deal with that kind of thing. When I phoned Southern customer services a fortnight or so ago, they were not able to tell me the timetable changes, or where I could get them (despite the fact they went on the website about 2 days later!), nor were they able to tell me why Mr Hudsons comments (points 4 and 5) were made and why those promises were not kept. On a totally separate matter, I continue to request some thought is made into Redhill to Reigate connections in the evenings, when frequently London to Reigate services require a connection at Redhill...with only 5 minutes to make the connection. When the London to Redhill train is delayed by 3 or 4 minutes, I frequently find myself (with others) running for the connection, only to find station staff are unable to hold the train. This has been mentioned so many times, but has never been resolved and is surely a timetabling flaw. On such occasions, the attitude at Redhill has often been really poor. Staff literally see tens of travellers sprinting from one platform to the next to try to get the connection (due to a delayed first train). Not only are they unable to hold the train, but we never have any apology, nor even a sympathetic Im really sorry we arent able to hold the train comment. Nothing. A little empathy and sympathy would not go amiss. But more importantly, the timetable needs some serious attention. As you can tell, I am really pretty dissatisfied both by the post 2015 changes themselves and the responses to my various queries from Southern. I reiterate I would like a phone call to explain all of the above. I will also be attending the Meet the Managers session in Redhill shortly. Kind Regards Greg Ardan
Posted on: Thu, 20 Nov 2014 21:05:12 +0000