Exclusive:
A mum has blasted Great Western Railway after nearly missing a flight, being confronted with drunken revellers and having her son trodden on at a London station.
One woman has experienced a series of unfortunate events travelling with Great Western Railway (GWR), perhaps making her one of the unluckiest train passengers in the UK. Daniela Staiano, from Cornwall, regularly relies upon GWR for travelling between her county and London. But recently she has been dealt a series of unfortunate events whilst travelling with the operator, which has left her frustrated and hugely out of pocket.
“I’ve had a string of terrible experiences from GWR and am completely fed up at the lack of responsibility that they are taking. As we all know, the cost of train travel in the UK is one of the highest in the world and undoubtibly one of the worst services,” Daniela told the Mirror.
Back in June, the 34-year-old was due to travel to London to catch a flight. After 40 minutes of the train sitting at Plymouth, it was eventually cancelled. Even though she made it to London in time for her flight, she was two hours later than she anticipated.
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Her bad luck didn’t end there, as upon her return to Cornwall, she was greeted by a carriage full of drunk men. “[A man] got very confrontational with me — a shirtless man over six foot with bottles of vodka on the table … My son was terrified and I eventually talked the man into sense and he moved aside,” she told the Mirror.
By the time her train arrived at Liskeard, a full-on fistfight had broken out in that carriage, and one “older” train manager had left to break them up. The men then frantically ran off the train, avoiding the police and escaping punishment. On her most recent trip, over half term, Daniela arrived at Truro with her eight-year-old son for a train to London and panic set in when a signalling failure rendered all trains cancelled. “Staff were as clueless as us as to when the next train would be leaving Penzance,” she said.
“A lovely lady on the platform informed me and other family she had booked a taxi to Plymouth to help the onward journey, and we could join her. £200 later were in Plymouth with still no updates nor trains to help us up the line.”
When at Plymouth, Daniela received no further help or idea of when a train would come. Seeing her in distress, a taxi driver offered to take her to Heathrow for £350. “I had no option but to take up this offer, or miss our flight. We made the flight thanks to him,” she added.
And just as she thought the chaos was over, on her return to Cornwall, crowds at Paddington meant there was a rush for her train, in which her son fell victim and was trodden on. In her series of emails to GWR, Daniela even suggested: “Restaurants run ‘mystery diners’, to maintain the levels of customer service to high and consistent [standard]. May I suggest this is something you start running.”
A spokesperson from GWR told the Mirror: “We are really sorry to hear of Ms Staiano’s experience and thankful it has been shared with us. It is clearly nowhere near the quality of service we aim to provide. We have written to her to offer an apology, to refund the tickets, reimburse any additional costs, and offer a gesture of goodwill.”
GWR are obliged to provide onward travel to customers’ final station where they are able to, whether this be via bus or taxi. In periods where there is a significant disruption, individuals with mobility requirements, travelling with children or having a flight to catch will be prioritised.
In addition, in cases where the train is full and therefore no trolley service is able to operate, GWR expects to be able to operate a “static service”, where they have separate stock of water set aside for emergencies and/or significant incidents. GWR trains from London Paddington train station will also be impacted over the Christmas period with no main line trains will running after Christmas Eve, until Monday, December 30.
GWR stated: “The vast majority of Great Western Railway’s long-distance services will start from or terminate at Reading, where customers will be able to pick up connecting trains to Ealing Broadway (for London Underground) and/or TFL Elizabeth line services into central London.
“Those travelling from South Wales, and from Devon and Cornwall, will however have an hourly service diverted straight into London Euston instead. These trains will not stop at Reading. To help keep customers comfortable and minimise crowding, these trains will be reservation only, so make sure you book beforehand.”
