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Northern trains

Said it before, I’ll say it again. That service may as well be called the Middlesbrough to Newcastle express because it doesn’t cater for anyone north of Teeside. Absolute disgrace.

ive never understood why you lot from seaham just don’t get the bus much cheaper & 9/10 get a seat rather than wait for the train always baffled me
 

Got on the 10.12 from Horden yesterday because of this thread and it was standing room only. Looks like that is the latest one I can get to make sure I get on.
 
Got on the 10.12 from Horden yesterday because of this thread and it was standing room only. Looks like that is the latest one I can get to make sure I get on.
I got on the 11 13, fortunately they managed to squeeze everyone on. It's unbelievable that they can't put another couple of carriages on though, it would solve all the problems.
 
Standard reply received following an email sent to them highlighting potential issues next week. They’re simply not bothered…

Thank you for contacting Northern.

Thank you for your email relating to your experience when travelling between Seaham and Sunderland on the 21st of August.

I am sorry to learn of your experience and the impact this had whilst you were travelling and I appreciate the frustration this may have caused for you. We do acknowledge that at peak times our services can get really busy, and this may lead to some customers unable to board the service they intended to catch. However, that does not mean that this is acceptable and we completely understand our customer's frustrations when matters like this arise.

At present, all of our available rolling stock is out on the network to provide services for our customers network-wide and therefore, we are unable to put any extra carriages or run more services as the capacity to do so is limited as all resource is being used, and I apologise for any further disappointment this may cause.

If tickets purchased for your journey are unused you are able to request a refund by returning them to the point of purchase. Where you do travel on our services, and you are unable to board due to overcrowding and this results in getting to your final destination more than 15 minutes later than intended, you are able to claim compensation back through our Delay Repay scheme. All that we ask, is that on your application you make it clear that you were unable to board the service due to overcrowding as the system will still show the train as running.

Please also be assured that your comments surrounding this matter have been duly noted, and will be recorded alongside the headcode of the train you intended to catch and your journey details. This will be fed back out to the wider company and regions to demonstrate the concerns that our customer's are having whilst travelling, and the problems customers are experiencing in order for us to look at how such issues can be alleviated and if possible, where additional resource may need to be allocated in the future.

I reiterate my sincere apologies for your experience, and should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact ourselves.

Kind Regards,
Customer Complaints Manager
 
Standard reply received following an email sent to them highlighting potential issues next week. They’re simply not bothered…

Thank you for contacting Northern.

Thank you for your email relating to your experience when travelling between Seaham and Sunderland on the 21st of August.

I am sorry to learn of your experience and the impact this had whilst you were travelling and I appreciate the frustration this may have caused for you. We do acknowledge that at peak times our services can get really busy, and this may lead to some customers unable to board the service they intended to catch. However, that does not mean that this is acceptable and we completely understand our customer's frustrations when matters like this arise.

At present, all of our available rolling stock is out on the network to provide services for our customers network-wide and therefore, we are unable to put any extra carriages or run more services as the capacity to do so is limited as all resource is being used, and I apologise for any further disappointment this may cause.

If tickets purchased for your journey are unused you are able to request a refund by returning them to the point of purchase. Where you do travel on our services, and you are unable to board due to overcrowding and this results in getting to your final destination more than 15 minutes later than intended, you are able to claim compensation back through our Delay Repay scheme. All that we ask, is that on your application you make it clear that you were unable to board the service due to overcrowding as the system will still show the train as running.

Please also be assured that your comments surrounding this matter have been duly noted, and will be recorded alongside the headcode of the train you intended to catch and your journey details. This will be fed back out to the wider company and regions to demonstrate the concerns that our customer's are having whilst travelling, and the problems customers are experiencing in order for us to look at how such issues can be alleviated and if possible, where additional resource may need to be allocated in the future.

I reiterate my sincere apologies for your experience, and should you have any further questions please do not hesitate to contact ourselves.

Kind Regards,
Customer Complaints Manager
its all this ' sorry , sorry .sorry etc ' in every reply. Its in their hands....
 
its all this ' sorry , sorry .sorry etc ' in every reply. Its in their hands....
This is what happens when “customer service” is all online. In the old days you could phone up and speak to someone and demand a refund. If you couldn’t get on a train because it was overcrowded how do you get a refund? Yes it’s only 6 or 7 quid but it’s money paid for a service that you didn’t get, everyone just accepts it because it’s too much hassle.

I’ve seen it all over this message board people accepting that buying tickets only being possible online, customer service will only be available online, which is code for disappearing. This is what the young are willing to accept, you pay for something and if it goes wrong you have no redress because they make it more hassle than it’s worth.
 
get that tees valley mayor involved ( its nearly in his area :D ),he loves his fizzog on the telly.
All the local mps should be involved they’re all their constituents

who use the service I kna lads far away as Whitby use that service
Once upon a time, they would enclose a free ticket as a way of an apology with the reply. I've had many a day out in Berwick, Barrow and Whitby using them. They don't even do that these days. I possibly over did the complaints :oops:
I’ve had the same too the free tickets
 
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