The staff on the Virgin 12:17 from Doncaster to London on Tuesday.
I'll just post the complaint email I sent to them as it'll be easier,
Hi
I was on the 12.17 from Doncaster to Kings Cross yesterday (the 7th of June) and as you will know by now a fire prevented the train from reaching Peterborough which was the only stop on a straight through journey and which obviously isn't the fault of Virgin Trains, however, what happened during the delay could have been made easier had the staff actually taken time to listen to the passengers.
1 - half an hour before we were told what had happened
2 - all the electrics where turned off therefore the A/C was turned off on what turned out to be the hottest day of the year so far
3 - passengers were left for over 90 minutes in the baking heat before ONE door was opened in the carriage I was in, there may have been more doors open in other carriages but the one I was in only had one
4 - the driver said "we will try to get more doors open", there should have been no question about getting other doors open. One of the staff, who I unfortunately forgot to get the name of, said it was a health and safety matter which is fair enough but we were in the middle of a field with nothing but grass either side for about thirty yards so unless somebody suffered from a bad case of hay-fever not much could have happened.
5 - after nearly three hours were told the train was now going back to Doncaster because it couldn't get to Peterborough and we would have to change at Doncaster to get a train to Sheffield to go via PETERBOROUGH to get to London. If the train we were changing to could get to Peterborough why couldn't the one we were on carry on to there?
6 - it would have been almost 7:00pm by the time the Sheffield train got to London, five hours after we were supposed to be there. I had theatre tickets for a show starting at 5:30 so clearly would have missed it and as that was the main reason for going down to London I gave up and went home instead so not only did I not get anywhere near London, I wasted £40 on a theatre ticket along with £88 for a hotel as I had to pay for one due to cancelling with less than 24 hours notice.
While I'm not expecting you to repay me for the wasted theatre ticket and hotel charge, though that would be appreciated for the poor treatment, I do think some form of compensation for the way we were treated should be forthcoming, a full refund for the return journey at the least.
I wait for your response.
.......
I'm not one of those people that actively seeks compensation over minor things but the treatment was appalling. I found out later that Tim Vine was on the same train and had been ranting about it too.
