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Commuter threatens rail boycott
A train passenger from Hemel Hempstead has threatened to boycott rail firm London Midland after a terrible late-night journey and weeks of alleged poor service.
Commuter Ian Gow, 57, had a Saturday night before Christmas ruined by a packed past-midnight train home from Euston that got stuck for almost 20 minutes at Kings Langley.
The project manager said two late-night services from London to Hemel Hempstead were cancelled on December 20 before an overcrowded 00.10am service finally got going the next morning – the train was subsequently delayed at Kings Langley due to a problem opening the doors, Mr Gow said.
He added that in recent weeks his trips for work to and from the capital have regularly been subject to delays and cancellations by London Midland.
Now the fed-up passenger is threatening to boycott the company's trains and reach London by car, or tube from Chesham.
"I didn't have too much trouble with Silverlink (the predecessor to London Midland]," he said.
"It just seems to be deteriorating."
According to London Midland, the train trouble on December 20 and 21 was caused by a 'points failure' at Camden Junction – just north of London Euston.
The firm said the fault forced it to cancel two services and run the 00.10am train on a different line – a change which caused problems at Kings Langley when the service arrived at a shorter platform and doors could only be opened in middle carriages.
London Midland spokesman Richard Lakin said it would have been unsafe for passengers to get off at the front and back of the train, so a delay was caused as passengers filed down to the middle carriages.
He added that disruption had also been caused to London Midland services since December 14 when a new timetable was introduced, and as changes were made over the Christmas period.
Disruption over the festive break included four days of no trains between Euston and Tring from late on Christmas Eve to December 29 – there were no services as per usual on Christmas Day and Boxing Day, and buses replaced trains on December 27 and 28 because of Network Rail engineering works at Milton Keynes.
Mr Lakin said the new timetable, set to be kick-started on January 5, would offer an improved service for passengers, and that the work at Milton Keynes would see more 12-carriage trains run for commuters in the New Year.
For more information see www.londonmidland.com
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Weather for Hemel Hempstead
Saturday 04 February 2012
Today
Sunny spells
Temperature: -1 C to 1 C
Wind Speed: 16 mph
Wind direction: South
Tomorrow
Cloudy
Temperature: -1 C to 3 C
Wind Speed: 7 mph
Wind direction: West
