Deutsche Bahn Chiltern Railways

A rare shot of a Class 165 train set between breakdowns

DB Chiltern Railways on good form tonight. 18.36 to Aylesbury from Marylebone cancelled after it leaves platform 1 when brakes hang and then takes 20 minutes to reverse back into station. Maintenance on the Class 165’s is becoming more laughable by the day. Chiltern tell us your proud record on Mean Distance Between Failures (MDBF) on Class 165 stock?

Passengers were told to go to Platform 5 to board the incredibly crowded 18.51 which actually leaves @ 19.13 (but is taken off the board at 18.50 just to add a further sense of adventure for the old and disabled!) and crawls forward having missed its window on the Met Line from Harrow to Amersham. Got to Aylesbury over 45 minutes late. Of course no apology, no mention of Customer Refunds for a delay over 30 minutes. Of course IF you did get one of these (not that they tell you how) by filling in a Customer Comment form they would give you a voucher from the Company Store for anything under £30.00. Strange that most Season Ticket Holders don’t bother? How long must this customer abuse from UK Taxpayers subsidy by this wholly owned subsidiary of German State Railways continue?


Marylebone concourse without 100's of passengers wondering why their delayed / cancelled train is no longer showing on the display

Contrast this oppressive customer contract with the enthusiasm for demanding £20 Penalty Fares from customers now that they have reduced Ticket Office opening hours. Saw their icentivised (they get a £1.00 for every PFN they issue) Revenue Staff in action. They don’t say they are issuing a penalty fare, rather they say you MUST pay a £20 minimum fare even if they are regular commuters and there were ticket office / machine queues. Their Penalty Fare leaflet is totally deceptive and tells the story the Railway wants to tell and does not even approach a fair summary of the Penalty Fare Regulations. So shy are they of this seminal work that they don’t have it on leaflet stands but is kept by Revenue Protection Staff at barriers to intimidate customers into parting with their money.

Let’s rebalance the Customer Contract – No Cash Penalty Fares without immediate Cash refunds for delays!

Read your Penalty Fare rights here; DB Chiltern won’t tell you;

http://daithaic.blogspot.com/2009/08/penalty-fares-fair-to-passengers.html


Enjoy your journey on one of our overcrowded short formations to/from Aylesbury