A letter to Ian Bullock, CEO of Arriva Trains Wales

This letter was emailed on Wednesday 22nd October 2014:


Mr Ian Bullock, CEO of Arriva Trains Wales,

I have been pushed over the edge this morning.

Usually, I’m a mild-mannered man. 

From my role, I can understand that sometimes things go awry, and I accept that as your company is trying to make improvements to the rail network around South Wales that there will be some collateral damage that impacts the fare-paying traveller.

That’s why, on Monday, when the 0759 from Lisvane was displayed on the board as being 7 minutes late when I arrived on the platform, I wasn’t overly concerned.

A sense of inconvenience came over me as this delay increased to 15 minutes, but the board continued to inform me that the service would be calling at Lisvane, Llanishen, Heath High Level, Cardiff QS and so on, so not so bad really.

Imagine my surprise then, as the light at the literal end of Caerphilly tunnel emerged, progressed towards us, and subsequently flew straight past the stranded commuters!

I eventually arrived at Queen Street at 0845 – 34 minutes later than your timetable states, having received no apologies from any on-train staff.

However, the mild-mannered man that I am, I accepted that “these things happen” and didn’t make a fuss. 

Tomorrow is another day.

Indeed it was:  Tuesday.

Tuesday highlighted to me that ensuring the most appropriate rolling stock is in the right place at the right time, is of a similar standing to rocket science.

Picture the scene:  it’s just before 8am on a Tuesday morning.  You have a captive market for your product, demand is high as it’s rush-hour, and consumers need your product so badly that they part with their cash months in advance of receiving the service.

Incredibly, knowing that there are 15 stops between Rhymney (the start of the service) and Queen Street, somebody at Arriva Trains Wales considers 2 carriages to be sufficient during the peak travel times. 

This is inexcusable.  But at least this train stopped to not let anyone on.  I suppose I should be grateful for that slight improvement.

Eventual arrival time at Cardiff Queen Street:  0835 – 24 minutes late.

Still no apologies from any members of staff.

Oh well, tomorrow’s another day….

And that brings us to today: Wednesday.

The 07-Late-Again from Lisvane was actually almost on time – just 4 minutes late, sorry “delayed”.

Things looked good.  I was happy.  4 carriages.  1 seat left, and I’m going to get to work less-late than had recently become the norm.

Llanishen came and went successfully, and Heath High Level arrived next.

Unfortunately this is where today’s troubles began.

After sitting at HHL for 5 minutes or so, we were informed by a very apologetic member of the on-train staff that we were being held to let another train at HLL through first.

A few more minutes passed and we set off.  We were then held outside QS for “platform clearance”.

Eventual arrival time at Queen Street 0831  - 20 minutes late, but at least the consumer and their inconveniences were acknowledged.  I suppose I should be grateful for that slight improvement too.

But no, you weren’t finished there!

Having made it 3 for 3 so far this week, I felt I’d been patient enough and sought out a wonderfully-named Customer Comment Form, as I know this is the only way of claiming anything back for the atrocious experiences this week.

Upon receipt of the Form, I’m greeted with this gem:

“No compensation is payable for individual journeys made if using a monthly or longer season ticket”

This, THIS, is what has finally broken me this week!

Congratulations Mr Bullock, you did it.  You broke me.

In my various roles leading Customer Experience teams of national companies, I’ve never come across something so anti-customer centric as this single statement.

I don’t know how to respond.

I don’t know what to do with this declaration.

Are you seriously telling me that you’re satisfied for your company to discriminate against its most loyal customers, the most frequent consumers of its service, those that give you several hundred, if not several THOUSAND of pounds a year, versus those that pay daily or weekly?

So, to summarise, just so we’re clear, this week:

• The service you’ve provided has resulted in me being late (by my definition, as in “not on time”) 3 times out of 3
• Although, I’d have only been late once (more than 30 minutes), and delayed twice by the ATW definition – not sure how my CEO would feel about this!
• You’ve provided insufficient carriages to meet the demand of your customers
• You’ve highlighted a policy that discriminates against your most loyal customer base

I look forward to your timely (whatever this means at ATW Towers) response regarding these points, and primarily this policy.

Kind regards