I was in Reading yesterday & went to get the 17:05 back to God's own country to find that an earlier delayed service was about to depart.
Great, I thought, until a double take at the board told me next stop was Taunton at which point I hopped off & walked down the platform to my usual spot.
Then some woman poked her head out the window & asked the BR guy standing on the platform if the train was going to Hungerford.
Yes, he said at which point I interrupted & told her he was talking out of his arris.
It was at this point there was an audible click and the poor girl found herself locked on the train and there was nothing this jobsworth was going to do about it other than telling her she can change in Taunton.
I'll never forget the look on her face as she receded into the distance - her gaze fixed on me as the awful realisation of what she was about to go through sank in.
Pure Celia Johnson.
Do you think she's got a right to any redress?
(I actually looked at the live tracker & her train got to Taunton just in time to miss the last train back to Hungerford for 2 hours meaning, by my reckoning, she wouldn't be home until 11pm or so - a full 6 hours later)
Great, I thought, until a double take at the board told me next stop was Taunton at which point I hopped off & walked down the platform to my usual spot.
Then some woman poked her head out the window & asked the BR guy standing on the platform if the train was going to Hungerford.
Yes, he said at which point I interrupted & told her he was talking out of his arris.
It was at this point there was an audible click and the poor girl found herself locked on the train and there was nothing this jobsworth was going to do about it other than telling her she can change in Taunton.
I'll never forget the look on her face as she receded into the distance - her gaze fixed on me as the awful realisation of what she was about to go through sank in.
Pure Celia Johnson.
Do you think she's got a right to any redress?
(I actually looked at the live tracker & her train got to Taunton just in time to miss the last train back to Hungerford for 2 hours meaning, by my reckoning, she wouldn't be home until 11pm or so - a full 6 hours later)
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