Dreadful rail journey with unhelpful staff

I AM just back from visiting my son and his family in Kent, a journey which I hoped I could pleasantly take by train. Wrong - it was a nightmare.

As I passed through Birmingham and London I saw nothing but untidy building sites and skylines dominated by cranes building high rise something or other.

Once out into country areas

I saw little except drab railway embankments, while I constantly fidgeted about trying to give my legs space to move a little.

Having recently had my left hip replaced this is essential for an enjoyable journey.

When I got into London I had to transfer from Euston to St Pancras, which my itinerary suggested could be done in a few minutes. Wrong, I had to get myself to the underground first and the whole thing involved miles of passageways and seemingly huge amounts of up and down stairs as they appear to want to make lifts as difficult to find as possible.

All this had to be done in the midst of a rushing, pushing, disturbed human ants nest.

I was exhausted by the end of both outward and return journeys. No half an hour saving can replace the lack of a comfortable train ride.

If the station staff had been more helpful it would have helped but they were clearly in need of some instruction as to how to be pleasant to their customers.

Many of my fellow travellers helped me carry my bags, some even pretending they were going to catch the same train as me in order to see I caught my train connections.

A number of times they carried my bags to my train then set off back in the opposite direction.

When I was desperate to go to the loo at Euston it was a member of the public who helped me find and get into one. The few staff we approached didn’t seem to have a clue and showed little interest in helping.

The railway companies and the Government need to concentrate on making a railway journey an enjoyable experience rather than encourage us to rush about more.