Train staff won’t pour tea into china mug as they are ‘not insured’

Hitting the buffet: LNER’s catering has been criticised TRAIN staff refused to pour tea into china mugs for first class passengers because they were “only insured for disposable cups”.

The newly-nationalised London North Eastern Railway revealed last week that staff were also not trained to use the ovens on some trains and can offer only cold food such as egg sandwiches or ham hock salad in first class.

The east coast mainline between London and Edinburgh was brought back under public control last month and rebranded LNER after the failure of the Virgin Trains East Coast franchise, a joint venture between Virgin and Stagecoach.

Rail consultant Adrian Quine was travelling first class between Leeds and Peterborough last Friday when he tweeted a picture of an empty mug next to a disposable cup that had been filled with tea.

He claimed LNER crew had told him they were not insured to pour tea into the china mugs as the train and its crockery were on loan from East Midlands Trains, which is owned by Stagecoach.

Ridiculed

He wrote: “[Staff] claim they’re not insured to pour tea into china mug provided on the table as these belong to former owner”.

In a separate tweet, Mr Quine complained there was “no hot food in first class as crew were not insured on the Stagecoach ovens”.

In response an LNER spokesman said its staff were insured to pour hot drinks into mugs but added: “The crew are probably just not familiar with this train and so decided they would use the disposable cups.”

The company also admitted its staff were not trained to use the ovens on rolling stock it had borrowed from East Midlands Trains.

The spokesman said that on those services “we just offer a cold buffet service in first class”.

The poor level of catering service echoes the “soggy sandwiches” endured by passengers on British Rail during nationalisation in the 1970s.

The unappetising sandwiches were often ridiculed on radio and TV and in numerous publications.