First-class clown
Boss of UK’s most unpopular and incompetent rail firm orders passengers on crowded train out of first class... then hogs two seats for himself!
TAKING up two seats on a crowded train is never the best way to endear yourself to your fellow passengers.
But when you are a senior executive of one of the worst-performing rail operators – and have just shooed away other commuters from a first-class carriage – it’s just adding insult to injury.
Mark Boon, the head of network operations at Southern and Thameslink’s parent company Govia Thameslink, found this out yesterday.
Mr Boon told passengers to stay out of the first-class carriage on a late and busy Southern train into London on Tuesday morning. He then placed his bag on the empty seat beside him while customers had to squeeze into the doorway and an adjoining carriage.
Like other executives at Govia, Mr Boon receives free travel so would have paid nothing for his two seats in first class – unlike ordinary rail users who pay thousands of pounds for season tickets for unreliable and overcrowded trains.
Unfortunately for Mr Boon – and his employer Govia – the image of him sitting down in relative comfort was posted on social media, prompting a backlash from irate passengers. It was taken by Emma Fitzpatrick who made the mistake of trying to sit in one of the empty seats in first class.
The 33-year-old hair stylist from Croydon, South London, said Mr Boon had a ‘really awful manner’ as he ‘dismissively’ turned passengers away from around ten empty first-class seats, handing them his business card as he did so.
Ms Fitzpatrick said she boarded the train at East Croydon at around 11.30am. She said: ‘It was a few minutes late and very busy, as always. People were squeezing just to get on.
‘I had to run down the platform as the train pulled in before I found a space in the front carriage to get on and stand.’
On seeing that first class had plenty of spare seats she squeezed past passengers to get to them. Mr Boon glanced at her and immediately told her she was not allowed to sit in first class.
She said: ‘He didn’t even ask if I had a first- class ticket – he just looked at me and assumed I didn’t. He told me the carriage was for first-class passengers only.
‘I was so shocked. I told him I was feeling a little unwell, but he dismissively said to go and get some water or something, and looked back down at his phone.’
On confronting Mr Boon as the train pulled into London Victoria, she said he just looked at her ‘dismissively’ and told her to put her complaint in writing.
She said: ‘I just feel, especially after all the cancellations, poor service and cramped conditions, that he should have been more sympathetic and try to repair the damage they have done.
‘ But instead he sat there brazenly with his name and title on his badge and his bag on a spare chair.’
Mr Boon was named Customer Service Manager of the Year while working for South West Trains in 2015. But judging by the hundreds of responses to the Twitter photo he is unlikely to win any sort of public vote. Richie Northcote wrote: ‘Disgusting. There’s going to be some kind of commuter/passenger revolt soon, I can feel it bubbling. The disgraceful service us regular commuters have to deal with would simply not be tolerated in any other country – and this guy is just rubbing salt in sore wounds.’ Paul Coles wrote: ‘Who is he to refuse people to sit down in first class?’ Grant Shapps, former Tory party chairman and MP for Welwyn Hatfield, has been one of the most high- profile critics of the rail operator. He said: ‘ Long- suffering commuters will rightly ask how much this rail boss paid for a first-class ticket for him and his bag. You literally could not make this up. Govia has lost the plot.’ But a Govia spokesman said: ‘ Passengers need a first- class ticket to travel in first class. While the front coaches were busy, there were seats and space in the rear coaches, as Mr Boon explained.’ Last night an industry source said Mr Boon had been ‘ admonished’ by Govia bosses but will not face official disciplinary action.
‘Cancellations and poor service’