Stifling ordeal on train service saw passengers lose their cool
An expensive train excursion hit the buffers for Joseph and Dorothy Edge when the on board service proved awful. The couple paid £460 for a VIP trip from Kidderminster to Paignton with West Coast Railways in July. They booked a premier dining experience, with breakfast and dinner included. “After paying all that money we were very disappointed when the breakfast was cold, and the evening meal was diabolical and inedible,” Joseph, 64, said. Things got worse when temperatures soared above 30oC and the air conditioning on the train didn’t work properly. “When we arrived in Paignton the heat was through the roof and getting hotter,” Joseph, a semi-retired electrician, from Southport, said. “When we got back on board to come back to Kidderminster the heat in the carriage almost knocked us out. “We were told that once we got going the air-con would kick in but that never happened the temperature just got worse… it must have been well above 45oC. “A number of people in the carriage complained to a guard but he just dismissed it. He said if anyone wanted to get off at the next stopping point and make their own way back to Kidderminster they could – but at their own expense. “Back in Kidderminster we were told by one of the catering staff that the air vents had been painted over and that was why the air-con wasn’t working.” When he got no response after raising a complaint with Lancashire-based West Coast Railways, Joseph wrote to Raw Deal. Good news is the company reacted quickly when asked to investigate. The couple has now been issued with an apology plus £230 compensation. “I can’t thank Raw Deal enough,” Joseph added. “I was getting nowhere with this.”