Feeblest excuse yet for the trains running late ... sun is too bright!
AFTER leaves on the line and the wrong sort of snow, rail chiefs are now blaming ‘strong sunshine’ for their trains’ failure to depart on time.
The claim was made by operator southeastern after a commuter vented his frustration on Twitter when his morning train was delayed.
Tom Attwood, a musical director who was on his way to rehearsals for a new play, questioned why his train to Waterloo was held up for ten minutes at Lewisham, south-east London, where he boarded it.
He tweeted: ‘staff at Lewisham have no idea what they are doing – guard on platform one is having a meltdown. Train prepared to depart then signal went red! Guard and driver unsure of what control room is telling them.’
southeastern tweeted a reply, saying: ‘Apologies, we are having issues dispatching trains due to the strong sunshine this morning.’
Mr Attwood, 35, retweeted the response amid mounting ridicule of southeastern. Commuters branded the explanation for the delay no better than ‘my dog ate my homework’ and ‘the weakest excuse ever’.
Mr Attwood, from Lewisham, told the Mail: ‘When I first saw southeastern’s reply I wasn’t sure whether they were just being silly or really meant it – which they did.
‘They are so useless the second anything goes wrong the whole thing falls apart. It was about 9.20am and the train was packed because some other trains were cancelled because of a landslide.
‘I think they were having trouble making sure all the doors were shut. The guard waved it away, then they put a red light on the signal. It all seemed a bit ramshackle.’
He added: ‘If southeastern were a contestant on The Apprentice, Lord sugar would fire them.’ Others who saw southeastern’s ‘strong sunshine’ tweet made comments including: ‘How do they get on in hot countries where they have sunshine all the time?’ and ‘Leaves on the line. Wrong snow. Now sunshine! Let’s think of next excuse?’
The satirist behind a tongue-incheek Twitter account called se Tranes posted: ‘Apologies: we are having issues dispatching trains due to being on a planet with weather.’ southeastern said the delays were caused because the low angle of the winter sun resulted in a ‘glare’ which made it impossible for drivers to check in their mirrors that it was safe to leave the station.
A spokesman said: ‘We know that sometimes it seems that if it’s not leaves on the line or snow on the track then it’s some other weather issue.
‘But actually glare this morning made it impossible for some drivers to see the full length of their train in their mirrors before leaving stations. When this happens they have to get out and check to ensure everybody has got on or off the train safely before they can move.
‘This can take a little more time but thankfully it doesn’t happen very often.’
Richard Lloyd, the executive director of consumer magazine Which?, said: ‘Recent excuses for delays have ranged from the sublime to the ridiculous when all rail passengers want to hear is an apology and how they will be compensated.
‘Train companies need to do much more to treat their customers fairly, and be proactive in informing their customers how they can be refunded for delays and cancellations. That’s why we’ve used our super-complaint powers to call on the regulator to take action.’
‘Glare made it unsafe to leave’