2008 - July 27th - Wednesday Continued...

As JH was severely inconvenienced at the start of her journey back from Greenwich to Maidenhead, she communicated with Greenwich Borough Council as follows:-

“Dear Folks at Cleansweep
 
You will see, below , that I emailed you about the availability of public conveniences - at which I could use my RADAR Key - during my visit to Greenwich last WE.  I did, indeed, receive a courteous reply to my enquiry (which reply I cannot find now) saying that the nearest disabled facilities - to Greenwich Park -  were by the Cutty Sark. 
 
I arrived at Greenwich overhead station at about 11.30am and walked down the slope from the platform; I was pleased to find a lift from the underpass which took me up to the platform from which I could access the booking hall, and the toilet . . . but the toilet had a large notice on the door telling me 'sorry for the inconvenience caused, but this toilet is out of order'!  So I actually used the toilets in King William Walk, so had to trundle my wheelie up and down the steps.
 
I arrived at Greenwich Park, to meet members of my family at our annual picnic, at about 12 midday.  I rendezvoused with all the folks at the picnic, but actually had a light lunch at the café.  I spent a most pleasant afternoon chatting to lots of people from about the age of 6/52 to 80+, and than I attended the Shakespeare in the Park performance of The Merchant of Venice: my intention to attend the performance was the reason I bought my wheelie with me - as it has a seat attached - as, last time I went to Shakespeare in the Park two years ago, I sat very uncomfortably on the grass.
 
The performance finished at about 9.00pm and I made my way to the disabled toilet by the Cutty Sark: a couple was standing waiting as the toilet flag said 'occupied', but this couple gave up waiting and went to a pub instead; I waited for a few minutes, and then tried my RADAR key in the appropriate keyhole to no avail; just at that minute another gentleman approached and I said I thought the toilet was inaccessible, so he and I thumped on the door and there was no reply.
 
I then went to the Porters' Lodge of the Trinity College of Music now housed in the Old Royal Naval College, and was able to use the ladies toilet downstairs.  The Porter on Duty told me that he has been told by Staff from your Department of Greenwich Borough Council that this (your) toilet is almost permanently out of order.  PLEASE COULD YOU MAKE SURE THAT PROVISION IS MADE FOR PERSONS WHO HAVE RADAR KEYS TO ACCESS A DISABLED TOILET IN GREENWICH AT ANY TIME IN A 24-HOUR PERIOD.  I dislike going into pubs just to use their toilet; furthermore, I usually have to hike up and down stairs in pubs - which 'defeats' the whole point of my obtaining a RADAR key.
 
I would also be grateful - even though I realise this is not your responsibility - if you could ask the Railway Personnel to get their toilet, in Greenwich Station, fixed - to save me the necessity of asking another Agency to do so. 
 
It was a stroke of luck that I used the overhead railway, as I learnt from the Porter that the DLR is shut whilst the platforms are lengthened.  I will be coming to the Greenwich International Festival  & Exhibition of Early Music in November 2008, which is held in the Old Royal Naval College, so I will be able to re-appraise the availability of public conveniences then!
 
With thanks in anticipation of receiving your attention to my email.”
 
To which, JH received the reply as follows:-

“Dear Ms Hipsey
 
Thank you for letting us know of this and I apologise for the inconvencience (sic) this has caused you.
I have forwarded these comments to the Department who deals with Public Conveniences for them to investigate this matter.
 
Regards
Lisa Callanan
On behalf of Greenwich Council Contact Centre Manager”

Furthermore . . . JH had an entertaining journey back to Maidenhead – as follows:-
 
“Dear Folks at FGW Customer Services Team
 
Ref; 4155167/FGW-1
I sent you a request for compensation with regards to my journey from Reading to Plymouth on 280708, and am very pleased to have received £43 compensation for the delay to this journey.

Journey from Paddington to Maidenhead commencing 2342 from Paddington on 270708

It was not until I read your Claim Form (which I obtained with regards to the aforementioned claim) that I realised that I could claim - if the train I was on did not stop as scheduled, even if I was not delayed for an hour or more {Paragraph entitled 'Cancellations' on Form}.  Therefore I did not retain my Ticket - for travelling up to Greenwich and back from Maidenhead - on Sunday 270708. So I hope you will understand that I am not wishing to claim compensation for this journey but that I simply wish to explain what happened - so that you can offer me an explanation for why my journey did not go as scheduled, and so that FGW can learn from my experiences in order to avoid other passengers being inconvenienced in the future.
 
I purchased a travel card (is this the correct name for my day ticket?)) with my senior citizen's railcard, to go up to family picnic In Greenwich Park: I think the ticket cost me about £9.00.  I set out on the 0932 train from Maidenhead; unusually, this train left from platform 2, because the island platforms 3 and 4 were shut due to a complete refurbishment of Maidenhead Station being undertaken.  I went by underground to Charing Cross Station, and then by the overhead line to Greenwich.
 
I spent a most enjoyable but rather hot and humid Sunday afternoon in Greenwich Park, meeting close and distant family members whom I do not see very often; in the evening I attended The Merchant of Venice which was Rainbow's Shakespeare in the Park Production for 2008.
 
I returned to Greenwich overhead station and caught a train at 2226 to Charing Cross, and from there I travelled on the underground to Paddington - arriving at about 2315.  It was not possible to rush all the way down to the platform from which a train was departing to Maidenhead at about 2316, so I went to the office where I could access a platform-level toilet - as I had my wheelie with me.  I spoke to the Member of Staff in the office - enquiring if the next train stopping at Maidenhead was the 2342 to Didcot - which I had read on the indicator as stopping at Maidenhead (but the journey from Didcot to Oxford would be by bus because of line maintenance); the gentleman I spoke to stated that, unless he looked at the 'board' himself he could not confirm this.  However, when the platform number for the 2342 train was indicated, I made my way to the platform (9 I think) and on the departure indicator I read that the train was to stop at Maidenhead as well as Slough [and several other stations]. 
 
I boarded the train and waited for it to depart; I looked up and noticed that the scanning screen in the carriage did NOT say the train was stopping at Maidenhead - about which I commented to the two ladies sat opposite me, who told me that they were alighting at Slough.  When the train stopped at Slough, a young man - who apparently had also noticed that Maidenhead was not indicated as a stop on the scanning screen in the train - leant out of the carriage door and spoke to the Member of Staff on the platform and asked him to confirm that the train was to stop at Maidenhead; they both ran down the platform, and the indicator on Slough Station stated that the train would be stopping at Maidenhead.
 
However . . . after I had chatted to this young man for some time, he looked out of the window and said 'Here we are in Reading!'  About 6 other passengers, together with myself and the young man, alighted; one passenger {younger and more fleet of foot than me} sprinted into the main concourse and looked on the indicator and ascertained that a train stopping at Maidenhead was to due to depart from Reading at about 0025 hours (now the 28th July); fortunately we just had time (with me coming up at the rear) to catch this train, and so arrived back in Maidenhead some 20mins or so later (after a stop at Twyford).
 
The Guest House in which I was staying is only about a 15-minute walk from Maidenhead Station: it was just as well that I am very familiar with, and not apprehensive about walking about the streets of Maidenhead late in the evening, as of course, all the other passengers were queuing for a taxi before I came out of the station; I reached the Guest House at 0001!  [0100 – error spotted October 2009!]

Please could you let me know - why the train I was travelling on failed to stop at Maidenhead, even though three departure indicators stated that it would be doing so, and several other passengers were expecting the train to stop at Maidenhead as well as myself - in other words, it was not just my mistake!
 
Although I don't make a habit of arriving at Maidenhead Station at 0045, I would be pleased to be informed as to whether the lifts from the platforms to ground level could be made available at all times in Maidenhead Station for persons like myself who have wheelies, or the like, and so find it most difficult to negotiate stairs; I note that the refurbishments of the station have altered the layout of the underground tunnel so that anyone catching or alighting from a train must go through the ticket barriers; therefore I make the assumption that there will be no need for Staff (if still on duty) to ask to see my ticket by the lift doors on the platform through a security camera - under which I have to wave my ticket - and that the lift will operate automatically when called by pressing the button.

I very much enjoy travelling by train - preferring to sit back and relax, people-watch, catch up on my reading, look at the countryside - whilst someone else 'takes the strain' of getting me to my destination.  However, sometimes my travelling 'adventures' do cease to cause entertainment and become very tiresome!
 
I would be very happy to receive your reply via email.  NOTE I have quoted all the train times from memory, as I do not have a home-counties timetable at home, so the times might be a few minutes out.”

Addendum!  JH did not receive a reply to this email, so dispatched it again a month later; however, although JH received an automated acknowledgement, she still received no further reply; two months later JH asked the local Customer Panel if the could elicit a reply on her behalf.  Subsequently, JH received an apology: apparently JH’s email address had been recorded as ‘. . . treeserve . . .’ instead of ‘. . . freeserve . . .’!  The failure of the train to stop at Maidenhead had been noted on the train’s arrival at Reading - the stop at Maidenhead being omitted from the driver’s diagram.  JH was also informed [as anticipated] that the lift would only be in use at Maidenhead, whilst the station is manned.