Wednesday 6 October 2010

First Great Western Refuse to repair Yate Station Shelter

Rail user, Chris Willmore, has slammed First Great Western's decision to leave Yate commuters with no shelter from the rain whilst they wait for their train.

At the best of times it is a scramble for the hundreds of commuters waiting for morning trains from Yate to Filton and Bristol to find space in the tiny shelter. But now, even the shelter will not protect them from the rain. All but one panel of the shelter is broken, and rail users were horrified when First refused point blank to repair them.

Chris Willmore, who was the person who reported the problem and asked for action said "This is mad. It leaves users with no shelter. There had been some vandalism, but the police have caught the culprit. Now we need the shelter back. Otherwise we are saying the countless decent rail users, who pay huge sums to use the train must wait in the wind and rain, unprotected. I can see why they didn't repair it whilst the culprit was at large, now he has been caught they should restore it"

"We will be taking it up with First face to face at the next Yate Station Users Group - but frankly First seem more interested in trying to persuade passengers to plant flower beds than actually providing a service to train users."

3 comments:

  1. Happy FGW User10:20 am

    Well, the culprit may have been caught, but this won't stop him/her doing it again. Undoubtedly the culprit will be let off with some flimsy bollocking that doesn't really serve as a punishment.

    Put the glass back in, and I don't doubt the vandals will be back. This society is quite broken.

    How about some perspex?

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  2. Your £6 is paying for your rail journey.

    Why doesnt Mr Willmore join the Freinds of Yate railway station organisation, to help look after the station if he is so worried about it!??

    Your ticket price pays for your train jounrey and the associated costs surrounding that journey (Staffing costs, Track fees, Fuel costs, Maintenance costs etc, etc).

    Also, if you get involved in a communty rail group i beleive you can recive discounted rail travel!

    I think you should not only take your concerns to the Yate station users group, but also to the A&S police and your local neighbourhood watch.

    Tom Hampson,
    Resident of Yate, station user & FGW employee.

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  3. Anonymous6:16 pm

    Nothing is vandal proof, but there are forms of plastic that are more vandal resistent than the stuff FGW have used - I suspect the trouble is the better material costs a bit more, and to make short term savings long term savings have been ignored.

    By the way, I am female, and am a member of the Friends of Yate Station. The problem is that this blew up between meetings: and Sue Walker who is the champion of the station was not available - so I took it up with the Clerk to the Friends of the Station and we talked to FGW expecting a sensible reply to what I assumed was just a report of a problem, and got the staggering answer that they were not going to do anything. A stark NO. We will of course be pursuing this at the next Station Users group, but actually, we need the shelter repaired now.
    We don't solve the problem of vandalism by letting the vandals win.
    Chris W

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