London Midland Trains

[Bob]

Amanda Millings supporters knocked my door today. After I told them where to shove their leaflet I asked "What has her publicity shots done for the Chase line?". She answered "She cares deeply and it has brought you those extra carriages". I asked her to correct that advising I use it daily and there are no extra carriages and Amanda Milling was explicitly advised by the transport minister that there will be no extra diesel carriages and she's therefore lying. She stormed off! As she was leaving I asked her to pass on from me that she's a stain on humanity 😂

[Westy]

Amanda Millings supporters knocked my door today. After I told them where to shove their leaflet I asked "What has her publicity shots done for the Chase line?". She answered "She cares deeply and it has brought you those extra carriages". I asked her to correct that advising I use it daily and there are no extra carriages and Amanda Milling was explicitly advised by the transport minister that there will be no extra diesel carriages and she's therefore lying. She stormed off! As she was leaving I asked her to pass on from me that she's a stain on humanity 😂

Dave Winnick was spotted by a friend canvassing on a recent Saturday evening in the Field Road area of Bloxwich!

[Trident 4194]

Trains were all pretty much screwed earlier. Incident at bescot, signalling problems between new street and wolvo

[The Real 4778]

Trains were all pretty much screwed earlier. Incident at bescot, signalling problems between new street and wolvo

Incident at Bescot was those two teenage lads getting far too near the OHLE.

[2206]

Caught the train from Spring Road, Acocks Green to Birmingham Moor Street today, the ticket office was closed at Spring Road and i've never caught the train from Spring Road before, no guard was checkeing and selling tickets onboard, the gates and barriers at Moor Street were just open letting people walk through, so anyone travelling from Spring Road to Moor Street would have just walked away with a free journey. When it was at  the platform on Spring Road, I went and asked the guard for a ticket as I was thinking  I probably wouldn't be able to get through the barriers at the other end at Moor Street, but nobody else boarding at Spring Road did and they all got a free journey.

[MW]

Caught the train from Spring Road, Acocks Green to Birmingham Moor Street today, the ticket office was closed at Spring Road and i've never caught the train from Spring Road before, no guard was checkeing and selling tickets onboard, the gates and barriers at Moor Street were just open letting people walk through, so anyone travelling from Spring Road to Moor Street would have just walked away with a free journey. When it was at  the platform on Spring Road, I went and asked the guard for a ticket as I was thinking  I probably wouldn't be able to get through the barriers at the other end at Moor Street, but nobody else boarding at Spring Road did and they all got a free journey.

It's nearly always like that.

[Bob]

They really REALLY need to sort out the 6.14am train from Landywood out. Rammed daily. More and more amazon workers and a crap two carriage every single day. It stinks as well. Two 153 carriages joined together would be better and go some way towards the chronic lack of seats

[WMT3000]

Caught the train from Spring Road, Acocks Green to Birmingham Moor Street today, the ticket office was closed at Spring Road and i've never caught the train from Spring Road before, no guard was checkeing and selling tickets onboard, the gates and barriers at Moor Street were just open letting people walk through, so anyone travelling from Spring Road to Moor Street would have just walked away with a free journey. When it was at  the platform on Spring Road, I went and asked the guard for a ticket as I was thinking  I probably wouldn't be able to get through the barriers at the other end at Moor Street, but nobody else boarding at Spring Road did and they all got a free journey.

Had a similar experience the other day. Jewellery quarter ticket office was closed with the shutter down just after 4pm (start of the busiest time of day). The permit to travel machine was "not in use". I didn't have a bank card with me so no way of buying a ticket. Caught the train and no sign of a conductor/inspector.

Now i don't mind not having to pay (legally the onus is on lm to collect fares, not for passengers to struggle to find a way of paying) but this this does make a mockery of revenue protection.

At the moment a combination of expensive tickets, unreliable and dirty trains, disinterested staff and open ticket barriers means that a good proportion of passengers on this line never pay a fare.

[Rob H]

Does anybody know which 150 will be on the Hereford Service this week?

Reason I'm asking is because I want to get an on-board video of 150105 & 150107 before they move to Northern.

Thank You in Advance 8)

[The Real 4778]

Does anybody know which 150 will be on the Hereford Service this week?

Reason I'm asking is because I want to get an on-board video of 150105 & 150107 before they move to Northern.

Thank You in Advance 8)

You've a 66% chance of it being one of those so surely it's worth a punt anyway!

[Tony]

It is very rare for 150105 to be on the Bedford Bletchley, apparently that is the least reliable of the 3 so is nearly always working or spare at Tyseley

[Rob H]

@The Real 4778 @Tony

Thank You Both 8)

[Liberator9]

Caught the train from Spring Road, Acocks Green to Birmingham Moor Street today, the ticket office was closed at Spring Road and i've never caught the train from Spring Road before, no guard was checkeing and selling tickets onboard, the gates and barriers at Moor Street were just open letting people walk through, so anyone travelling from Spring Road to Moor Street would have just walked away with a free journey. When it was at  the platform on Spring Road, I went and asked the guard for a ticket as I was thinking  I probably wouldn't be able to get through the barriers at the other end at Moor Street, but nobody else boarding at Spring Road did and they all got a free journey.

Doesn't surprise me - ticket office staffing along the Snow Hill line is inconsistent as anything, and the guards seem particularly missing when it comes to revenue checking duties. Next franchise needs to get a grip on it. I use Cross Country, Transpennine and Northern regularly; can pretty much guarantee a ticket check on them and staff are usually very well mannered and friendly - throw in ATW as well when I use them and it seems London Midland has some what of an issue in motivating staff to actually do the ticket checks....

[Tony]

Doesn't surprise me - ticket office staffing along the Snow Hill line is inconsistent as anything, and the guards seem particularly missing when it comes to revenue checking duties. Next franchise needs to get a grip on it. I use Cross Country, Transpennine and Northern regularly; can pretty much guarantee a ticket check on them and staff are usually very well mannered and friendly - throw in ATW as well when I use them and it seems London Midland has some what of an issue in motivating staff to actually do the ticket checks....

Franchise winner should be announced in the next fortnight,  be interesting to see if the winner has promised anything on revenue protection

[markcf83]

Had a similar experience the other day. Jewellery quarter ticket office was closed with the shutter down just after 4pm (start of the busiest time of day). The permit to travel machine was "not in use". I didn't have a bank card with me so no way of buying a ticket. Caught the train and no sign of a conductor/inspector.

Now i don't mind not having to pay (legally the onus is on lm to collect fares, not for passengers to struggle to find a way of paying) but this this does make a mockery of revenue protection.


On Arriva Trains,the onus is on passengers to find the guard otherwise you will be put in court,fined up to £600+ and named in the local paper. Clearly one rule for London Midland and another for others.