sashinka | observation orientated, with a twist of lime | a blog

Virgin? Shmirgin
So Virgin Trains usually release their 14-day advance tickets six to eight weeks before the date. I've called a couple of times - I'm going home for Passover over Easter - and keep being fobbed off that the ticket allocation will be released "tomorrow". Yesterday they said today, and today they said they have no f***ing idea at all. So I called Virgin Customer Relations (0870 789 1234) who tell me it's because, apparently, Network Rail haven't told them for months whether scheduled engineering works will be going ahead or not. And you just know that the minute the tickets are released it'll be the day you don't phone up and you'll be buggered and have to pay £49 instead of £10. Which I resent: the service gets worse and the prices go up.

So I called Network Rail (whose website is still called railtrack.co.uk), and after a couple of dead ends, speak to the Chief Engineer's secretary, who tells me that decision would be made by the track, rather than structure people, in the North West zone. Sadly, the only number she has is the press office - so far I have skillfully managed to avoid all people with community, customer or public affairs in their job-title, who invariably are full of PR puff, and say things like "they don't talk to members of the public" or "can you put your query in writing". Nice woman in the press office tells me: it's not their decision: all that information comes from Virign Trains Customer Relations. Would I like the number? 0870 789 1234.

I judged from her tone that there's clearly something political going on but I guess I'll just have to let this one go.