Passengers denied boarding at Blackpool North?

[yorkie]

https://twitter.com/TorstenB74/status/1446946882106925059

Previous MIA bound train at 3 minutes to 9. Waiting at BPN platform 5 entrance from 21.10 with 50 people already in the queue. Not 1 person stepped onto platform until 21.26 left platform on time, seemingly without any passengers.

Well, they opened the platform doors to the preceeding York service a whole 3 minutes after its scheduled departure time, but that one didn't leave b4. There's zero point in having them shut doors there in the first place. Bewildering in the extreme.

Does anyone know what's going on at Blackpool North?

Are they still up to their usual tricks of denying people access to the platform until just before a train departs, and in this case they appear to have gone a step further and not allowed anyone to board the train?

Edit: I will also add a couple of points, following feedback given to me.

Firstly, the previous thread can be found here: https://www.railforums.co.uk/thread...ost-unfriendly-station-in-the-country.114768/

Secondly, it was brought to my attention that an FOI request was made regarding complaints relating to Blackpool North. This resulted in a list of complaints being generated, although the list would require a fair bit of work to isolate the complaints that are relevant (i.e. eliminate those relating to train service performance, timetabling issues etc...), there are quite a few which relate to "Rude/Discourteous". If anyone has done any analysis on this, feel free to get in touch; in particular it would be interesting to see if a comparison could be drawn with other stations that are comparable in terms of passenger numbers etc.

 

[142blue]

Seems a strange move keeping people together in an enclosed building unnecessarily

 

[_toommm_]

Happened to me about a month ago. They pulled the tensa-barrier out in front of me whilst trying to board a service to Leeds. Apparently it was dangerously overcrowded.

Of course in an ideal world, the sensible thing to do would be to make anyone going to Preston board the train ten minutes later, giving priority to longer-distance passengers.

 

[Vespa]

This is why I prefer to drive to Blackpool instead of using the train, precisely this.

I thought since Geoff Marshall highligted it, there's been some improvement, apparently not, TV news media needs to know about this backed up with mobile phone footage.

It's gone on too long, making passengers miss their train is unforgivable.

We need an undercover investigative reporter to film covertly what's going on or indeed anyone with a covert camera posing as a regular passenger.

 

[61653 HTAFC]

The staff at South Station are much more civilised.

Added bonus, you're nearer the football ground too.

 

[Western Sunset]

This is why I prefer to drive to Blackpool instead of using the train, precisely this.

I thought since Geoff Marshall highligted it, there's been some improvement, apparently not, TV news media needs to know about this backed up with mobile phone footage.

It's gone on too long, making passengers miss their train is unforgivable.

We need an undercover investigative reporter to film covertly what's going on or indeed anyone with a covert camera posing as a regular passenger.

Do you have a link to the Geoff Marshall piece, please?

 

[DanNCL]

I was pleasantly surprised not to see this shambles in place when I was at Blackpool North a couple of weeks ago, indeed I was able to board my train as soon as I arrived at the station, 15 minutes before departure, with no staff attempting to prevent platform access whatsoever. It’s a shame to hear that I appear to have been lucky, rather than what I experienced being a new norm.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Are they still up to their usual tricks of denying people access to the platform until just before a train departs, and in this case they appear to have gone a step further and not allowed anyone to board the train?

When I was there last Saturday, the doors for the Hazel Grove train were left open and we could board as we wished, yet the York train was queuing. Seems to be completely random in how they load trains now.

 

[LRV3004]

This kind of reputation stretches back years. I remember it from my childhood. Seems they’re still stuck in the past……

 

[Bletchleyite]

It also concerns me that traincrew did nothing about it if passengers weren't allowed to board and they went out empty.

 

[Trackman]

Surely the guard would have spoke to someone or contacted control before setting off empty?
Also do trains self despatch at BPN? I’m guessing not.
Surely some member of staff must have known what was going on.

 

[Typhoon]

Do you have a link to the Geoff Marshall piece, please?

There is a (closed) thread:

Blackpool North: The most unfriendly station in the country?​

A post from @38Cto15E (#494)

Very little about Blackpool North on Geoff's All Train Stations, possibly for legal reasons with Youtube and Northern.

 

[Bletchleyite]

Surely the guard would have spoke to someone or contacted control before setting off empty?
Also do trains self despatch at BPN? I’m guessing not.
Surely some member of staff must have known what was going on.

Thinking on, do we know it wasn't a last minute cancellation that wasn't properly announced?

 

[Trackman]

Thinking on, do we know it wasn't a last minute cancellation that wasn't properly announced?

I thought that, I checked RTT before posting.

 

[LOL The Irony]

Thinking on, do we know it wasn't a last minute cancellation that wasn't properly announced?

Wouldn't Northern have said so on twitter if that was the case?

 

[RailWonderer]

This was extensively covered in a previous thread not too long ago. What does it take to change that stupid rule, staff training and a serious reprimanding for inconveniencing passengers or Northern to change their policy? As far as I am aware there is no other station besides BPN with this lock-the-platforms-only-allow-access-until-two-minutes-before-departure rule.

 

[Bletchleyite]

This was extensively covered in a previous thread not too long ago. What does it take to change that stupid rule, staff training and a serious reprimanding for inconveniencing passengers or Northern to change their policy? As far as I am aware there is no other station besides BPN with this lock-the-platforms-only-allow-access-until-two-minutes-before-departure rule.

It is not dissimilar to the way Euston is operated, I suppose. Very few if any other stations like that, though,

 

[duncanp]

As far as I am aware there is no other station besides BPN with this lock-the-platforms-only-allow-access-until-two-minutes-before-departure rule.

They don't lock the doors at London Euston, but they do sometimes seem to play a game of "chicken" with the passengers, whereby they see how close to departure time they can leave it before they condescend to announce the platform.

This leads to the "Euston scrum", where a whole Pendolino's worth of passengers all rush down to the platform.......only to be met by officious ticket examiners from Avanti.

And there is always someone in front of you in the queue who doesn't have the correct ticket, which holds everyone up

 

[185143]

Surely the guard would have spoke to someone or contacted control before setting off empty?
Also do trains self despatch at BPN? I’m guessing not.
Surely some member of staff must have known what was going on.

They do self dispatch. But a member of staff tends to observe in my admittedly limited experience.

That said, I remember travelling through there in something like 2014 and the staff opened the doors 15-20 minutes before departure and we boarded at leisure. It was so civilised and dare I say... pleasant!

 

[RailWonderer]

They don't lock the doors at London Euston, but they do sometimes seem to play a game of "chicken" with the passengers, whereby they see how close to departure time they can leave it before they condescend to announce the platform.

This leads to the "Euston scrum", where a whole Pendolino's worth of passengers all rush down to the platform.......only to be met by officious ticket examiners from Avanti.

And there is always someone in front of you in the queue who doesn't have the correct ticket, which holds everyone up

Yes, but if you use RTT you can head straight onto the platform and there may or may not be inspectors there to even check your ticket.
When there are, they either let me through or give me some excuses, e.g. I shouldn't be early because they need to clean the trains, and because of last minute platform alterations.

 

[Bletchleyite]

They don't lock the doors at London Euston, but they do sometimes seem to play a game of "chicken" with the passengers, whereby they see how close to departure time they can leave it before they condescend to announce the platform.

This leads to the "Euston scrum", where a whole Pendolino's worth of passengers all rush down to the platform.......only to be met by officious ticket examiners from Avanti.

And there is always someone in front of you in the queue who doesn't have the correct ticket, which holds everyone up

The doors at Euston are locked 2 minutes before departure, but they are reopened again straight after so if no staff attend a given train they don't block boarding. I suspect this might be because LNR don't do gateline checks as a matter of course other than 8-11, though.

 

[daodao]

I was pleasantly surprised not to see this shambles in place when I was at Blackpool North a couple of weeks ago, indeed I was able to board my train as soon as I arrived at the station.

Ditto (mid evening on 26/9/21). The ticket barriers were also open then.

 

[Pinus contorta]

This so called kettling of passengers causes tension and angst and makes the whole travelling experience much poorer. I thought they had started to move away from this 'confrontational' approach to boarding at Blackpool North. If the train has departed empty, as suggested, then we really have hit s new low in standards.

 

[philthetube]

It is not dissimilar to the way Euston is operated, I suppose. Very few if any other stations like that, though,

Does Skegness, I think it used to.

And possibly Falmouth

 

[Parallel]

It is not dissimilar to the way Euston is operated, I suppose. Very few if any other stations like that, though,

Exmouth also used to, but I'm not sure if it still does since the concourse was redesigned.

 

[Neo9320]

Does Skegness, I think it used to.

And possibly Falmouth

Yep Skegness did last time I traveled to & from there (not for pleasure I assure you)

 

[462cd]

Had the unique joy of visiting in August. On arrival, the staff were stood blocking most of the gates so a trainload of passengers had to funnel through one barrier. They weren't checking tickets, they were just stood in everyone's way having a chat.

On the way home it was pretty quiet. A woman with three young kids and a load of luggage headed out through the open door to board the train (as she would have been able to at almost any other station). She got chased by an aggressive member of staff who shouted at her, forced her back into the building and slammed the door in her face. When they did eventually allow us to board, she got shouted at again for not being quick enough with all her bags.

 

[Starmill]

It also concerns me that traincrew did nothing about it if passengers weren't allowed to board and they went out empty.

I think that quite a number of train crew have tried internally to raise the customer service issues at Blackpool North because it can impede their job e.g. if people miss their train they complain about it to the guard on the next train, or sometimes departures are late for no justifiable reasons.

Unfortunately there's such a cultural resistance to acting on entrenched behaviours in some organisations that nothing gets done. It's not just Northern, this is of course something that affects many large organisations.

Yep Skegness did last time I traveled to & from there (not for pleasure I assure you)

Was it in the summer? Skegness be frequently seems to have the manual pre-boarding check in summer but not winter.

 

[Ianno87]

I think that quite a number of train crew have tried internally to raise the customer service issues at Blackpool North because it can impede their job e.g. if people miss their train they complain about it to the guard on the next train, or sometimes departures are late for no justifiable reasons.

Unfortunately there's such a cultural resistance to acting on entrenched behaviours in some organisations that nothing gets done. It's not just Northern, this is of course something that affects many large organisations.

Also, the traincrew are between a rock and a hard place. Arguably, "on the day" their job is to run their train safely and on time. It's not their job (if going "by the book") to query why there aren't passengers on the platform.

The correct channels would be to escalate the incident via management (though cold comfort to those unable to board)

 

[stuartl]

I think that quite a number of train crew have tried internally to raise the customer service issues at Blackpool North because it can impede their job e.g. if people miss their train they complain about it to the guard on the next train, or sometimes departures are late for no justifiable reasons.

Unfortunately there's such a cultural resistance to acting on entrenched behaviours in some organisations that nothing gets done. It's not just Northern, this is of course something that affects many large organisations.


Was it in the summer? Skegness be frequently seems to have the manual pre-boarding check in summer but not winter.

Last time I was there, a few months ago, they checked your ticket as you got off the train but they also had the gates working. Why both in the space of a few yards ?