Trainline offers woman refund after 'smelly, crammed' journey

Nursey worker Jacqueline Stone was on the 10.45am train from Bournemouth to Manchester Picadilly to visit her sister. 

However, thanks to what CrossCountry said was a lack of staff, her train was packed full of passengers. 

The 49-year-old, who has only ever been on a train twice, forked out £146 for her return ticket. 

She said: “We all got on the train and they told us that the previous one at 10.15am and next one at 11.45am had both been cancelled and that everybody had been notified by email, so everybody was on ours.

Mrs Stone departed Bournemouth train station on a packed train (Image: Daily Echo)

“As we were pulling out of the train station, the train manager apologised in advance for the terrible journey we were about to have. 

“It was hot, it was sweaty, people didn’t come prepared and had no water with them, there were people sat in first class on the floor in the aisle. 

“It was supposed to be a four-hour 44-minute journey but it took longer because the train was so weighed down.”

Mrs Stone is to receive a refund for her journey (Image: Daily Echo)

The journey on Friday, July 7 took more than five hours, according to Jacqueline.

She described it as “claustrophobic and disgusting” and she was being “squashed” by the person sat next to her who was also up against the window.  

The Bournemouth resident complained and asked for a refund on the £146 ticket she had pre-booked. 

Since being contacted by the Daily Echo, Trainline, who she bought the ticket from, has offered to refund Jacqueline half her fare. 

A spokeswoman for the company said: “We’re sorry to hear about Mrs Stone’s recent journey. 

“In cases such as this, where the train does run but someone has a poor onboard journey experience, we direct customers to the relevant train operator because this is their area of responsibility.

“However on this occasion, we’re happy to provide a refund for the impacted leg of Mrs Stone’s journey, as a gesture of goodwill.”

Bournemouth train station (Image: Daily Echo)

A spokeswoman for CrossCountry said: “Unfortunately, short-term unavailability of train crew in the Bournemouth area means there are times when we can’t move trains as planned, leading to more cancellations than usual.  

“While we’re working hard to train up more colleagues to deliver a reliable service for our passengers, we’re sorry to customers affected by cancellations or overcrowding and would urge all those delayed by 30 minutes or more to apply for delay repay compensation through the CrossCountry website.”