I REFER to the article 'Passenger power got us through', Hereford Times, November 27.
I can confirm that the 16.59 train from Birmingham New Street was running late and would verify that at Great Malvern passengers were told to leave the train as it would terminate there.
Most of us then left the train. As disabled passengers, my husband and I were very upset at having to negotiate flights of steps and a subway, only to find that the facilities including seating areas and toilets were closed 'due to staff shortages'.
We waited in the cold and dark for buses to appear.
Some time later a lady passenger ran up to the crowd and said that some people had refused to leave the train and she asked us to return in order to force central trains to honour their commitment to take passengers to their destination. We boarded the train and after some phone calls the driver said that the train would travel onwards to Hereford. We arrived late and some passengers had missed connections to South Wales.
There is no question that Central Trains intended that the train should terminate in Malvern otherwise we would not have been told to leave or that 'We hope to arrange buses for the onward journey'. In this instance 'passenger power' did indeed win the day, whether or not such an incident was logged. What regular passengers will also confirm is that terminating trains before the final destination is all too frequent.
If you have health problems, are elderly or travelling with young children, please take a survival kit.
MRS D PICKEN,
Arrowsmith Ave, Bartestree
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