True stories from the Great Railway Disaster

A weekly chronicle of the absurdities caused by the Government's privatisation programme

There are, in the new British railways, the official and the unofficial. Paul Gosling, was travelling from Leicester to Manchester changing at Sheffield and was delayed because his connection was an unofficial one. His train was due in at 9.11 at Sheffield and the Manchester train was due to leave at 9.14. Eight passengers joined Mr Gosling in the race from platform three to platform eight only to see the Manchester train pulling out. He complained to the station manager who looked unsurprised.

He explained that he could not have delayed the departure because the train he arrived on was run by InterCity while the train leaving was run by Network North West. One company could not delay leaving to await a train run by another company. He would have to wait for the "official" connecting train which was scheduled to leave almost half an hour later. Mr Gosling suggested this was crazy and says the station manager tried to look as if he agreed with him. Mr Gosling asked if it would help if he wrote to complain, but was told it would be of no use whatsoever.