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news
LNER class 225 train, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0 by Geof Sheppard on Wikimeida CommonsDoctor thrown off train because he hadn't reserved space for bike - even though there were four available
A senior doctor from Scotland was thrown off an LNER train because he had not booked his bike – even though there were four spare spaces to store bicycles on the service.
Dr Graham Mackenzie, a specialist in public health who is now training to be a GP, was heading home from Edinburgh to Kirkcaldy after completing a 12 and a half hour night shift.
In a tweet to LNER he said that being unable to take the train he had planned to take meant that he lost one hour of his rest between back-to-back night shifts.
Inflexible policy needs to change
I commute Edinburgh↔️Kirkcaldy
Today, after 12.5h night shift, I was kicked off your as not booked
It's a 1 stop journey
You had 4 empty spaces
I lost 1h rest between night shiftscc @SpokesLothian @CyclingSurgeon
— Dr Graham Mackenzie (@gmacscotland) January 18, 2020
EMBED
In reply to his tweet, LNER said they were “Sorry to hear this,” adding “You can easily book a bike in advance by messaging us on here.”
However, Dr Mackenzie told LNER that “it's difficult to predict when a hospital shift ends, so not possible to inform [the] day before.”
He continued: “There were four empty spaces and nobody else needing them. It would have put nobody out to have allowed me on one stop,” he added, saying the following train had been cancelled and the service after that was “standing all the way.”
Other Twitter users shared problems they had encountered trying to board LNER and other services with a bike.
One, Lizzie Chandra, said: “Commuting with bikes in UK is more difficult than it should be and LNER are particularly bad.
“I once made an emergency trip home when husband was seriously ill and there was no one else to collect kids -despite explaining the situation they refused to let me on despite space.”
Dr Mackenzie, who spent four years researching the role of social media in global healthcare and public health said that “Listening and flexibility [are] a really important part of any job.
“LNER should have a look at all the responses here, reflect on policy and test some new ideas
“There is a lack of reasonableness, logic and compassion here,” he added.
A number of people expressed their shock at LNER’s lack of flexibility, with one commenter saying: “People booking should have guaranteed places. That's all. And then if there are places available it's plainly stupid to forbid someone who did not book, to use them. Unnecessary bureaucracy causing unnecessary harm.”
LNER has also faced criticism in recent months regarding the difficulty of using the bike storage areas in its new Azuma trains, which run on inter-city routes including some in Scotland. GWR, which operates similar Hitachi-built rolling stock, has come under similar criticism.
Simon joined road.cc as news editor in 2009 and is now the site’s community editor, acting as a link between the team producing the content and our readers. A law and languages graduate, published translator and former retail analyst, he has reported on issues as diverse as cycling-related court cases, anti-doping investigations, the latest developments in the bike industry and the sport’s biggest races. Now back in London full-time after 15 years living in Oxford and Cambridge, he loves cycling along the Thames but misses having his former riding buddy, Elodie the miniature schnauzer, in the basket in front of him.
Latest Comments
- grOg 3 sec ago
Where does it state in the article that Ashley purchased the stock? it does state that Ashley bought the brand and intellectual property, not the...
- rogerwb 2 hours 40 min ago
Jump off the bike and run across. I cycle in trainers though.
- momove 3 hours 43 min ago
Cheers for the lesson! Wasn't expecting one so was pleasantly surprised, especially getting to find the origin of "laconic"!
- ktache 4 hours 30 min ago
Isn't it a rights issue?
- AidanR 5 hours 20 min ago
Same here - it took me by surprise. 10:30am doesn't feel like a dangerous time to cycle; apparently I'm wrong on that.
- Daddy Feebs 5 hours 33 min ago
If anything, it looks a bit like an SL6
- wtjs 6 hours 9 min ago
Other commenters have different views True!
- Daclu Trelub 6 hours 24 min ago
Incredibly bone-headed.
- Sriracha 8 hours 26 min ago
Lidl have a window poster emblazoned, "Black Friday. Starts Sunday".
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33 comments
Always been pathetic in the way you have to book and put me off.
Why can't they just use a number for the bikes and allow you to book online?
Also what a plank not letting him when there are bays free.
I think the message is quite clear. Please ensure if you are LNER rail staff that if you want to be ILL, have and accident, or relatives need a hospital or Doctor they should really book it in advance!
Take the front wheel out and keep it with you. It is no longer a bicycle but a collection of parts.
Take the front wheel out and keep it with you. It is no longer a bicycle but a collection of parts.
LNER have also changed the booking system making it harder to book a bike on a train . It used to be possible to make a booking online but that option has been removed and now it is only possible by phone or at an LNER ticket office.
rules are meant for the obedience of fools and the guidance of wise men
A good demonstration of why guards on trains are no longer required. What a complete c@ck whoever threw him off the train is. I wish them a similar misfortune.
I travel with my bike by train a lot, often on long-distance operators. I'm sorry for the doctor but I also never try to get on a long-distance operator that demands a bike reservation without having secured one. They're never flexible about it and one's always risking an unpleasant confrontation with a jobsworth.
Most long-distance operators will provide a bike booking at the station booking office up to 10 minutes before departure. I've also found that reservations made via Twitter are honoured. Staff should use more common sense but I've seldom had much luck with persuading them to act on that basis.
Took me a few re-reads, that one! Most of the charts are xenophonic to me...
Yet another success story from our privatised industries. Foreign owned privatised industries, getting more subsidies than British Rail ever did.
LNER is owned by the Department for Transport and has been since mid-2018. Staff with shitty and/or xenophonic attitudes are available from both publicly and privately owned companies.
What does their taste in music have to do with this?
Its a PITA to take bikes on trains in the UK.
You have to book your ticket then ring a number to find out if theres spaces for your bike on that particular service.
You think they would write the additional code required to be able to book both at once.
In Europe, I can stroll up to any train and take my bike on it and there will be plenty of spaces. Even when heading from Paris to the Alps with a bike box, other passengers just put their bags on top with no complaint. Any time Ive jumped up to help while apologising, they've brush it off smiling. The attitude being we all need to get where we're going and we're doing it together.
Whereas Eurostar want £30 each way and can't/won't guarantee your bike will be on the same train or at the other end when you arrive.
So british rail services are shit and even worse if you happen to have any special requirements.
This isn't news, it's been like this for ages now.
The annoying thing is if it were just Joe or Jane Blogs getting put out by their crapness then nobody would care.
It seems that you need to be a case just to deserve fair treatment.
I never had an issue with Virgin, actually found them really good. It did help that I was travelling terminus to terminus (like London - Manchester) so there was no mad sprint down a platform at an intermediate stop hoping that the guard had remembered you needed to get the bike off.
The disability thing is interesting. Depends a lot on the train and the station - most national ones are decent enough (if a bit of a faff in places to get lifts and so on), most regional ones are still non-compliant. Even if the train is fully DDA, there are plenty of regional stations you can get off at and then find yourself completely unable to get off the platform due to steps, escalators etc and no ramps or lifts.
Disabled people are meant to give 24hrs notice so that the train operating company and/or Network Rail can put in place the required staff / equipment to enable the passenger(s) to leave the train and platform (because most regional stations are unstaffed or only partially staffed such as during the morning rush hour). Not just disabled people though, it's really tough for anyone carrying heavy luggage or pushing a pram/buggy.
How about a bike hanging/parking space next to every seat. And, if it's not being used, a non-cyclist may stand there.
Also RO-RO aircraft to remove the hassle of cumbersome bike bags and boxes.
If only I were king......
The problem with this would be that, as on Great Western, where the bike spaces are labelled as also being for large items of luggage, passengers would regard themselves as having primary claim to the space and would refuse to give it up.
Maybe the good doctor will have to get a folding bike?
My understanding is train companies don't like folding bikes any better, unless they are below a certain size and in a bag of some kind.
What a massive PITA for the Doctor.
I've taken my Brompton (no bag for it) on local trains and the Pendolino to London with no issues.
You're not stopped from getting on trains with mahoosive suitcases are you ?
Brompton fits between the back to back seats on the Pendolino - no bother. The good Doctor should definitely get one.
While a folding bike is absolutely great (I love my Bromptin for travelling!), train companies should really accomodate all bikes as is standard in other countries; the solution can't be to tell people to buy a different bike.
Folding bikes have also disadvantates so people may prefer a proper commuter bike. For example, I'm quite tall, so a good posture is really difficult, and with the small wheels every pothole in Edinburgh's cratered roads hits my spinal column really hard. Ok for short distances, but if the "good doctor" has a fair distance to cover from the station to home/work, he may well for health reasons prefer a more suitable commuter bike.
UK train companies need to see how it's done in Europe, I never cease to be amazed how easy it is in other countries, with joined up thinking, proper multi purpose rolling stock and no anti cycling sentiments by other passengers, it's jus accepted
When I were a lad I went everywhere by train & bike. Just turn up and go, chuck it in the guard's van, so simple, it just made sense - especially since I didn't have a driving licence.
Now when I tell my lad to do the same, I'm told it's nigh on impossible, especially if there is a change of train involved. Having to book in advance, and thread together availability across different trains. Not even with mobile phones and apps and such advances.
It is a big step backwards - you're going to need a car at one end of the journey or both, unless you can plan in advance with military precision and are in favour with the gods.
So much for reducing our reliance on cars in favour of public transport.
This is weird, but I think I might be about to have a good thing to say about virgin trains.
You can book, but it would appear that if there are spaces you can get on. Not great cycle storage, those hook things, which even with my 2 inch knobblies I can use. But in the middle of the train so no chance for the guard to get nasty. (Probably not good if you booked but all the spaces are full with arguementative riders)
I occassionally get them as they run through on the local lines between Reading and Basingstoke, my alternatr route if the Gatwick line isn't running.
The other leg uses South Westen and as long as the train isn't packed, and with a bit of politeness and niceness with the guard, you can get the bike in the cycle spaces even on the restricted services.
Great Western more restrictive booking has caused me not to do the ride out train home thing to any stations on the lines that use the new Hitachis. Or letting the train take the strain from stations I pass, I'm thinking Goring.
Even the train out ride home thing requires more planning and timing than I would like, taking some of the fun out of all.
And I know we're not particularly happy, but less than able passengers who require assistance are meant to give 24hrs notice for any train travel.
I suspect that won't stand after the first DDA case. It would be a clear case of dicrimination as fit people can turn up and go with a ticket bought on the day.
The rail industry is a disgrace towards less able passengers and the government culpable in allowing it, all trains were supposed to be fully accessible by 2020 as set out in RVAR 2010. Ten years and thet still can't manage it!
surely you mean Cross Country as Virgin were shit when they operated the West Coast Mainline and only allowed two bikes booked in advance in the one engine compartment.
It's actually Cross Country, but you are right that they allow bikes on without booking if there is space. One of the few TOCS who still will. GWR used to, and so lots of people used to take their bikes into London or Oxford on the Cotswold line. Now you have to book, and hence know what time you are going to travel - which is pretty difficult.
Taking bikes on trains is getting harder, which is an interesting way to encourage people out of their motor cars.
Yep, LNER in Scotland are arses, I had to re-direct from Glasgow to Edinburgh and then onto York becvause of flooding, unable to book bike tickets online & arrived with minutes before train left, the Guard nodded on a Scot's cyclist without any checks then did a full jobsworth on myself and another English cyclist, he did hold the train to let us get cycle tickets but then spent all the journey from Edinburgh to Newcastle blaming us for the delays and passed this message on to the relief Guard. The Guard was just anti-English and an embarrasment to all Scots. He only held the train because I challenged him about letting on the Scots cyclist without checking tickets and asked to see his Supervisor. B**stard!!
Absurd not to let him on.
Same sort of thing Norwich to London, you have to book 24 hours in advance and know what train you will get back.
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