HOW DARE THEY!

On 11th October

I dared to drive to Bluewater.  I bought a pen in Eurostar colours for 25p.  The receipt, which was barely glanced at entitled me to claim 2 for 1 Eurostar travel.

The code word on my card from the Eurostar shop was – Ashford.  Was this just insensitive, nasty or intentionally hurtful? 

Having taken our Lille/Brussels trains as well as most of the Paris ones, and given them to Ebbsfleet, how dared they use Ashford as the code?  The cards available in other stores just said ‘Bluewater’.

It matters not that the small print says you must book a trip from Ebbsfleet or Ashford. We are losing the majority of our trains which are just being given to Ebbsfleet so why use ‘Ashford’ as the password.

The car journey was awful. I went from East Malling and the 20 miles took 45 mins going and 65 coming back – nose to tail on three lanes – just the thing a busy executive needs every Friday night (and I was returning at 4.00pm on a sunny midweek afternoon not the rush hour in the dark and pouring rain)

As the line in the Edgar Allan Poe poem goes “quoth the raven, ‘Nevermore”

16th November

This evening, my husband arrived home with photographs of Eurostar’s latest advertising campaign in Brussels. Words like appalling and disgusting seem totally inadequate.

We have so much to be proud of in Britain, human excellence, creativity and natural beauty as well as things of historic value which are the envy of the world.  Why then do we have to sink to these depths?  I sincerely hope that Belgians do not see all of us as murderers, maniacs or vulgar yobs.

Surely with a train as superb as the Eurostar we should be marketing what is best in the UK? As a Brit, I wish to totally disassociate myself from this inexcusable campaign.  Amusement can be provided without sinking to crudity. These adverts not only denigrate our country and its people, they are an insult to the integrity of the Belgian people in assuming that they would find them at all amusing. 

No doubt Eurostar will say that it is a commercial decision.  It certainly was not taken by a minion in a mop cupboard and must have been approved by the board.  It has also undoubtedly cost the British taxpayer several millions.  I personally feel that the board and executive should be sacked and the hoardings covered with an apology to the Belgian people.  

They may well be attention-catching but if as a result Europeans despise the English and the Brits feel ashamed, they have fallen singularly short of their objective.

How on earth would we react if other countries wanted to put such stuff in the UK?  I have no doubt that they would actually be banned and I would certainly have no wish to visit the places being promoted.  I have never seen any Belgian adverts like them on hoardings, in the underground or on TV and have always found Belgian people to be quietly courteous.

I am sure that they to do not relish the prospect of the thousands of scouts who seem to travel on the trains at the weekend being exposed to them – or any of their children for that matter.  To suggest, furthermore, that there is any similarity with the Mannekin Pis – the famous statue of an infant peeing - would appear to demonstrate considerable ignorance of the legend of the infant who saved his city and goes back to the 11th century and the statue to the 16th.

Shouldn’t we be saying positive things about the UK instead of positively awful ones?

Monday 19th November

I left home at about 5.45 to catch the 6.07 from Ashford to London Bridge and change there for a connection to Dartford. These are basically commuter trains so there is not really room for huge cases.

The lift up from the platform at Dartford was out of order so 33 steps.  Fortunately, I didn’t have my usual heavy case and bags.  However, the lady with the pushchair, toddler and lots of bags had a great problem.

Down the ramp to the Fastrack bus which likewise is not built to take suitcases. It was indeed very fast on dedicated lanes, via Bluewater, to Ebbsfleet taking just over 30 mins. We arrived at 9.05. This was in very good time for our 10.15 train.  However, as my previous journey to Dartford had incurred a 40 minute delay, I was not going to take any chances.

The bus pulled into an empty car park from which we walked through a tunnel to the station entrance.  The huge sign outside says ‘ Ebbsfleet, Gateway to England’. Geographically correct I suppose but to a gregarious Scot Ashford’s Gateway to Europe seems much more open-minded.

There was a jazz band playing, probably to keep warm, but no queues to get through check in. The lounge can only be half the size of Ashford’s with two ladies loos (I am told that blokes have one and one urinal) and one small café Nero in the far corner. There is a shutter next to it but whatever it will be was not open. I could have done with a snack having left home more than three hours earlier.  At least the lounge was warm.  I was very glad that is was fair, if cold, outside as there is little shelter on the platform.

I left the platform in Brussels at about 13.10.  Add 15+ minutes to get to the Grande Place and you see that it took nearly 6 3/4 hours. This is in great contrast to the direct journey from Ashford two weeks before which took under 3 hours from home to coffee in the café.

Friday 23rd November

My first trip to Brussels via St Pancras.

I went straight from my Tai Chi class at 11.00am to the station at Ashford to park then catch the domestic train to London Bridge. The ticket collector to whom I showed photos of ‘those adverts’ immediately said he would not wish his youngsters to see them. You don’t have much choice if your tram passes a hoarding. However, the conversation passed a few minutes of the journey.

I alighted at London Bridge and the trip via the Northern Line to Kings Cross / St Pancras went OK although there must have been about 30 steps in lots of little groups and thousands of travellers going in every direction.  That was a bit hard going with a heavy suitcase and three bags.

At St Pancras, the arrival area had few shops open and was very cold. I couldn’t find the ‘facilities’ so I checked in having been assured that there were loos there.  The departure lounge was extremely busy, nearly all people for Paris on the train before mine.  They were called to board about 25 minutes before departure – I suppose quarter of a mile is a long hike to the front of the train if you have toddlers or lots of luggage. Thus I found a seat.

I don’t like huge crowds and the ambiance is much less friendly than Ashford’s. There, you don’t mind walking across from your seat to the café to buy a croissant. At St P the café is in the far corner so I didn’t feel I could leave my things and I wouldn’t have managed to carry a snack along with everything else.

So you can understand that the visit to the ‘facilities’ entailed taking the luggage too. Not much room for a case in the cubicle and no hook for the handbag. Nor were there too many loos when you consider the number of passengers going through and it’s always the women who have to take the little ones.

Having left Ashford two hours earlier than usual, I reached Brussels Midi at 5.00pm rather than my pre Nov 19th 4.00pm so the total journey time was double.

There were fewer changes than going via Ebbsfleet but if it weren’t for the fact that I want to see my husband I would not be doing it.  It’s far too long and stressful.  I’m not surprised that some executives are talking about early retirement.

Ashford-Brussels ticket purchase very difficult

Eurostar told Ashford – Brussels passengers we could use the Euro Disney service and change at Lille.  Indeed the train makes a new stop at Lille which was not on the timetables before the changes in November.

Here are two emails I have received recently from very unhappy passengers.
First someone who lives in Brussels

“I tried to book online via Lille to go the UK over Xmas (travelling out around 21st Dec, back around 30th), but either the trains were fully booked or there were no standard price tickets and prices started at €170 one way. But for Brussels-London there were plenty of cheap tickets left.
 
At the Midi travel centre I asked a general question about booking online. I said that as you can only book Brussels-Ashford by doing 2 separate bookings, first you have to book and pay for Brussels-Lille, then Lille-Ashford (or vice versa). So you have to book and pay for one leg without knowing whether there are tickets available for the other leg at the price you want. (If you buy the cheapest tickets they are non exchangeable and non refundable so you could lose your money.)  They could offer no solution to this.
 
I asked whether, to avoid this problem, I could book tickets in the travel office. The answer was they can’t book standard price tickets from Lille to Ashford as Lille is in France and they can’t do this in Belgium (they “haven’t been given the code”).  All they can book in Belgium is non-standard tickets. This is astounding!

When I protested, the man in the travel office told me to speak to the people at the desk in the Eurostar check-in area. When I told them my woes, their first answer was that the Brussels-Ashford service was now discontinued and there was no way of travelling from Brussels to Ashford. It was news to most of them that Eurostar had told Ashford passengers they could change at Lille. Their advice was then to travel to Lille and buy my ticket to Ashford at Lille!! They’d obviously never given the matter any thought”.

Now from a UK resident…

On receipt of my new F.T. card, from Jonathan Davies, Head of Eurostar F.T., I inquired of him how I might best use my accumulated points for travel between Ashford and Brussels (it is no longer possible to book on-line as the system does not recognise the Ashford-Brussels element of the request).  In reply, I had a standard letter from Natalie Hadlum, Customer Service Team Leader. 

In the two pages giving Eurostar’s reasons for opening Ebbsfleet, there is one paragraph referring to the points.  I am told I will no longer be able to use my points to book a direct Eurostar journey between Ashford and Brussels.  I can use points to book Ashford to Lille ……… subject to availability.  I was amazed to read:  “if you opt to book from Ashford to Lille then you will need to make your own way to Brussels from Lille using Thalys or the normal rail service”.

So much for Eurostar promises. 

10th December

Those adverts again. Eurostar has got it badly wrong – the French I mean.
As schools in the UK will confirm, every French GCSE candidate would be expected to know that ‘au coin de la rue’ means ‘at the corner of the street’.

There is no French word for word equivalent of ‘just around the corner’. The meaning is best conveyed by ‘à deux pas’ – ‘a couple of steps away’ but no mention of round the corner.

Unfortunately, the Eurostar ads are just that, something surprising – or shocking is actually round the corner. Thus the campaign in French is nonsensical and meaningless. Oh dear.  I’m not paying for French lessons!

Brussels-Lille-Ashford

Success, of sorts.

I have managed to return to Ashford by catching the 8.59am from Brussels and changing at Lille for the 10.09 am which stops at Ashford.

It was a pfaff having to leave the platform at Lille then queue up to check in through two sets of customs, ticket control and security when I had done it just an hour previously at Brussels.

Nevertheless, it reduced the journey time to about three and a half hours which is infinitely better than five and a half or six. I realise that it is of no use to travellers from this side who want to return in the evening.  However, I did meet a couple from Lille coming over to their Ashford office. They now have to stay overnight which adds considerably to the expense so they cannot do the journey as frequently as they did. This will mean more loss of revenue for Eurostar and more cost to the taxpayer when we have to make up the shortfall.

Buying the ticket was difficult as the member of staff was going to issue one ticket Brussels-Lille and another Lille-Ashford at increased cost of course. I refused to pay more than I had before for a more inconvenient journey which was recommended to us by Eurostar. (Thrifty Scot you see).  It was finally fixed so it is possible. But if you try to do it from the continent I fear you may still have problems.

And of course you cannot do it on line.

Bonne Chance! 

Passenger Numbers

From what I can gather – the troops have been counting – there are generally no more passengers on Eurostar’s twelve trains per day from Ebbsfleet than Ashford’s current four.  (That would seem to give the lie to Eurostar’s protestations that the majority of Ashford’s passengers would prefer to use Ebbsfleet.)

Remember that half of these people could be travelling free with the Bluewater offer. I am told that Eurostar pays a per capita charge to Euro tunnel for each passenger to go through the Tunnel. I have been informed that this costs £14 each way per person. Thus a £59 ticket purchased on the two for one offer leaves Eurostar with the grand sum of £3 for the privilege of transporting two individuals to Brussels or Paris and back. 

How long will the taxpayer have to keep subsidising Ebbsfleet? I have not yet met anyone who likes the station in the desert as Ebbsfleet was called in a French railway magazine.  Some have complained that it is bitterly cold and described staff wearing coats because of the cold.

By contrast you are cosy as soon as you enter the Ashford station. Maybe we should leave ‘E’ in the freezer and reinstate ‘A’ at the top of the class!