Random Irritations

I'm on a grand central train, London to Wakefield, engineering works messing with our journey. Anyway, the overhead storage is excessively narrow so you can not fit your carry case in it (small bags on wheels suitable for easyJet etc). Hosts of people struggling to find somewhere to put their bags, the overhead racks are empty other than for coats 🙄. Great bit of design 🤬
 
I'm on a grand central train, London to Wakefield, engineering works messing with our journey. Anyway, the overhead storage is excessively narrow so you can not fit your carry case in it (small bags on wheels suitable for easyJet etc). Hosts of people struggling to find somewhere to put their bags, the overhead racks are empty other than for coats 🙄. Great bit of design 🤬
That and ticket costs and people wonder why folk don’t use the rail service.
 
I'm not a fan at all but for a visit to London it's the most logical transport to use. Most other places, I avoid the trains.
Occasionally I have reason that I have to get the train from back home to work. I hate it the pricing is illogical, you can be sat next to someone doing the same journey but have paid a vastly different price for your ticket depending which site it’s booked through. Overhead baggage is absolute waste of space you either have to leave you bag unattended out of site, somehow shoved under you feet or hold it!

Rail travel in this country is awful and we’re supposed to value it likes it’s the best thing since sliced bread 🤣
 
Last edited:
Rail pricing is a total mess and needs a complete overhaul. That's an irritation on its own.
You’re telling me! If I book a direct ticket from home to work it’s roughly £85 one way..

If booked a split journey home to Banbury, Banbury to work its £42.60 total cost. I don’t have to change trains or even seats! Literally stay on the train in my same seat for half the price! Make it make sense 🤷🏼
 
Occasionally I have reason that I have to get the train from back home to work. I hate it the pricing is illogical, you can be sat next to someone doing the same journey but have paid a vastly different price for your ticket depending which site it’s booked through. Overhead baggage is absolute waste of space you either have to leave you bag unattended out of site, somehow shoved under you feet or hold it!

Rail travel in this country is awful and we’re supposed to value it likes it’s the best thing since sliced bread 🤣
What was the best thing before sliced bread?

Unsliced bread?🤔
 
Had to go up to Wanstead central north east London yesterday evening. Some M25 issues clockwise found me going anti-clockwise and in from the south east via Blackwell or Silvertown tunnel (not sure which we did) and Stratford - and into the Congestion Zone. Knew I’d have to pay for the tunnel and sure enough TFL website tells me that. But the congestion charge…?

My car is flagged up for yesterday as being in the congestion zone but TFL doesn’t tell me when I entered it and if I have a charge to pay or not…I have to work it out myself. Really?

The website tells me that charge only applies on Saturdays between 12:00 and 18:00. Now I’m pretty much 100% certain that it was after 18:00 when we entered the zone…but there is just a little niggling worry…and I’ve got no way that I can think of of checking. And I’m not paying £17.50 charge JIC as I know I won’t get it back if I discover I was mistaken.

Irritating indeed!
 
Last edited:
Had to go up to Wanstead central north east London yesterday evening. Some M25 issues clockwise found me going anti-clockwise and in from the south east via Blackwell or Silvertown tunnel (not sure which we did) and Stratford - and into the Congestion Zone. Knew I’d have to pay for the tunnel and sure enough TFL website tells me that. But the congestion charge…?

My car is flagged up for yesterday as being in the congestion zone but TFL doesn’t tell me when I entered it and if I have a charge to pay or not…I have to work it out myself. Really?

The website tells me that charge only applies on Saturdays between 12:00 and 18:00. Now I’m pretty much 100% certain that it was after 18:00 when we entered the zone…but there is just a little niggling worry…and I’ve got no way that I can think of of checking. And I’m not paying £17.50 charge JIC as I know I won’t get it back if I discover I was mistaken.

Irritating indeed!
That Route should not have taken you into the congestion charge zone but it would take you through the ULEZ. Whether you have to pay that depends on the age of your vehicle.
 
My, I hate trains day continues 😠. Engineering works meant a bus replacement service. Except.........the train was 30 minutes late, there was no bus at the stop, no one there to help. We ended up booking an Uber, £40.

The upside, the driver understood the urgency, drove well ,🤭, and got us to York with 6 minutes to spare. Well played that man 👍.

Back on time for the rest of the journey. The organisation at Wakefield though 🤬🤬🤬
 
My, I hate trains day continues 😠. Engineering works meant a bus replacement service. Except.........the train was 30 minutes late, there was no bus at the stop, no one there to help. We ended up booking an Uber, £40.

The upside, the driver understood the urgency, drove well ,🤭, and got us to York with 6 minutes to spare. Well played that man 👍.

Back on time for the rest of the journey. The organisation at Wakefield though 🤬🤬🤬
Taking the Train is rarely the best option.
I would always find a way to take my car. Could you not have got a Hotel on the outskirts of London and used the tube?
 
That Route should not have taken you into the congestion charge zone but it would take you through the ULEZ. Whether you have to pay that depends on the age of your vehicle.
When I put my reg into the TFL website it correctly identified my car then showed I might be due to pay CC and for the tunnel. ULEZ was mentioned but I read from it that my car was compliant…it’s a brand new Volvo.

I could certainly see the CC signs as I drove in but found the roads hugely confusing as I approached the tunnels and after we came out the other side. We’d never driven up that way to that part of London before. We came in by the A2 then A102/A12 up past Canary Wharf, then (Stratford?) High Street, Romford Rd up to south side of Wanstead Flats.

Blimey.
 
Last edited:
Taking the Train is rarely the best option.
I would always find a way to take my car. Could you not have got a Hotel on the outskirts of London and used the tube?
London is just a slog from the NE. If it runs well the train is 3 1/2 hours from my town to Kings Cross. That's pretty impressive. Driving would be 5-6 hours, even to the outskirts.

It's one of those where the train is the right option, it's just been a bad experience.

Pretty much anywhere else from where I live, to York, Edinburgh, Liverpool etc, I'll drive.
 
When I put my reg into the TFL website it correctly identified my car then showed I might be due to pay CC and for the tunnel. ULEZ was mentioned but I read from it that my car was compliant…it’s a brand new Volvo.

I could certainly see the CC signs as I drove in but found the roads hugely confusing as I approached the tunnels and after we came out the other side. We’d never driven up that way to that part of London before. We came in by the A2 then A102/A12 then (Stratford?) High Street, then Romford Rd up to south side of Wanstead Flats.

Blimey.
I think the C just means the charge for using the tunnel. The actual Congestion Zone begins at Tower Bridge when approaching the City from the East.
 
Top