Bikes on trains in the UK

Thanks Techfault! Exactly the reply I was after!

All praise to the hypnoforum!

This is a bit of a part-rant part-curious to see if others have had this experience and-thinking of lobbying Virgin post.

Basically I have travelled with my bike on trains all over the UK, and always book in advance where possible and arrive at the station in good time. Never had any untoward issues.

Booked my gf and I tickets to go up north online, then had to phone up to book bikes on as there is no option to do this via website. Fair enough. Man gives me reservation code and tells me to stick it on bikes. Job done.

Arrive at Euston, go to platform when it comes up (10 mins before train due to leave) and from the off the ticket inspector on the platform (who was also the train manager) was obstructive, difficult and just plain rude. We were about 4 back in the line and he shouted over to ask if we had a reservation for the bikes. I shout yes. Get to front and show tickets, and code. He instantly says we need a separate ticket for the bikes and he won't let us board. When I point out i've done everything Virgin asked me to do on the phone and that i'm sure to miss my train if i go back to the desk, he initially says it's nothing to do with him before making the gracious offer of taking the bikes but chucking us off if anyone with a 'genuine' reservation comes on. Not much of an offer when our bikes should already be reserved, I point this out and he says he's just not letting us on and then turns his back on us. I forget to mention the shit-stirring and rather large platform attendant who came over and did his best to try and inflame the situation further. Stressed and upset girlfriend runs to try and get tickets printed and I have to wait with bikes whilst getting glared at by train manager from afar. Girlfriend arrives back about 30 sec before train doors close-pointedly show manager tickets and head for the bike carriage at the front of train. He closes doors and smirks at us out of the window as the train pulls away.

It turned out there were no bikes booked on the train apart from ours and that the train manager would have known this. Pretty raging at having missed my train and had onward transport messed up too, I complained to the Virgin manager at Euston and he was apologetic but apart from promising to take our complaint further we were essentially fobbed off back into the line to try and get our booking transferred onto a later train. When getting on to this train I saw another 2 cyclists being subjected to the same routine by an equally unpleasant ticket inspector. They both missed their train too.

I'll be taking this as far as I can with Virgin, as as far as I'm concerned i played by their rules and remained polite even when provoked by their cuntish personel, but lets be honest, they're not really going to do anything unless there is sustained and widespread lobbying from the cyclists using their service and being treated this way. Apart from what seems to be an archaic and inefficient booking system, I'm particularly disgusted at the freedom individual staff appear to have to antagonise and discriminate against cyclists as some kind of power principle. I'm sure there are instances of people turning up late without cycle bookings and causing hassle, but if you fork out the amounts they charge for tickets I don't think they should begrudge using what limited capacity they do actually have and being a bit pro-active encouraging green transport instead of criminalising bike use and placing obstacles in the way of people travelling with them.

So, what's everyone else's experience with Virgin?

when I lived in Manchester, I travelled back and forth between london and Manchester alot for 5 years 95% of the time with a bike. I have had many experiences with the Virgin Trains lot but the only bad ones have been with the Euston staff who rigidly stick to the letter of the law with respect to bikes even if common sense renders that law moronic. Pretty much anywhere else they have been flexible.

I have had a few incidents where I have arrived 10 minutes before and have been told that there is no way i can book my bike on that train but have to wait 40 mins so they can book on even there is space and no other earthly reason why. Queue me missing the train even though it is standing at the platform for 8 or 9 minutes while i stand waiting grrrr

I would say without ranting overly about a specific issue, what would be a hugely progressive step for Virgin is if there could be an ability to get a bike reservation at info points, ticket machines and from ticket inspectors at the gates. I have never done what you did and tried to reserve my bike online cause i know the jobsworth attitudes of the euston staff so would usually have to queue up for a bike ticket even if i had a prebooked ticket = major and unnecessary hassle.

I do appreciate that a bike ticket is free but personally i like the system in Italy where on all regional (slow) trains they have bike hooks hanging from the ceiling. Many more bikes can be carried in the equivalent space, rendering reservations less necessary. All you do is pay 3.50 for a bike ticket that is valid on any train (that carries bikes) anywhere in Italy, no reservations needed

good luck with the lobbying of an enormous entity like Virgin Trains though. i will cautiously offer support

yes... have to be realistic. Just gets infuriating when pedantic jobsworths with a ship on their shoulder feel the need (and are able to) throw your travel plans into chaos with absolutely no comeback for the stupid prices they charge for the privilege of travelling with them. Bloody good example of how privatisation doesn't work. At all. Makes me seriously consider just buying a car again and avoiding the hassle altogether.

anyway-plan at the moment is to set up a website for people that have had similar experiences to voice their frustrations and do the rounds of the cycle websites to encourage people to post. With enough bad PR Virgin might just apologise and do something to rectify the situation which is pretty much down to poor admin/communication between booking and station staff and nasty officious people taking the opportunity to behave like arseholes for the sake of it...

My mental banjo string well and truly snapped when I saw other cyclists on the second train getting the run around too in an identical situation. I tried to support them and it was just a point blank refusal to acknowledge that if people aren't told they need a separate ticket for their bike at time of booking then they aren't going to come to the platform with one....

I would say that if it was a government service you would have way WAY less chance of having any impact. bad publicity is something that private companies can ignore only for so long otherwise sales suffer. Good idea with the website. Maybe talk to them first with your complaint and a solution of some kind (I gave some in my post). Threaten that you will be setting up the website and maybe the threat coupled by the prospect of a solution might just get you somewhere. Im sure that if you ask Velocio nicely he will let you use the support of this forum as an example of just how big an influence your complaints website can have.

My mental banjo string well and truly snapped when I saw other cyclists on the second train getting the run around too in an identical situation. I tried to support them and it was just a point blank refusal to acknowledge that if people aren't told they need a separate ticket for their bike at time of booking then they aren't going to come to the platform with one....

I know the feeling. When I have had those incidents it makes you so incredibly angry that its almost beyond belief. What makes it worse is having to then bow and scrape to their bullshit before sitting down quietly on a train for a few hours

I managed to stay polite out of principle but I had the rage for about 3 days afterwards... The meddling goon who came over to try and intimidate me in front of my girlfriend will never know how close he came to having a lovely vintage mercian integrated with his skull at high velocity. bah. I'm probably better forgetting about it.

I would say that if it was a government service you would have way WAY less chance of having any impact. bad publicity is something that private companies can ignore only for so long otherwise sales suffer.

I too have had problems with Virgin, but have also found them extremely accomodating, which mirrors most of the train companies. But seriously, they don't give a toss about bad publicity because like most (all?) of the train operators on their main routes they have little if any credible alternative.

After faffing around with phoning non-existent bike reservation depts and having to resort to using the "special needs" line, then being given blank looks and A4 print outs of reservations - which the ticket office think are valid but the inspectors don't recognise - I started booking all my tickets via https://tickets.eastcoast.co.uk. It seems to be the only website which has bike booking available by default online - and you still get the option to book for trains from all the other companies. I've yet to put it to the absolute test of a busy and/or oversubscribed train though...

^ oops I should have read page 1....

Have never had issues with Virgin, but have normally taken my bike in an unpadded Cinelli bag and put it near where I'm sat. Set off to the Alps 3 weeks ago, with a bike in the Cinelli bag and the g/f's bike in a big padded Planet X. I didn't book any bike reservations.

On the journey to London the conductor stopped me walking up the platform and opened the luggage coach for me to put the bikes in without me asking. The same happened on the return journey.

I'm almost motivated enough to email and tell them how good I thought they were.

southern rail website allows train bookings online. I posted screenprints on a thread somewhereon this forum.

This is a bit of a part-rant part-curious to see if others have had this experience and-thinking of lobbying Virgin post.

Basically I have travelled with my bike on trains all over the UK, and always book in advance where possible and arrive at the station in good time. Never had any untoward issues.

Booked my gf and I tickets to go up north online, then had to phone up to book bikes on as there is no option to do this via website. Fair enough. Man gives me reservation code and tells me to stick it on bikes. Job done.

Arrive at Euston, go to platform when it comes up (10 mins before train due to leave) and from the off the ticket inspector on the platform (who was also the train manager) was obstructive, difficult and just plain rude. We were about 4 back in the line and he shouted over to ask if we had a reservation for the bikes. I shout yes. Get to front and show tickets, and code. He instantly says we need a separate ticket for the bikes and he won't let us board. When I point out i've done everything Virgin asked me to do on the phone and that i'm sure to miss my train if i go back to the desk, he initially says it's nothing to do with him before making the gracious offer of taking the bikes but chucking us off if anyone with a 'genuine' reservation comes on. Not much of an offer when our bikes should already be reserved, I point this out and he says he's just not letting us on and then turns his back on us. I forget to mention the shit-stirring and rather large platform attendant who came over and did his best to try and inflame the situation further. Stressed and upset girlfriend runs to try and get tickets printed and I have to wait with bikes whilst getting glared at by train manager from afar. Girlfriend arrives back about 30 sec before train doors close-pointedly show manager tickets and head for the bike carriage at the front of train. He closes doors and smirks at us out of the window as the train pulls away.

It turned out there were no bikes booked on the train apart from ours and that the train manager would have known this. Pretty raging at having missed my train and had onward transport messed up too, I complained to the Virgin manager at Euston and he was apologetic but apart from promising to take our complaint further we were essentially fobbed off back into the line to try and get our booking transferred onto a later train. When getting on to this train I saw another 2 cyclists being subjected to the same routine by an equally unpleasant ticket inspector. They both missed their train too.

I'll be taking this as far as I can with Virgin, as as far as I'm concerned i played by their rules and remained polite even when provoked by their cuntish personel, but lets be honest, they're not really going to do anything unless there is sustained and widespread lobbying from the cyclists using their service and being treated this way. Apart from what seems to be an archaic and inefficient booking system, I'm particularly disgusted at the freedom individual staff appear to have to antagonise and discriminate against cyclists as some kind of power principle. I'm sure there are instances of people turning up late without cycle bookings and causing hassle, but if you fork out the amounts they charge for tickets I don't think they should begrudge using what limited capacity they do actually have and being a bit pro-active encouraging green transport instead of criminalising bike use and placing obstacles in the way of people travelling with them.

So, what's everyone else's experience with Virgin?

That was a shitty experience.
I did turn up at Euston on a Saturday morning for Rugby without a bike reservation and the fat inspector would not let me on. So I had to go back to the ticket office , get my bike reservation and the 'lady' at the ticket office scribbled some authorisation that allowed me to take the next available train.

Apart from that I've found it easy to get around on trains with a bike but the different regulations/rules/procedures varies from train company to Train Company as do the storage ideas they have.

Travel early morning and off peak times The Staff are more relaxed.

Virgin/Euston seemed to be a recurring issue.

I lost my train ticket to go back to London from Cumbria, have to buy new one, asked about bicycle, station master said "just shoved it in"

Lovely staff tell me not to worry about ticket as if it were a suburban rail service, never needed a second ticket.

Not looking forward to going to Cumbria via Euston now.

Recently took the bikes Euston->Glasgow Central with Virgin. As with previous posters, we had bike reservation tickets through the East Coast website. Return leg from Central was a bit of a mess but worked out with a bit of assertiveness (see below)

With the gf until recently working in Exeter I've seen allsorts from First Great Western, including the guard blocking the entrance to the bike compartment 5 mins before departure because I wasn't there 10 mins early. WAC

Magic words I've discovered are "Under which rule of the national conditions of carriage are you refusing me travel?" This usually works. Except that one time...

I've used Virgin a few times for heading up North (normally the Preston, Oxenholme line). Have had to phone up to get a bike reservation which is a bit of a faff but all I've done then is scribble that number on a piece of paper. No-one on the phone has told me I need any kind of separate ticket and, fortunately it seems, the staff at Euston have only asked if I have a reservation and never bothered checking.

Was destined for a train assisted ride today, pouring with rain, but HTFU and went out to the station anyway. ticket already paid for (the less rapey £8 rather than about £15 if I just jumped on) train turned up (on time!) just the usual 1 carriage coastal thing, not allowed on!
Its not a train you can book a space for and there are only a few a day, normally empty, only on saturdays is it anywhere near populated with people.
Conductor said couldn't take the bike as it wasn't a train with a bike space, yet looked like a normal one. I asked if I took the wheels off? No, absolutely no bikes on this train.
So took a step back off it and train went on its way, and me back out in the rain. Ticket was fixed time/ date so lost that. rode home and got a shower, and now on the internets.

Trains suck. period.

only thing I can think is one of the 4 or 5 people on the 60 seater train might have had a wheelchair or push chair and that was in the luggage space or bike space (there is one at each end) and because of that nothing else was allowed on.
BS really as even a non folding wheelchair would fit in other places on the train or bike could have gone behind and not blocked the way of the disabled/pushchair person*
*if it was a pushchair/wheel chair, and not the conductor just being an arse.

what accent did the conductor have?

Some trains have designated areas where you can put your bikes. :')

^Well done, genius.

Not all trains have designated areas where you
can put your bikes. :')

Some trains, have faces.