Excellent and constructive meeting this afternoon with Mike Ross of LNER. I was pleased to note that action is already in hand on some of the issues we wanted to raise as LNER had already received the same feedback from other sources. In the other cases, LNER received our feedback positively and promised to look into the issues we have been raising and give a full response. I think we can now say our mutually constructive relationship with LNER is back on track; the temporary blip being due to some staff changes and the separation of the former Virgin’s communication team for West and East Coast, prior to Virgin East Coast’s transition to LNER. We’re now looking forward to the public meeting with LNER on 12th September which will include a question and answer session, and of course the arrival of the new Azuma trains.
Returning from Newcastle, arriving at Morpeth at 18:15, I was astonished but pleased to see Revenue Protection staff on the platform at Morpeth, checking tickets of arriving passengers. I’ve been living in the area and using Morpeth station regularly for 15 years now but have never seen this before, and am pleased that Northern are now instigating ticket checks at unexpected times which will prevent complacency from setting in. Just to confirm, SENRUG supports reasonable revenue protection initiatives as ticket evasion ultimately puts the price up for fare paying passengers, and hopefully we will all agree it is worth the extra minute or so’s delay in leaving the station. Don’t forget, Morpeth is now in a Penalty Fare zone, so don’t be tempted to chance your arm in the hope you won’t be challenged.
