to think if you live in surrey sussex kent, home counties i spose and you work in the city

[LucyLasticBand]

you shouldnt complain about the trains!
you want the best of both worlds.

but you Chose to live somewhere with a crap service.
you must have known it was a crap service.
it snows,
it floods
it ices up,
there are leaves.

ok, perhaps I should ahve left surrey out, as that is obvious commuter land.

Oh btw I live in Scotland so I'm not one of your hated commuters.

I'd also like to point out that their not complaining specifically about problems caused by the recent storms. They're complaining about consistently bad service with regular overcrowding and delays and cancellations occurring without there being extenuating circumstances such as a storm. I predict people would be significantly more understanding of delays during freak weather if the trains ran efficiently the rest of the time.

Also you do realise there are people working in London on NMW and many more earning between that and the national average. They're not all high earners.

OP when you pay for something do you not expect what you receive to be fit for purpose?

i used to live in a village with a train service,
tis a crap train service. i used it. i commuted for 3 months. in the winter.
the village has been built up - as has everywhere - with houses upon houses.

But even if you live in zone 1 in London it can still take ages to get to work because of transport problems. Most Londoners enjoy a good transport moan...Why shouldn't people in the home counties?

Snow, floods, ice and leaves on the line also affect trains in London, you know?

Excuse me ! Anyone has the right to assume that the services will function as published bar any act of God. I commuted during the IRA campaign and one year was frequently shut out of Victoria for hours on end. dh pays well over 3k for his season ticket and deliberately leaves very early to ensure he gets a seat for the 40 min journey. So many companies couldn't function if they relied soley on London residents.

it snows,it floods, it ices up, there are leaves

Those listed above are a little known group of phenomenons called "we live in Northern Europe phenomenon".

Interestingly every other country also suffering in Northern Europe still have decent rail services. And cheaper ticket prices too.

But don't let that stop you from rambling incoherently on OP.

OP you still aren't explaining yourself very well.

What is it that you think people should be doing? Paying £5k a year for standing in a crowded corridor twice a day and not saying a word even when said corridor doesn't turn up and you are late for work/miss meetings etc?

That is the reality for very many commuters.

Your experience of a village train for 3 months doesn't really seem relevant, or if it is you haven't explained why.

Perhaps you could try writing in proper sentences that form that thing called a paragraph? People might be more accepting of your 'opinion' then?

Yes, more houses have been built. There are more households. For several reasons. I used to live with my parents, as did DH. Now we have a house. So three houses where there used to be two. YOU are complaining about house building now - so that would make you a NIMBY.

OP, no people did not 'choose to live somewhere with crap service'. People choose to live soemwhere within reasonable commutable distance to their place of work, train companies advertise they run X number of trains into London (for example) per hour, with a jounrye time of X minutes, then it is expected that the majority of journeys should reflect this. The problem is, customers are findign that it is simply not true, there are delays not just due to weather, but constant 'over running engineering works', 'train faults' and so on.

I am unfortunate enough to have to use one of the Greater Anglia lines and believe me it is absolutely dire. Over 2000 per year for a service that has delays and cancellations on the line on a daily basis, and they have also been shown up as having fudged their figures regarding train punctuality. How one earth can that be value for money?

I'm a bit confused as to the connection between not complaining about badly run train services and having your view spoilt outside your window?

I don't think your reasoning stands up OP.

Are you saying that it should be acceptable to have shit service and high prices compared to every other European country?

What you are forgetting is that rail is essential to this country's economy to spread the wealth away from London and benefit as big a region as possible.

Are you suggesting it is wrong to want more of the country to benefit from the central bubble if the London economy?

Are you also suggesting that a monopoly situation is allowed to continue to be operating underpar and unchallenged?

Have your opinions by all means but they are misguided, naive and lacking in credibility.

I don't choose to live where i do. i have to, because of where my daughter's (SN) school is. and where her statement was issued. and dh needs to get into London.

so.

we have to live in Surrey (having spent 4 years and the best part of £250k getting her statement right, we are not going to stuff it up by moving and forcing reassessment)

we have to be near a commuter station, and near (enough) to dd's school.

it doens't leave us with much choice. we could live further out on the line, and still receive the same crappy service (although only a couple of stops difference, as otherwise it's into a different county). we could live a little further in, and pay more for a house, and far more in fuel bills as my commute getting dd to/from school would go up.

are we entitled to moan about the trains?

I recognise the words the OP is posting but can't make any sense out of them...

Hmm. We all know we're going to get sick, get old and die - doesn't stop us complaining about that, does it?

I think your standards are unrealistically high with regard to realism, cheerfulness and not moaning.

In fact, I think you do not know what you wish for.

Next time you complain about a cold, or a d and v bug, or your joints getting a bit stiff, or elderly knees and drying out skin, I think a really good friend needs to stand at your elbow and - in a very jolly voice - tell you that it happens to us all, and it's all part of life's rich tapestry, and you must know what you were getting into, and if you don't like it, there's the knife drawer, and we should just learn to embrace all the bits and bobs falling down (or off) because you have to take the rough with the smooth ... and a million other platitudes ...

I reckon you manage ten minutes before standing on their foot to shut them up.

Moaning (in moderation) is what we do in this country. I think it may even be the equivalent of "the evil eye" charms that other cultures have.

what eurochick said but am oddly fascinated

the incomers is who I am complaining aobut

What is your actual complaint? I've read the whole thread, and I'm not sure I can work it out. Wah, people live near you but work somewhere else and they're not happy with the service they're paying for - is that it?

Move then!

Yeah, you're right.

All those tight bastards living down here in Brighton for the bargain house prices..........

A £6k a year season ticket and no guarantee of a seat on the train gives ample cause for complaint ime!

And the nicest parts of Sussex/Surrey aren't much cheaper than some parts of London anyway.

To be pedantic - why on earth would someone who lived in the City and worked there too need a train and so have any cause for complaint anyway? Walk!! Or do you mean "City" as in the whole of London?

Ah so this is what a truly stupid, pointless thread looks like.

but who pushed the prices up in brighton?