About cars being loaded into a non-air conditioned carriage on eurostar, temperatures intolerable, I collapsed?

[herbiwhore]

I've been complaining to le shuttle about this. they say nothing was done wrong and that all procedures were correctly followed - i just cannot believe this is the case.
facts of the matter are we were loaded onto a carriage last august, temperatures reached at least 40 degrees c with no air movement. at the time i was 20 weeks pregnant and after about 5 minutes of being loaded onto the train, i started to feel strange and when I got out of the car I collapsed in the heat, unable to move etc, flat on my back, could not stand up. i had to be carried by my arms and legs by other passengers to an air conditioned carriage. crew members couldnt really do anything but bring a bottle of water there seemed to be no first aid provision at all. an off duty nurse looked after me and she was amazing, laid me out in the back of her car, she was lovely, but it didnt feel right that the actual organisation had no provision for this eventuality.
i think this is really disgraceful and dangerous - customer services at le shuttle have said that 'crew followed all procedures' and that they are 'sorry i am not happy' and i have been issued with a £30 token.
its really not about the money - i have said I will not accept it. it was a horrible experience and I genuinely don't want others to go through it. there seems to be very little transparency of accountability. i've asked for a copy of their policy and procedures, health and safety guidelines, first aid policy etc and heard nothing - am i being unreasonable to think that policy and procedure could not have possibly been followed?

Well albrecht, you would move your dogs to a carriage where the air con was working, if possible - you are right to be concerned but Id hate for you to change travel plans on account of this.

Herbiwhore - why are the responses upsetting you?

You need to explain more otherwise people will just assume it's because people are saying YABU

Literally LOL at provide for the possbility of a full scale 999 emergency when you're 30 minutes from help.... What, like they do on aeroplanes at 35000 feet? Or on ferries when you're in the middle of the channel? Get real, better never travel more than 2 miles from your nearest A&E department if you think like that.

There'll be first aid kits kicking around and defibrilators and oxygen, maybe a few wheelchairs, but that clearly wasn't needed in this case.

There will have been a first aider there at the scene (probably the staff member who brought water, I'd imagine most if not all of the stewards are trained in first aid) who very quickly saw that it was a pregnant lady who had fainted in the heat, not a life threatening 999 emergency.

oddford - i never said it was an emergency - I think it was preventable.

If I felt that strongly about something I wouldn't be faffing around with two month gaps between emails. I'd have escalated the complaint if it mattered that much.
And if you're still upset all these months on perhaps you should seek professional help. I'm sure it would add to any complaint you're making.

Full scale emergency response? Who suggested that? I think she was asking for trained first aiders. You know, vs. other passengers carrying her by her arms and legs.

Sorry mnpostinbot if its not obvious what might be upsetting about some of these posts, I really am not going to go through and pick them out.
I think a situation was preventable - the company involved is being unresponsive, non-transparent and refusing accountibility - I'm not really sure what the rest of the discussion is about.

What, like they do on aeroplanes at 35000 feet? Or on ferries when you're in the middle of the channel? hmm Get real, better never travel more than 2 miles from your nearest A&E department if you think like that.

Yeah like they have on planes. First Aiders. Glad you got a 'literal LOL' out of it. Nethuns are calling, they're missing you.

So if you're not happy with their response why did you allow two month gaps between emails and response?
Why haven't you escalated the complaint?

dognado

ilovesooty that's a really good question. I should have badgered them more. I had to badger to get an email response at all. Doesnt really fill me with confidence about them as a company, really.

I tried to escalate the complaint but got nowhere

you are quite right herbiwhore, I've read back and it is obvious.

You are upset because the majority aren't agreeing with you.

First world problem. Your letter writing isn't going to change anything, you'd be better off forgetting about it and putting the energy into something that might benefit you and others.

Wasn't it obviously hot when they shut the doors and set off? Why didn't you move yourself to another carriage then? You could easily have prevented the situation too.

We went in Eurostar and there was two hour delay in the train. They came round and gave every passenger a free return ticket, which could be used any time in the next year. we went to disneyland Paris with ours!
It is horrible being in a stuffy environment when you are pregnant it does sound a grim experience. They could have removed that carriage but you would have been bumped off the train all together. Perhaps they could have given you the option?
Always plenty fresh air on a ferry!

Yabu. You given water and taken to cooler carriage. You had a nurse looking after you so any first aider wouldnt have been needed. Ideally maybe they shoudnt have had cars in that carriage which meant more people would have had to get next train. They certainly cant stop the train mid tunnel. Its better to either continue to france or return to england whatever was closer. The same happens if you collapse on a tube tunnel the train goes to next station. How do you know it got to 40 degrees. Where you the only one to faint? I have travelled via eurostar without air conditioning last summer and dont remember it being that bad but i wasnt pregnant and we had water in the car. Personally i prefer the 30 minute journary to a journary over the water, but each to their own.

This is rather different from a hot train carriage, as the Chunnel sends paying passengers into a potentially dangerous environment (an underground tunnel from which a hasty exit would be at best complicated).

I work in the mining industry, and if anyone sent a pregnant woman underground in 40C temperatures without adequate ventilation that person would get a rocket up their backside.

This is a commercial company offering a service, it is reasonable to expect that the conditions are safe. Half an hour at 40C could easily result in heat stress for vulnerable individuals. What if one of the passengers had been a very young baby, or elderly person, groups which don't regulate their body temperature well?

So, YANBU and I'd escalate it.

So would you have been happier if despite being booked to travel at a specific time, you got bumped off the scheduled service and were forced to take a later one, possibly the following day?

Because that would be what would happen if they did not load carriages where the aircon wasn't working.

^This is rather different from a hot train carriage, as the Chunnel sends paying passengers into a potentially dangerous environment (an underground tunnel from which a hasty exit would be at best complicated).

I work in the mining industry, and if anyone sent a pregnant woman underground in 40C temperatures without adequate ventilation that person would get a rocket up their backside.

This is a commercial company offering a service, it is reasonable to expect that the conditions are safe. Half an hour at 40C could easily result in heat stress for vulnerable individuals. What if one of the passengers had been a very young baby, or elderly person, groups which don't regulate their body temperature well?^

Thank god for the cool breeze of reason at last.

A trained first aider may have also asked for her to be carried by her arms and legs, it's undignified but necessary.

Why, when you realised how hot it was didn't you move? Or indeed just sit down or lie down in the car with your feet up? Did you not have water with you?

The mining industry is totally different than someone sitting in a car for 30 mins!!!!

Why didn't you put the air con on in your car?

I can understand that you felt ill in the stifling train. I can understand that you were embarrassed/frightened by fainting and that your DS got a fright.
You were moved to a cooler carriage. Staff came and gave you water. A bystander let you lie in her car.

If the others in the carriage weren't ill, and The shuttle people have checked their records and the temp wasn't out of safe range and no-one didn't follow procedure, then you need to accept that your pregnancy may have made you more sensitive to extremes of temperature.

If they have checked that procedures were followed, you received treatment and suffered no after effects, I'm not sure what you want to achieve by pursuing this further.

Wisps you cant put the engine of the car on in a confined space.

Would I be happier with a delay instead of risking heat stress to vulnerable individuals? Hmm - let me think about that one...

Happy? Nobody's happy to be delayed. Understanding why? Yes.

Sounds like An awful experience. You must have felt very claustrophobic too. They should absolutely keep it much cooler, some people can't take those temps especially elderly, pregnant and kids. I feel that travel is generally going down the pan, people paying money to be treated worse than animals with hot temps, no leg room, inadequate facilities.