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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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

289 replies

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 14:03

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?

OP posts:
herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 21:13

Thank God again for the sanity that is mistigri

OP posts:
herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 21:15

And competitive cuntery Grin right on the mark. What is wrong with some of you people?!

OP posts:
oddfodd · 11/05/2015 21:19

AIBU? Yep

No, no I'm not! Look look! Five hours after I posted the thread some sock puppets people who agree with me have turned up.

We need a IANBU place for people who can never conceive that sometimes you need to move on.

timelyreminder · 11/05/2015 21:20

people all over the world cope in 40c heat, without air con, all the time

If it's "all the time" though they'd be used to it, unlike someone used to British weather.

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 21:22

guess what odd - you won the competition Grin

OP posts:
MonoNoAware · 11/05/2015 21:22

I am not a sock puppet oddfodd. Search my username. I don't post terribly often, but I've been around for a while. And I first posted at 16:10.

MonoNoAware · 11/05/2015 21:25

And for one last time before I pull my hair out in frustration: air temperature is just one factor that affects the human body's ability to cool itself. 40 degrees in an unventilated space (I.e. not an office building, not the beach, not the Tube) is not suitable for cattle, why people?

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 21:25

Once again...

MonoNoAware:

When I was in Egypt it was over 40degrees every day and I managed sitting by the pool or mooching round town in that heat for hours on end without fainting

Your body was able to cool itself. How the human body cools itself, again Le Shuttle car carriages do not have opening windows, they rely on mechanical ventilation. It is a very different system to the tube. Incidentally, transport for London run campaigns every summer to warn people about the risks of overheating, particularly for those in high risk groups. Unlike Le Shuttle, who go with the message You stay with your vehicle throughout the journey in bright, air-conditioned carriages

She was hot not in an emergency

Heat Exhaustion can quickly turn to Heat Stroke particularly with the elderly, very young and pregnant women.

OP posts:
FenellaFellorick · 11/05/2015 21:26

It's interesting that you've come to that conclusion, odfod. What about my list has led you to believe that?

I was just going on what the op described. No announcement, No back up, No identifiable first aider, No evidence of risk assessment that identified potential issues (assumed from lack of any of the above)
I'm saying there are things that can be done which the op does not describe were done and I say that companies should always be willing to look at their procedures and ensure they are the best they could be.
Is that wrong? Should that not happen? And how does that lead to me not having travelled on it? You mean if I had, I wouldn't have such high expectations of good service? Grin
You're right. I haven't. I am just looking at it as a business and from a h&s pov.

TenerifeSea · 11/05/2015 21:30

Alright, no need to get your knickers in a twist. Bit pointless you posting in AIBU when you don't want to hear anything except what you want.....and I even said YANBU! Grin

msgrinch · 11/05/2015 21:32

"what is wrong with some of you people?"

Hmm they don't agree with you and have their own opinion. Confused

Effendi · 11/05/2015 21:32

Hands OP a grip ........
Please give it up, surely you must have more important things to worry about?

I worked in travel for 8 years and dealt with many perpetual complainers with nothing else better to do than badger about non issues.

oddfodd · 11/05/2015 21:42

Yay did I win chief cunt prize? Hurrah! I never win anything Smile

GobbolinoCat · 11/05/2015 21:46

op have you posted on twitter etc apologies if mentioned, dont listen to the muppets trying to defend cattle cart! its not acceptable, its dangerous and it should all be temp controlled with plenty of ventilation. I have done euro twice in past years, thats 4 times.

GobbolinoCat · 11/05/2015 21:48

Effendi as someone who suffers from clautrophobia is it not a non issue for me, but a very critical one.

HOw a company deals with a crisis, which in the past euro tunnel has proved awful at, to how it deals with complaints is also crucial.

do they care for their customers or not? do they want to improve things and make them better or not....thank goodness people like the op are out there - they are complaining and hopefully they are making things better,

GobbolinoCat · 11/05/2015 21:49

(FenellaFellorick Mon 11-May-15 21:26:03

of course its all a no brainer.

NotJustaPotforSoup · 11/05/2015 21:49

I'm sorry you had to go through that, OP. I'm a bit fence-sitty about your actual situation, but did want to point out that the Tunnel goes through the rock of the seabed and isn't a kind of tube in the sea

Just because that fact always flummoxes some people Grin

Waltermittythesequel · 11/05/2015 22:01

What do you want? money

They said sorry. It took them so long to respond because you're being a knob creating an issue out of a non-issue.

I can't stand these pregnant women who act like they're sick. And I had hyperemesis

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 22:03

effendi May I pass that grip straight back at you?! As presumably you have been the kind of person from euro tunMel who has been so slack in responding to my queries.

Gobbolino- I'm so sorry you suffer from claustrophobia, and yes I will keep fighting.

Thanks notjustapot- I think a few of the posters on this thread would be amazed by that! Bed of rock- not so cool as being lapped by the waters of the sea, right?!

OP posts:
DisappointedOne · 11/05/2015 22:03

Thank God again for the sanity that is mistigri

Even though she doesn't get that Eurostar isn't the train you had a problem with?

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 22:07

waltermitty - I can't stand these pregnant women who act like they're sick.

Wow. would you print that and wear it on a t-shirt in public, or just write it anonymously on an internet forum?

OP posts:
herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 22:07

Disappointed, found that link yet?

OP posts:
Waltermittythesequel · 11/05/2015 22:08

Slogan t-shirts aren't my thing.

Though I'm suddenly tempted to start wearing an Elsa one...

RustyBear · 11/05/2015 22:11

How many of those asking why the OP hasn't been chasing up her complaint have remembered that if she was 20 weeks pregnant at the time, she presumably now has a very young baby.

When your baby sleeps do you
(A) try to sleep yourself
(B) try to catch up on housework
(C) spend some time with your 4 year old
Or
(D) spend the time composing yet another email to Eurostar?

herbiwhore · 11/05/2015 22:11

I see. just nasty posts on mumsnet Confused

OP posts: