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National Express' health & safety policy is bad for babies and small children - please help me get them to change it.

9 replies

trainrage · 16/06/2008 21:49

Here is my tale of woe

last week, when on a train from Edinburgh to London the helpful staff on board the National Express East Coat train refused to give me hot water to heat up my boy's bed time bottle - it's against health and safety apparently, I might pour it all over myself and sue them. For this same reason they even refused to give me a cup of tea in case I used this to heat the bottle and caused myself an injury. So the poor wee boy was left screaming for nearly an hour (to the delight of fellow passengers) until he got so starving he took it cold.

I think this is such a stupid bit of health and safety madness, I've started a petition and would be very grateful if you could sign it

petitions.pm.gov.uk/babyfoodtrains/

If you're feeling very annoyed, you could copy and paste the letter below onto the National Express (formerly GNER) customer feedback page on their website....

www.nationalexpresseastcoast.com/About-us/Contact-Us/

----- ---

Dear Sir / Madam

I am writing to complain about your policy of not providing hot water or facilities to heat baby milk or food on board your trains. This is an extremely family unfriendly and unnecessary policy, which causes distress to children, parents and fellow passengers travelling on National Express East Coast trains. In addition, there is no warning of the lack of facilities available to parents either on your website or at the point of booking, so it is not until you are on board a train with a hungry child that it becomes clear that staff are unable to help.

As you currently serve hot drinks to passengers using temperature controlled water to minimise the risk of injuries, I am requesting that you also make this water available for parents to use at their own risk. If this is considered too great a risk for health and safety reasons then it is not unreasonable for parents to expect alternative food warming facilities to be available as is already the case in many cafes and public places across the UK.

I urge you to inform passengers of your current lack or facilities at the point of booking and strongly wish that you reconsider your position. I have also signed the petition at petitions.pm.gov.uk/babyfoodtrains/

Yours faithfully

-----------

Thanks in advance for your efforts, maybe next time you're on a train it might be a bit quieter if the staff were able to help the parents of the baby to keep it fed and happy! And so you know that it is worth complaining, I've got a first class return ticket to Edinburgh for my efforts!

OP posts:
LittleBella · 16/06/2008 21:51

It is incredible that they would deny you a cup of tea because you might be stupid. Did they take this view of all teh other passengers, or is it only mothers of small children who are percieved to be particularly incompetent in the presence of hot water?

trainrage · 16/06/2008 21:53

I think it's just parents who are supposedly dumb - they were concerned that I might have put the bottle into a full cup of tea causing it to spill out and burn myself.

errr.......wasn't sure how to respond to that one bth

OP posts:
LittleBella · 16/06/2008 22:10

But any passenger might have done that. Someone else might have been harbouring a small bottle of vodka, which would have produced the same effect. And yet they would not have been banned from the tea!

ilovemydog · 16/06/2008 22:13

more to the point: couldn't they heat up the bottle for you? This is what they do on airlines

Whizzz · 16/06/2008 22:18

I had a similar thing happen to me when DS was small & a National Trust property refused to do the same. I note most of them now have bottle/food warming facilities.

Alas it's still very common.

I don't think it is a 'health & safety' issue, more like they are worried about being found liable for any injuries to you or the child

llareggub · 16/06/2008 22:30

Not much help to you now but this is exactly why I never warmed my son's milk!

scruffymomma · 16/06/2008 22:52

these folks can't take responsibility for heating baby food / milk in case they overdo it and you burn your child. Don't see why they can't provide a bottle warmer though, Ikea seem able to do it.

Whizzz · 17/06/2008 15:57

By taking the time & money to buy something like a microwave - they are then making sure that YOU are responsible for ensuring the correct temp etc, thereby reducing their liability. Places that have microwaves for the public to use will have a big disclaimer cleary saying thatyou use it at your own risk.

(by the way, my National Trust experience was the only time that I have done the 'Well I am a fully qualified H&S manager, so don't lecture me on H&S risks!"...you know how it is when you are a mother trying to feed your baby ) - it didn't get me anywhere by the way & I wrote a stroppy letter too!

spicemonster · 17/06/2008 16:03

I have been refused a cup of hot water to heat my baby's food but been given a pot of tea with a pot of hot water on the side which I've then used to heat the food. Utterly ridiculous rule IMO

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