Passengers aboard the luxury Caledonian Sleeper train, which charges a staggering £400 for an overnight journey, were reported to be put out after being left without running water for their entire 12-hour journey.
Travellers setting off from Inverness Station towards London at 8:30pm on Friday, 12th April, discovered as they boarded that there would be no water in some private sleeping compartments.
As a result, they were denied use of showers and toilets throughout their journey to Euston Station, London. 81 year old Ian Barratt, who was making his way back to Maldon in Essex with his wife following a three-day trip to Inverness, told us that by breakfast time he was “unshaven, unwashed and thirsty.”
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Unsurprisingly, passengers had to be directed down lengthy corridors to reach communal facilities, with several expressed dissatisfaction about having to trek several hundred yards along a narrow passage.
Despite their discomfort, passengers were given only spring bottled water as a make-do solution. Ian recalled: “Embarrassed staff, willing and helpful though they were, suggested that passengers could use the few general passenger toilets situated on the express, but for some people that required a long trek along a narrow corridor on a train which stretches several hundred yards in length.”
One passenger claimed he had suffered a similar plight on four previous trips. A company spokesman apologised for the inconvenience but explained that the only maintenance depot was in London, so there was nothing else they could do but hand out cans of spring water, reports the Daily Record.
Ian and his wife both paid £800 for a return ticket and he hit out at management for the disruption.
He says staff on the train were shocked to learn that passengers had not been advised about the issue prior to boarding.
Ian added: “A member of staff seemed surprised that I had not been given prior warning of the problem, but the first I knew was when we were about to board the train at 8.30.”
“This kind of situation isn’t what one expects after paying over £800 for a return ticket. I feel this was a management failing.”
“It is obviously it isn’t the first time this kind of thing has happened and a lack of regular maintenance looks a possible cause”.
Caledonian Sleeper has been approached for comment.
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