Peter Jones

Keep the peace

The franchise insists First Class will remain ‘an oasis of calm’. I’m not so sure

Virgin East Coast, reneging on its franchise, is not in anyone’s good books at the moment, but since it is the only direct service available from Newcastle upon Tyne to London, many in the north-east have no option but to use it. The service in my experience is pretty good, and even better when it is possible to book well ahead and thereby, with use of the Old Gits’ railcard, treat oneself to a seriously cheap first-class advanced ticket. This offers excellent value for money, the food and drink far better than that on the West Coast equivalent.

But the icing on the cherry is the quiet coach. Occasionally top executives, incapable of reading ‘quiet coach’, will phone the exhilarating details of their latest go-getting initiatives across the carriage, but a word to one of the staff will usually shut them up, and sometimes they even apologise. I have never seen any of them subsequently move to the carriages where they can honk away without let or hindrance.

The other week, a menacing email appeared from VEC, headed ‘We’re making some changes in First Class’. This is code for ‘Sod the customer’. It read, in all its mocking illiteracy:

‘From 20th May 2018, we’re removing the Quiet Coach seating option in First Class. We’re doing this to create a more flexible space and greater freedom for more customers travelling in First Class. As a regular Quiet Coach customer we appreciate that this may not be ideal for you. However, research has told us that while most of our customers love the chilled out ambience of First Class, only 9 per cent really value the Quiet Coach offering. So by creating more flexible seating options in First Class, we feel we can offer a better experience for more of our customers.

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