AGGRESSIVE BULLY TRAIN CONDUCTOR HARRASES WAR VETERAN ON LONDON NORTH WESTERN TRAIN

A train conductor who is employed by West Midlands Trains which is part of the LNR railway Owned by Britain's Department for Transport, who runs LNER. They took over the franchise after Virgin Trains East Coast handed it back to the government. Now it appears to employ aggressive and harassing rail staff in an attempt to recoup previous financial losses, by bullying delayed passengers.

A passenger, who was travelling from Axminster in Devon, to Winsford In Cheshire went through a journey of hell.

Firstly the short journey from Axminster to Exeter on Friday, to connect with a Cross Country train was delayed by just under an hour, leaving six minutes late from Axminster Station, it was held at a red light waiting for a London train to pass for around 40 minute thus the war veteran missed his connection at 19.27.

The former paratrooper, a war veteran, from the 1982 Falklands War, who suffers from shrapnel injuries to his legal then had to wait for nearly two hours for the next train at 20.55 but that wasn't the end of his horror journey.

As the Cross Country train was two hours later, the passenger now couldn't make his final destination to Winford that evening, so had to book a hotel at Birmingham New Street costing him another £70, at he same time he bought a ticket for the next morning for £6.75 at 6.20 AM.

Although when the train left Bristol Temple Meads, the horror journey continued, just prior to reaching Bristol Parkway, the train came to a grinding halt, with the train manager telling customers the train had to return to Temple Meads due to a technical issue with signals further ahead. Then the train sat on the line for an hour outside Bristol Parkway, whilst the train company attempted to find a new driver for the short journey back to Bristol Temple Meads, when they finally found a driver, the train was further delayed as a drunk in just a pair of black shorts was trespassing on the line, finally as the police captured the drunk, the train returned to Temple Meads and was cancelled, leaving passengers stranded awaiting news from the rail company.

According to the war veteran: 'It was chaos, passengers everywhere, with the train company saying they would arrange transport, but the train crew just abandoned the passengers at the front entrance whilst they fled the chaotic scenes in an UBER back to Birmingham

'Platform staff of GWR said they would arrange multiple taxis service for passengers but they couldn't because they needed a code from the Cross Country office - that went on for at least another hour, I'd had enough, I called a pal who had a car available in Avonmouth, I grabbed a distraught passenger, to assist, due to her state, took an UBER to Avonmouth at the cost of another £20 and collected the car, drove to Birmingham, dropped off the upset mother of two young children and headed to my hotel, where I finally arrived at 2.15 AM.

'At my age there was no chance of me getting the pre booked 6.20 AM train - I needed sleep!' After capturing sleep at around 3,30 AM, the war veteran slept through to the afternoon, after taking his medication, left the Easy Hotel, who kindly allowed him to check out later and headed back to New Street Station to finally complete his journey to Winsford.

'I mentally prepared, putting the previous day behind me of the torture journey and the extra expense of hotel and UBER totalling aprox another £90' he told Global247news.

However, the torture wasn't over, as the man finally boarded the train from Birmingham New Street to Winsford. Already having a ticket, albeit for the 6.20 train, he checked with barrier staff at New Street, if he could still use it, explaining the delays - they told him, yes, as it was eligible due to delays. He finally boarded the 17.35 train. Taking his seat in relief that he was finally going to complete his trip, nearly 24 hours later, shortly into the journey, he was, what he called, 'accosted' and 'harrased' by the train's ticket conductor during the journey. He said: ' The ticket conductor came down the train, checking tickets, I showed him my ticket, to which he replied 'This was for 6.20 AM and you will need to buy another ticket. ' I explained about my delays and how the barrier staff had said it was valid and pointed out that he had already covered this in his train announcement - I was shocked as he clearly didn't believe me and he got quite aggressive, it was embarrassing all taking place in front of other passengers. 'He asked for my previous days tickets, I went to my phone wallet and as they were for the day before they had deleted, I checked my Train APP and they were also gone. He became very obnoxious, I showed him my hotel booking and told him about the events of the day before, he said he was a train conductor not a hotel conductor and wasn't interested, he said he wanted me to buy a ticket off him, I refused.

' He then became extremely aggressive and rude, storming, ' Are you refusing to buy a ticket' to which I replied 'Yes' 'In a very aggressive manner, he then went into what I would describe harassment, he then went into a rage,

'I offered him to sit down next to me and allow me to explain, without him ranting, he refused, he then got a machine out of some sort and said, what time was your first train and from where, so I explained again, Axminster to Exeter to which he rudely retorted thinking he was correct, ' That was only six minutes late and accused me bluntly of lying, he said: ' Your lying look, the train only departed six minutes late, your story is a lie, you need to buy another ticket'

' Calmly again I offered him to sit down and listen, again he refused, I then had to point out to him, he hadn't checked the facts or listened, because he hadn't allowed for the signal stop or the arrival time of the train into Exeter, this made him worse and even more angry when he discovered he hadn't done his job in a fit and proper manner! '

Then I pointed out that he hadn't even checked the Cross Country Train out of Bristol, he claimed he couldn't find that one, and again now furious and trying to what I would call politely 'engage' into a verbal fight, demanded payment, to which I refused. 'He then blatantly then called me a liar and said he wanted my details further to be reported - I refused, stating I was legally entitled to be on the train, as he pulled out a pen and pad, I recalled I had posted my previous journey fiasco on Facebook that had times and dates, I said 'Here look, do you think I posted this for fun and made it all up too? - he replied ' I don't have time for this and stropped off down the train, finally realising he was wrong and had accused me of telling lies, which was the truth. It was harassment of a paying customer, in a very aggressive manner, where the conductor had not done his job properly by checking the facts correctly.'

However, the passenger wasn't allowed to continue in his journey in peace from the conductor, he was then told by the conductor he was removing him at the next stop at Crewe, the passenger tells: ' After the conductor had gone down the train, I sat there thinking ' this is not right, I'm a law abiding customer of this company after a trip from hell. ' I got up and went down the train to ask for his name to report him, paying customers shouldn't be treated like this. ' He said: The names on the badge, which simply said Rob, I asked for a surname or number and he refused, and walked off, then he came past again, saying I had to get off the train at the next stop, I asked why and he said ' For chasing me down the train' - a complete lie, I had walked down calmly to ask for his details. ' I told him I wasn't leaving the train, until my stop at Winsford, he walked off again and then came back to say the police were waiting for me at Crewe! '

I advised him, ' Good as you have harassed me the complete journey - although it was another of his lies, the police never came and the guard himself got off at Crewe to finish his shift, I presume. ' When I got to Winsford finally, I spoke to a railway worker who was himself waiting for a train home after his duties - he told me, they are on sales commissions and hence the harassment and how the conductor was obviously mad he hadn't made commision on me when he thought he could. ' The sooner the Government Nationalise back the railways the better, these money making conductors are a disgrace and I'm now going to take civil action, this shouldn't be happening to customers.