It is better to arrive than to travel hopefully

[tamaranth]

What a tedious pair of journeys you have provided for me this weekend.
OK, any train company can have a defective train, though I'm not entirely sure it needed to involve such a long wait on an open station with several hundred other cold, delayed passengers. And I am assured you will refund that leg of the trip, because I arrived in Plymouth 2 hours late -- a considerable chunk of what was already a short visit.

A word of advice: next time you schedule engineering work and decant your passengers into an overcrowded, apparently unheated bus -- aided by the surliest staff you could find, who were most reluctant to let any of us on board until 30 seconds before departure time -- perhaps you could check to see if this coincides with major, planned roadworks on the A38? And if it does, use another route?

It was very kind of you to delay the train we did catch by 40 minutes. However, as it was already very full of upset, delayed people, and seat reservations were not being respected, many of us (though not me) had to stand up all the way to (presumably) London. Meanwhile, your staff busily gave us incorrect advice about connections.

Naturally I am impressed that you managed to get to Reading only an hour and fifty minutes after timetabled arrival. Excellent timing, and a real money-saver for you, as none of us will be entitled to compensation since the delay was not greater than 2 hours.

I laughed out loud when, attempting to plan my next trip, I discovered that (due to more engineering work) travelling from Plymouth to Gatwick on 30th Dec will involve up to 5 changes, and unless I leave before 7pm, will take approximately 11 hours. (And would cost me nearly £100 for the privilege: I suppose this is on the same basis as a hotel stay, e.g. the amount of time I would be spending on your delightful trains.) Oh, how seasonal!

So I'm flying next time. Cost of flights: £116. Looking down on traffic jams, motionless trains and busy little engineers: priceless.