Southern's service from Brighton to Portsmouth is an hour-and-a-quarter's slog along the south coast. Never mind - the trains all have two wc's, so if you're caught short there should be no problem - even if one of the facilities is temporarily out of action.
Not so on Saturday 4th June on the 1903 service out of Brighton. We noticed lots of warnings about staff shortages leading to cancellations on Sunday - (this is a sure sign of a franchise company not doing their job well) - but there were no warnings about our train. So we boarded, having previously enjoyed a drink nearby.
Somewhere near Lancing, Your Correspondent wanted to visit the lavatory. The nearest facility was marked 'Out of Order'; the second facility, further forward, was locked. We waited. Eventually, we knocked. No reply.
Oh dear, what to do? Urgent.
Further back, a uniformed official remarked that the Operator had a choice of putting the train out with no lavs, or cancelling it (no spare units, you see - Southern's short of them, as well as staff on Sundays). The only thing to do was leave the train at the next station, and then catch the next train. (He forgot to mention that there were no faciltities in most of the stations, either). If I did this, I would miss my vital onward connection at Fratton.
Your correspondent was forced to make his own arrangements, for which he apologises.
Here are the facts:
Southern Railway could not maintain a train adequately to ensure that at least one of the two facilities were operational.
Southern Railway could not make announcements on the platform, or on the train, about their inadequacy.
Quite simply pathetic, in our view.
