HOW not to run a railway.

To celebrate a significant birthday, I booked a show in London and train tickets for Saturday, March 25.

We would normally travel from Andover station as the service is normally very good.

However, we found out by using the South West Trains website that there would be planned track maintenance over this weekend and our intended late return journey to Andover was in jeopardy.

The website information was a little confusing when I tried to plan the return times but there was one train listed that I booked, departing Waterloo at 23:15 arriving at Woking at 23:41 with a change to another departing Woking at 23:48 but only going as far as Basingstoke, arriving at 00:38.

As Andover was not listed, I decided that we should therefore drive to Basingstoke and park there to catch the 12:04 to Woking and Waterloo.

This later transpired to be a fortuitous decision.

Our return train from Waterloo was packed with people crammed in and standing anywhere they could find a space, so one can just imagine what it was like when we arrived at Woking with loads of people pouring out of the carriages and onto the platform and then trying to find out what we had to do to continue our journey.

We followed the crowd and we were directed outside to waiting coaches but the one that we saw for Basingstoke.

quickly filled and the remaining coaches were not going to Basingstoke, apart from one bus that was visiting every station en route, which the driver said would take a painfully long time.

Some decided to get onto this bus as at least they would eventually get to Basingstoke as we were unsure if any further coaches would arrive to take us directly to Basingstoke.

I felt sorry for the two Hi Vis chaps that were trying to sort things out as they were taking a lot of criticism as we were all very confused and everyone was approaching coaches to find out if they were going to Basingstoke.

Eventually, another coach arrived and we were able to get on board and find a seat.

Some others were not so lucky and I did feel sorry for those less well able to sprint from coach to coach, especially those with luggage.

It was quite chaotic.

We eventually arrived at Basingstoke to find that there were no more trains to Andover and Salisbury, as the last train had departed with passengers that were able to get onto the earlier coach or coaches.

Two railway staff were spotted locking up a side entrance by our coach passengers who immediately surrounded them, demanding onward transport.

I do wonder what happened to them and also what happened to the passengers that were unable to get onto our coach and when and if they were able to get to Basingstoke and beyond?

In addition, what happened to those that decided to take the stopping bus at Woking, when they finally arrived at Basingstoke?

Somebody severely underestimated the number of coaches required to be at Woking.

In my experience, the late Saturday return trains are always popular and therefore full and with the restricted service, they would be extremely full and the train company must have know this fact.

Their systems must also know how many outbound ticket sales they have made and how many people would have checked in for their return journey at various times at Waterloo?

Or are their systems not that sophisticated?

Another thought. Is it because Stagecoach knew they would not have their franchise renewed and therefore did not bother to consider their customers’ welfare?

Michael Lane, Old English Drive, Andover