Tuesday 7 July 2009

Nationalised Express

On the 7:00am from Leeds to London this morning the trolley did look a little bare. My request for a banana was met with an embarassed reply - "we don't do fresh fruit anymore". This seems to have broadly conincided with the nationalisation of the service.

John Prescott made it clear last week that his preferred fare on the train is a "nationalised bacon sandwich" which I am sure tastes better. As a vegetarian I will just have to take his word for it. But cutting the fresh fruit is just ignorant - I mean how much can a few bananas cost?

My full fare ticket this morning cost £334 - probably more than the price of a flight to New York. My newspaper was on my seat, bottled water is now pre-installed on the table with a 50/50 chance of still or sparkling, biscuits are left on the table. So the staffing costs have obviously been cut back. I don't have a problem with this, but to make a change like scrapping fresh fruit will get right up the customers' noses.

When National Express first took over they scrapped toast from the breakfast menu. I was among those who objected - and it was reinstated albeit at an outragous £2 a go.

So Nationalised Express - help us all get our five a day. Let's have our bananas back! My wife said "they should put the price up" - well I for one would gladly pay another 50p if I could have my banana breakfast again.