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The astoundingly positive reply from National Express

Dear Mr Hodgson

Thank you for your email, received yesterday. I am really sorry to hear
what happened on your journey with us to The Glastonbury Festival on 23
June 2011. I understand that we let you down and I offer you my sincere
apologies for the upset and inconvenience caused.

It would appear that on arrival at London Victoria Coach Station, you were
able to travel on a service slightly earlier than booked without staff
checking that you had a valid ticket for travel. This is clearly
unacceptable as all tickets should be checked prior to departure.
Further to this, I was really sorry to hear that on arrival at Fleet
Services there was a problem with the vehicle, which was unable to be
fixed, leading to issues with luggage access and causing subsequent delays.

In this instance, having initially sent an engineer, I can see that our
Controllers made every effort to locate a replacement vehicle as soon as we
were made aware of the breakdown, but met with extreme difficulties as
Glastonbury is one of our busiest events resulting with replacement
vehicles unfortunately being in short supply.
As we were unable to source a replacement coach, taxis were sent to get
customers on their way to the festival. I can only apologise that this
information was not conveyed to you whilst waiting at the services, and by
the time you had found out you had already arranged a lift.
Once again I can only apologise that due to the breakdown you arrived very
late at the festival site, and were unable to find a good camping spot, I
do hope this did not spoil your actual time at the festival and after the
initial delays of getting there, the rest of the weekend passed without any
problem.
Given the circumstances, I have refunded your ticket in full (£88.00) back
to the original payment card and typically this should show on the account
within the next 3 - 5 working days. Also by way of apology to you both for
what happened, I am also enclosing 2 x £20.00 coach travel vouchers to be
put towards a future journey with us, as I do hope you will give our
services another try in future.
In closing, please once again accept my apologies for what happened and
also my thanks for taking the time and trouble to contact us - there are
clearly lessons to be learnt from this, not least to improve communication
when things go wrong.
I am genuinely sorry that we disappointed you this time and I hope that
despite this experience, you will continue to use our services in future.
Yours sincerely
Victoria Ord
Customer Relations Executive

To use your voucher:

My letter to National Express after the strangest travel to a festival I will ever experience...

Hello there.

My brother and I were getting the coach to Glastonbury with a friend of ours on the Thursday of the festival, the 23rd June. Our coach was 9:00am boarding. When we arrived at Victoria coach station, the staff seemed to be boarding people as and when they came. We got on a coach at around 8.30am and were not asked to show our ticket. After around an hour or so on the motorway, we stopped at Fleet services where we were informed by the driver that the gas pressure had failed and we would have to wait for a mechanic or a replacement bus. When I asked how long this would take, I was given the answer, 'your guess is as good as mine'.

After around an hours wait, there was no new information. A mechanic showed up but apparently didn't have the right tool to fix the problem. Also, because the gas had gone, we had no access to our luggage that was stored in the side compartment of the coach. After one group on the coach found an alternative mode of transport, the luggage compartment was forced open, with the help of the driver and our luggage was thrown to the tarmac by the group who has alternative transport.

This left us with a coach that did not work, an open luggage department, and our luggage strewn across the carpark.

The time was now 1pm. We had set off from London 4.5 hours previous and were still stuck.

After getting back on the coach because of the rain, we spotted some taxis taking some of the coach party away with there bags. We assumed that this was a small group that had thought it would be better to pay up and get a taxi the rest of the way than risk waiting any longer. Then another taxi, and another taxi. I went outside and after asking the driver, was informed that National Express were paying for taxis to take everyone the rest of the way, why were we the last to know? We were now stood with a few others waiting for taxis as we were told the coach would not be able to be fixed.

Luckily, a very helpful passer by mentioned that she may have room in her camper van for my brother, my friend and I. We accepted and got in the camper van.

We arrived at Glastonbury at around 4.30 and were not able to pitch our tent until 6.40pm. The email we were sent of National Express with ticket information said we would arrive on site at 12.30. We actually arrived 4 hours after this, people who set off hours after us with National Express arrived before us and were able to find a much better place to pitch their tent. We had to walk for hours to find a spot to pitch and it caused us a lot of distress. This was all down to National Express. If it wasn't for the woman with the campervan, I have no idea what might of happened.

I would like a refund for the full amount for me and my brother as this journey did not live up to expectations at a time when we needed it to. The whole operation was a farce from start to finish.

I hope to hear from you soon.

Thank you in advance.

Stefan Hodgson

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