Peshwari Naan

Hannah writes on 17th February 2009...

so basically my suprise for oli was seeing alkaline trio again in london, we went to get the national express at 9.45, but it was delayed by 2 hours because the brakes werent working... so we got there at about 2.30, and oli was being real weird obviously because i told him we were getting the bus back home at 6.30, so it kinda seemed like a pointless trip to london, especially when he had no money.

barnacle 101 writes on 16th February 2009...

This past weekend I found myself venturing to Bath for a break from the busy city of London, to soak up the culture of the English country side and try to bubble some of the stress away.

Arriving at noon on Friday was exhilarating, finally to be away from the city and finally to get a chance to just enjoy myself without worrying about passport applications, school work or the plague of joblessness. The moment I stepped off the bus, the fresh air of Bath blew across my chest, and the car sickness caused by the rash driving of the polish national express coachman seemed to lessen as we walked to our bed and breakfast.

Bournemouth Echo reports on 14th February 2009...

Passenger's chicken dinner falls ‘fowl’ of coach driver

A NATIONAL Express coach driver has been criticised for refusing to let a couple take food with them on a journey between Ringwood and Bournemouth – even though they wanted it carried in the underfloor luggage area.

Vicki Botto and partner Nabeel Al-Humaidan, both 20, had been given a lift from Vicki’s parents’ home in Alderholt to Ringwood where they caught the 035 National Express to Bournemouth.

They wanted to get off at Bournemouth Travel Interchange before making their way home to Winton.

But before they got on at Ringwood coach station, the driver saw they had a package and asked if it had meat in it.

Vicki told him it was some chicken and tomato sauce. But the driver refused to allow it on board, or even put it in the underfloor luggage space, saying it was against the rules.

“We were going to eat it when we got home,” said Vicki, a nursery nurse.

“But instead we had to give it back to mum.

“When we’ve been on the bus before there have been people eating sandwiches and stuff.

“We were going to put it in the luggage compartment under the coach.

“Then, when we got off the coach the driver said: ‘If you’re asked again if you’ve got meat, just say no’.

“It was so frustrating.”

Vicki’s father Andrew said: “I pity anyone on a long journey who can’t now even take a bag of crisps or a sandwich on a long trip, or a student returning to uni with a bag of goodies from mum and dad to help them out.”

A spokesperson for National Express said: “We have asked the customer to contact us so we can investigate further.

“Our terms and conditions of travel inform customers that they are welcome to bring cold food on board all our coaches.”

The Express and Star - Wolverhampton reports on 11th February 2009...

Coach is halted as driver reaches limit

Coach passengers travelling from the West Midlands to Stansted Airport had to take a 50-minute taxi ride to finish their journey because the driver had reached his allotted time limit for driving says one of the passengers.

Peter Hughes said he almost missed his flight yesterday after a National Express driver parked in a lay-by and refused to move. Mr Hughes, on his way to catch a flight to Grenoble, France, for a snowboarding holiday, says he was told to share a taxi with fellow passengers for the last few miles.

He said that once they were dropped off the taxi driver then picked up people waiting at the airport for the coach back to Birmingham, driving them back to the coach, which was still parked in the lay-by near Luton.

“It was all a bit strange really,” said Mr Hughes, aged 37, of Almond Croft, Great Barr.

“He just pulled up and turfed us out and we had to wait for 15 minutes for this taxi to arrive.

“I think the snow had meant we got stuck in traffic so he ended up driving for five hours, by which time he had to stop.

“No-one looked particularly happy about it.

“We’d got on the coach at Digbeth at 5.30am and I just wanted to sleep.”

European laws regulating hours of work say drivers must have a 45-minute break after driving for four hours and 30 minutes.

Mr Hughes added: “He dropped us in Luton so it was about a 40-mile trip I would say. The the taxi did it back the other way to the coach. It must be costing them a bomb.

“We were meant to arrive at 9.30am but we got there about 11. At least I haven’t missed my flight.”

National Express spokeswoman Carly O’Donnell, said: “Our Stansted service was delayed by adverse weather. Our team arranged for several customers to continue their journey by taxi to help them meet their connecting flights.

“We are committed to delivering the best customer service possible and will always do everything we can to get our customers to their destination.”

NZ Barry writes on 8th February 2009...

So, part of the forward planning I did way back in September was to book a Travelodge in Oxford for a weekend. This involved another tedius bus trip. National Express this time - we stopped for half an hour in Stratford, not to honour Shakespeare, but to let some woman who had a ticket to somewhere north of Birmingham argue her way onto our bus (heading SOUTH from Birmingham). This gave the bus driver and his offsider half an hour's worth of speculation as to what she was up to.