One of the biggest mistakes to make as a commuter is forgetting your power bank.
No one likes going bareback on a journey, but you can really find yourself in a sticky situation if your train ticket is on your lifeless phone.
Thankfully, many trains now have plug sockets, and some newer Avanti West Cost services even have wireless charging ports. The ports — found on one of the four tables per carriage — mean even without a cable, you can charge your phone.
Of course, that’s only if they work.
Avanti West Coast rolled out its wireless ports in 2023 on refurbished Pendolino trains.
The trains were designed back in the 1960s, and later refurbished in 2002.
Sign up to The Getaway newsletter
Fuel your wanderlust with our curated newsletter of travel deals, guides and inspiration. Sign up here.
However, this funky, futuristic technology doesn’t always work seamlessly – with several Avanti customers complaining that they aren’t fit for purpose.
‘I’ve yet to sit at a table seat on your new trains with a charging point/plug that actually works…what’s with that?’ @NathanJames78 asked. ‘At seat chargers are fine, but tables with their wireless charging facility seem to not be functioning.’
He added: ‘It’s every train since they were launched them… a whole group of people were discussing the same issue across many journeys.’
Traveller @PeteLomas also complained that the chargers were temperamental. ‘In table wireless charging is a bit hit and miss. Have to be within 5mm of centre to keep working.’
While @JE_Boland said of his Avanti experience: ‘Phone charger not working, toilets out of order…onboard shop only takes cash. Avanti [is] reassuringly expensive, always terrible.’
Not everyone has drawn the short straw, though. Over on the r/uktrains Reddit Subreddit, @starbur-n said the ‘wireless chargers built into the tables are neat.’
For @Luivery, their experience in standard premium class was ‘excellent’ – and they praised the experience for having ‘bigger seats, guaranteed tables, wireless charging and a guaranteed window (depends where you sit that is),’ while @PhantomSesay argued it was ‘one of their best ideas.’
And after the feature debuted, @Train_PlaneHub praised the fleet for its ‘good legroom, lots of luggage space and charging points at every seat.’
A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast told Metro that ‘two carriages out of a total of 574 carriages in our Pendolino fleet have issues with the wireless chargers and plug sockets and we’re working to replace parts.’
‘We’re sorry to any of our customers affected and encourage those experiencing problems when charging their devices to tell our Train Managers, who can attempt to reset the parts or report the issue, so it can be looked into by our fleet engineers,’ they added.
‘Double bagging’ is rife on London’s tube network and commuters are livid
You’re in a huff as you hurry through a sea of commuters onto a packed Circle Line train, praying you won’t be late for work (again).
You look around for a seat and, in typical fashion, they’re all occupied – but not by people.
Rucksacks, handbags and ugly briefcases are dumped on empty seats, as their owners lounge on the seat next to them. And of course, there’s no thought to move their bag to floor so you can take its place.
This infuriating behaviour isn’t new, but it’s now got a name: ‘double bagging’.
Don’t be rude – it’s a perfectly innocent term coined by Metro, to describe the act of taking up two seats on public transport; one for their bag; one for themselves.
These double baggers are the worst types of commuters – appearing on tubes, trains and buses – and we aren’t the only ones who have a problem with them.
Do you have a story to share?
Get in touch by emailing MetroLifestyleTeam@Metro.co.uk.
Leave a Reply