Train to Denmark Hill calling at Lewisham only. 3rd time in the last few months

[DulwichLondoner]

I got on the train at Victoria and the display showed "calling at Denmark Hill".

I then learnt the train calls only at beautiful Lewisham. Why they couldn't make the announcement from the train is beyond me. This is the 3rd time it's happened to me in the last few months.

I was tempted to pull the emergency brake handle!

I counted 8 other furious people at Lewisham.

I am biting my tongue and not saying what I think but it can be easily guessed. Just goes to show I am right in moving away from Se London because trains have been making my life impossible.

[DulwichLondoner]

Oh, and while waiting for the train back, I noticed someone outside the station peeing into a corner, from a distance of about 10 cms from me (he was just outside the fence of platform 3). Thank you, South Eastern, for donating me such memorable experiences in beautiful Lewisham.

[NewWave]

DulwichLondoner Wrote:

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> I got on the train at Victoria and the display

> showed "calling at Denmark Hill".

> I then learnt the train calls only at beautiful

> Lewisham. Why they couldn't make the announcement

> from the train is beyond me. This is the 3rd time

> it's happened to me in the last few months.

> I was tempted to pull the emergency brake handle!

>

> I counted 8 other furious people at Lewisham.

>

> I am biting my tongue and not saying what I think

> but it can be easily guessed. Just goes to show I

> am right in moving away from Se London because

> trains have been making my life impossible.

I share your pain...Its the transport in this area that makes me dream of moving.

sadly can't afford to-moved here because it was further out and therefore cheaper.

6years down the line the transport has deteriorated immensely and is making me dread my daily commute as its either overcrowded or canceled

[edanna]

I?ve never experienced that DL and I travel Victoria to Denmark Hill 4 days a week - does it happen at a certain time? I?d be hopping mad if it happened to me especially if I were racing back for School pick up.

[DulwichLondoner]

It's happened to me 3 times over the last 6 months or so, always between 6 and 8pm.

A few more times I avoided it because I had already boarded the train but noticed people leaving in a hurry: someone heard the announcement on the platform (not in the train) and told the other passengers. I am not going to say what I think because I'd be banned for obscenity!

[ianr]

> I was tempted to pull the emergency brake handle!

I really wouldn't do that if I were you. Read on ...

Wednesday 4/7. Got to Peckham Rye platform 1, hot and sweaty, at 16:04, and glad to see that the next ED train, the delayed 15:55 to Caterham, was due in two minutes. Two minutes into the journey an announcement comes over the train's speaker: first stop Selhurst. Universal surprise and disgruntlement from the half dozen or so fellow passengers in the carriage. Shortly thereafter a halfwit pulled the emergency brake and we came to a halt near Tulse Hill.

Nothing more until 16:18, when we were told over the speaker "We're currently being held here due to an emergency alarm being activated. As soon as this does get reset this train has authority to proceed on its way toward Selhurst, which is our next station stop. This train has been booked to run fast due to the late running of this service."

A couple of minutes later a staff member turned up in the carriage. He turned out to be a trainee driver; his instructor stayed at the sharp end. He claimed there had been an announcment on the train. If there had, it would have been before any of us got on at PR. There was no announcment at PR either. But he did apologise. Someone asked him why the train couldn't stop to let us off. He said that that was under the control of the signaller.

Eventually got to Selhurst at 16:39, back in ED at 17:23. At Streatham Common, on the way back (I suspect we were in the same train) there were repeated onboard announcments that it _wasn't_ a Victoria train, so a lesson may have been learned.

[Zebedee Tring]

On a separate but related issue, I am fed up with the number of last minute platform changes at Denmark Hill. A couple of weeks ago, I was waiting on platform 2 for a train to Bromley South. About one minute before the train was due to arrive, an almost unintelligible announcement came over the tannoy and it took me some seconds to realise that my train was now arriving at platform 4. I am due to have a hip replacement so find it very difficult to use the stairs. Needless to say by the time that I managed to get to platform 4 after having to fight through the people who had just left my train and who were blocking my way the train was already leaving. My annoyance became greater when a recorded announcement informed us that in the interests of safety train doors would close 30/45 seconds before the departure time, a rule that was no doubt faithfully observed in the case of my train!

[DulwichLondoner]

@ianr, no, I'd never do it, I was just saying it to rant!

@zebedee, yes, that's very frustrating. Many of us now wait on the footbridge for that very reason, but older people, people with disabilities, parents with pushchairs etc would probably struggle to get to the right platform at the last minute.

I'm just glad I'm leaving the area because public transport has become unbearable - we pay zone 2 housing price to get an out-of-the-M25 kind of service. Shame, because with better public transport Dulwich would be a great place to live.

[Zebedee Tring]

Thanks, DulwichLondoner. When I arrived at the station that day, I used the lift to get to platform 2 but there was no time to use the lift again when the train was moved from platform 2 to 4.

Incidentally I made a similar journey last week when again the Bromley South train was shown to leave from platform 2. However, I happened to look at the indicator on platform 4 and discovered that my train had been moved to that platform. Luckily there was enough time for me to use the lifts to change platforms. However, annoyingly there was no tannoy announcement of the platform change - there's no excuse for this failure.

[Mick Mac]

Zebedee Tring Wrote:

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> On a separate but related issue, I am fed up with

> the number of last minute platform changes at

> Denmark Hill.

This is the reason I ditched DH for Peckham Rye about 18 months ago. That station is a nightmare. Fortunatley i can get a bus to Peckham just as easily.