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Bearsted woman waits for two hours after Southeastern replacement buses fail to show up

14:12, 20 October 2022

updated: 16:20, 20 October 2022

A passenger was left stranded at a train station for more than two hours due to "shambolic" Southeastern bus replacement services.

Katie Harris was at Hollingbourne waiting for the 6.13pm rail replacement service to Bearsted on October 2 after weekend engineering work meant no trains were running.

Katie Harris said she has to wait for over two hours in the dark after replacement buses never showed up
Katie Harris said she has to wait for over two hours in the dark after replacement buses never showed up

The 48-year-old, who works in the financial risk department of an insurance firm and lives just off Bearsted Green, said: "I was aware there was a rail replacement, and it showed it would be on time on the Southeastern website.

"I got to the station 10 minutes before the bus was supposed to turn up, but it never did.

"All that the website showed was the next bus, which was for an hour later."

When she contacted the train company on Twitter, she said they told her they had no information as to why the replacement failed to show up.

After waiting for an hour at the station in the dark and cold, the next bus also never came.

Hollingbourne train station
Hollingbourne train station
Bearsted train station
Bearsted train station

Once again, she says Southeastern was unable to give her an explanation. After more than two hours with no sign of a bus, she decided to call a taxi.

"It's really aggravating I just feel like I've been fobbed off," she said.

"I was a single female traveller alone with a little dog in the dark for two hours in a secluded area.

"I can get over having to get a taxi back, these things happen, but Southeastern should be aware of what's happening.

"I'm really angry and all I want is for them to take responsibility, they should care when people are stranded."

Katie says bus replacement services not showing up meant she was stranded at a train station for more than two hours
Katie says bus replacement services not showing up meant she was stranded at a train station for more than two hours

A Southeastern spokesman said: "The first replacement bus, which Katie was meant to catch, unfortunately didn’t run because of a technical fault.

"The next replacement bus did run, but was delayed by around half an hour because of traffic congestion – obviously Katie would have been waiting for some time by that point hence her understandable frustration.

"We’re really sorry that Katie faced a delay to her journey on this occasion, and if she hasn’t already done so we’d encourage her to claim for Delay Repay on our website, explaining what happened."

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