Another nightmare journey back to Westminster yesterday. The North Wales coast railway line was closed, so I opted to fly from Manchester to Gatwick. The return ticket cost only £73 – a fraction of the price of the return railway fare, so it seemed a good deal.
At Manchester it was snowing. We were loaded onto the plane at the due time and then told that we could not take off until the aircraft had been de-iced. This was obviously sensible and everyone was happy to put up with what we were told would be a 20 minute delay. In fact, it turned out to be one and a half hours.
At Gatwick, the shuttle between the two terminals wasn’t working properly, so it took over 15 minutes to get to the railway station, where I caught the train to Victoria. This was supposed to be a non-stop service, but in fact we were stuck at Clapham Junction for almost ten minutes, waiting for goodness knows what.
The whole journey took almost seven hours, door to door. It should have taken about five.
We have now reached the point where the transport infrastructure of this country almost ceases to function at weekends. It has worsened significantly under this Government. Every time I travel to Westminster on a Sunday, I am reminded just how much I want them to go.
At Manchester it was snowing. We were loaded onto the plane at the due time and then told that we could not take off until the aircraft had been de-iced. This was obviously sensible and everyone was happy to put up with what we were told would be a 20 minute delay. In fact, it turned out to be one and a half hours.
At Gatwick, the shuttle between the two terminals wasn’t working properly, so it took over 15 minutes to get to the railway station, where I caught the train to Victoria. This was supposed to be a non-stop service, but in fact we were stuck at Clapham Junction for almost ten minutes, waiting for goodness knows what.
The whole journey took almost seven hours, door to door. It should have taken about five.
We have now reached the point where the transport infrastructure of this country almost ceases to function at weekends. It has worsened significantly under this Government. Every time I travel to Westminster on a Sunday, I am reminded just how much I want them to go.
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