hi....used this firm a lot many years ago when my son now 38 was a child.....they were in my view a good reliable company....

Recently I needed to get from northwales to kent....worried about busy motorways ect....decided driving was out of the question.....also would need to be taken by hubby as dont drive and he was needed at home.......worried about going by train as not confident about managing all the changes and scared I'd miss stops....and scared incase route included the london tube sytem.....I remembered about National Express coaches...they used to stop in my area.... and so went on the net to see if they had a route I could use.....

They did so I booked it....there was 1 coach change meaning a 1 hour wait between coaches in the London victoria coach depot befor boarding a coach to Maidstone where I was being picked up....whole journey was just over 10hrs long .....begining at 9.30am and ending at 8.30pm....so the hour I thought would be good to get something to eat have a coffee ect.....

On the day my coach was 20mins late picking us up.....but was making up time on route.....then we hit travel problems near stoke.....makng us nearly 1 and a half hours behind.....the drivers did a great job after this and were making up time......as we were nearing London they kept radio contact with London victoria depot....letting them know how close we were.....they knew we had passengers on board who needed to transfere on to the coach going to Maidstone and then on to another town Ashton.....and it was the only coach going that way that night ....we took it for granted they would hold the coach.....because of the hour that was schedualed between the 2 coaches we were only going to be 5 or 10 minutes late in the end....

We pulled into the depot 5mins late....we were told to go departure office if we had missed the other coach...as we were crossing to the depature side we saw our coach leaving the depot.....there were 4 adults and one had a little girl about 5yrs old....myself and 2 of the others were all going to maidstone...the lady with the little girl was going further to Ashton.....we all thought they would send us off in a minibus....as we had all booked the journey as a complete package not 2 seperate journey booking.....how wrong we were..

We all went to the office....none of us were very happy....we couldnt understand why they hadnt just held the coach for us.....they said they didnt own the depot and the people who run it only gave them 10mins after schedualed departure time....but we knew they had left before that time was up ...and had left with 5 minutes to spare....if they had waited for the 10mins we would have all been on the coach...

We had no choice but to accept rail vouchers.....As mentioned earlier I am scared traveling on trains....I also get very nervous and panicky in big cities....and I have only been London once when I was in my teens, was meant to stay overnight but for some reason felt very panicky and uncomfortable.....and instead asked my boyfriend at the time to take me home....I was in such a state he did....I wanted to take my lads to the London eye when it opened but just couldnt book it ...felt sick when I thought about being there.....getting stranded there would be a nightmare for me.....I landed up in tears at the thought of needing to walk through the streets then take the train....if Id have been on my own I would have had a full blown panic atack.....if it hadnt been for the 2 young girls who were going to maidstone as well I would have been in a mess....I just followed them...I had 2 suitcases and a holdall....and when we got to station we needed to go down an escalator to get to platforms....I stepped on escalator pulling the cases behind me....for some reason the cases began pushing me forward from behind and I nearly went head first ... we managed to get on the train....but it took me to a station the opposite side of Maidstone to where I was being picked up and over an hour later than arranged....

The other lady with the little girl going to Ashton had booked the coach which took hours longer rather than the trains as she was worried about needing to use the tube system to change trains in London ....she was given a rail voucher too....and had to go on the tubes with her little girl....she was also worried sick as she didnt have a clue about how to use the tubes ....and was worried about taking her little girl and cases at that time of night...

The National Express staff werent concerned ....we were issued with a rail voucher and told tough....I had thought it was ideal way to send my 15yr old on his own in the future for a visit with his brother...which was where I was going.....but now think it a bad idea......imagine a young teenager alone in the same position we found our selves in.....anything could have happened to a young boy or girl on thier own......we were told by people that our coach was always late....so why dont they rethink the timetable ....have the first coach leave earlier and the second later..

National Express it seems is nolonger the company I remember it to be....when I read tippi's post I decided to add my story to hers....tweetie