Martin Lewis has slammed a UK train service after experiencing “degrading” conditions with one working loo for 500 people. The money saving expert took to social media platform X, formerly known as Twitter, to vent in a furious tirade which said the conditions on board the East Midlands Railway train from London to Sheffield were “disgraceful.”
In his furious post Mr Lewis said: “Dear @EastMidRailway this train (Ldn – Sheffield) is disgraceful.
“Every seat taken, every standing space taken, scores sitting in mid train corridors so I guess 500 people on it and ONLY ONE WORKING TOILET at one end, so people must crawl over each 100s to reach it.
“It’s degrading, like something from the 19th century.
“PS and as I walked to the loo, apologising profusely, a number of people asked me to say something publicly about it. One of the reasons for this tweet.”
Others were quick to jump in to support Mr Lewis’s complaint saying they too had experienced bad conditions on the service – and other UK train services.
One said: “I have mobility issues and now I cannot drive. Recently I bought a senior railcard with view of travelling from north Northumberland to South Somerset. The issues you have highlighted fill me with dread.
“I cannot stand for very long and unfettered access to a loo is an absolute must. I’m thinking of gritting my teeth and going first class – assuming that does what it says on the tin!”
Another said: “Remember being on a crammed one of those and I nearly passed out…”
The rail service provider jumped onto the X post also gave Mr Lewis reasons for the conditions on the social media platform – saying they were due to upgrades on the East Coast Mainline.
A post from East Midlands Railway said: “Hi Martin, we are really sorry about your experience this afternoon.
“Vital infrastructure upgrades on the East Coast Mainline have resulted in a very large number of customers trying to travel with us rather than using the available rail replacement bus connections.
“We have strengthened services as much as possible and increased the number of staff to help manage this situation but clearly it has not worked as well as we would have liked, and we will work hard with the wider industry to learn from this.”
Express.co.uk has approached East Midlands Railway for further comment.
