orangebiker wrote:I disagree with whoever above said that taking a train on Virgin is fine once you've booked the ticket. I find the staff rude, obstructive, disrespectful, and have many times found that despite booking a reservation, no-one is available to unlock the special door either getting on or getting off. This has resulted in frantically running up and down the platform trying to find someone, and then being blamed for making the train late. Frequently they tell you to wait in a particular place, only for it to be the other end of a very long train. You then have to get to the other end as fast as you can (having taken off all your luggage you then have to try to carry this as well because they don't allow it to be left on the bike and they don't give you time to take it off once the train arrives), only to be told off when you get there 'you should have asked someone which end it was' the whole thing is depressing in the extreme and can ruin an otherwise good day because of the stress. This is on the West Coast line - maybe that is worse than the East Coast. Other companies such as London Midland, Northern, Transpennine seem to have far nicer staff even if the bike facilities are often full of pushchairs.
Make sure the train manager knows you have a bike and where you are getting off.