Romantic dinnerplan fails as train grinds to a halt

On December 27 engineer Chris Bates, 23, and his partner Joanne, 22, a bar manager, from Devonshire Road, joined Southern’s 19.22 Ore to Brighton service at Bexhill, expecting a 20-minute ride to Eastbourne and a romantic dinner with which to mark their first year together.

They also aimed to celebrate the birth of their daughter, Kaila, 10 weeks previously. But as their four-car train passed beyond Pevensey it suddenly ground to a halt and Mr Bates said passengers sat helpless while the train crew tried to restore power.

Mr Bates said: “We were told a widespread local power cut was to blame, but then a fully-lit train passed ours on the adjoining track. Then, when the driver announced he was going to try to move, there was a blinding flash and the emergency lights kicked in.”

The flash proved to be a faulty conductor “shoe” welding itself to the 750-volt third rail, and with the train then plunged into darkness and the heating having failed, all the passengers were moved into a single carriage to keep warm.

Mr Bates said time passed until fitters from Brighton arrived, their torches prompting the train crew to ask who they were, to which the “unhelpful” rejoinder was: “Train-spotters”.

Temporary repairs enabled the train to limp into Eastbourne station more than two hours late, whereupon the Bexhill couple had to immediately get on a bus to return home, their meal abandoned.

Mr Bates, himself a former guard with another train company, said: “In the time it took to get to Eastbourne and back that night I could have travelled to Liverpool.

“Breakdowns do occur, but the misinformation and off-hand attitude over our situation were hardly professional.”

A Southern spokesman confirmed the chain of events and said: “We would like to apologise to Mr Bates, his partner and the other passengers for the inconvenience this train failure caused them.

“Our customer services department will be writing to them in due course and will be addressing their concerns.”