‘Sorry for the inconvenience’ – four little words which give hard-pressed Hitchin commuters no comfort whatsoever when they are uttered by Govia Thameslink.
While heroic rail users who use one of the world’s most expensive train lines into London Kings Cross – coupled with some of the most substandard services – stand shivering on crowded platforms as they impersonate Samuel Beckett’s Vladimir and Estragon in Waiting for Godot, that bland and meaningless apology booms out continually.
But as thoroughly fed-up passengers struggle to get to work on time in crowded trains amid swathes of cancellations – while off-peak users regularly miss appointments, job interviews, social gatherings, and in one particularly sad case the Comet has learnt about, even a funeral – one technologically savvy web designer has come up with a form of revenge.
Omid Kashan, a 26-year-old web designer, who reached the end of his tether with meaningless apologies has come up with a novel website to highlight the shocking number of times Govia apologises for their poor service.
Omid’s brainchild is called ‘Sorry for the Inconvenience’ – with the site announcing every time the service – labelled appalling by Hitchin MP Peter Lilley last week – apologises for delays, cancellations, driver shortages, the wrong kind of leaves, or ‘unusual customer flow’ on social media.
Omid’s webpage updates every ten minutes to show how recently Govia has said sorry in a tweet, and posts the details in full underneath.
Aggrieved train user Omid said: “You can just about put up with poor trains if the prices are low – but to have some of the highest fares in the world and still have a desperately bad service is just plain wrong.
“The fact Govia has apologised more than 10,000 times in fewer than 12 months tells its own story really.”
The website logged Govia apologising to angry commuters 10,087 times so far in 2016, averaging 28 per day.
Visit Omid’s site www.sorryfortheinconvenience.co.uk/greatnorthern to learn more.
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