On Sat, 2 Nov 2013 11:51:34 +0000, Roland Perry
wrote:

In message , at 11:10:38 on
Sat, 2 Nov 2013, Richard remarked:
I think it just depends upon where you place a transport
operator/authority on that "adversary" scale, and I don't, really.

You've never encountered a GNER gripper; I can tell.

Many times, but I think I must have been lucky, I know they did/do
have a certain reputation...

I once spent most of the trip from Peterborough to London arguing the
toss with several intransigent GNER staff over whether my ticket
qualified me for a free cup of coffee. It did, but they only conceded
after a protracted fight.

I was always going to/from Leeds. I think I'd rather pay for it, and
have a decent, friendly conversation with the person serving it, as on
Southeastern this morning.

Compare and contrast to the ECML's current incumbent where such
arguments are almost guaranteed when the "free" First Class catering is
only available to people whose trip is over 70 minutes, and some
schedules from Grantham to London are more than 70 minutes and some are
less. (And they aren't brave enough to come out and say that Grantham is
either "always in" or "always out", regardless of how many milliseconds
either side of the 70 minutes they are scheduled for).

Very poor.

Richard.