Glen Merryman

Said the following about St Neots Station Team:

“We would like to nominate the team for team of the year for the following- On the 28th and 30th March, when two separate sets of disruption hit the east coast mainline affecting our customers experience from St Neots station. On the 28th as a train entered the station the wind ripped its pantograph and part of the overhead wires down stranding the train and our passengers with merely the drivers cab on the platform.

This was not going to be an easy Bank Holiday shift for the staff involved as for a long period of time all the trains were completely stopped on the East Coast Mail Line, while the problem was assessed. A lot of stranded passengers were trapped with no power. The team at St Neots worked together as a cohesive team to keep the passengers assured and working with colleagues from Network Rail and operations to manage the incident the best they could. Due to initial confusion and broken windows a passenger had called 999 and Cambridgeshire police were called to the station. This resulted in a tense situation-

The team at the station remained in control and briefed the local police on the situation to effectively ensure that no one came to harm and we followed correct safety compliance. The team work as a whole, getting customers moved one by one off the damaged train, looking after the welfare and ensuring their onward travel arrangements, taking care to look after vulnerable passengers. Most of the team stayed behind after hours or came in early to assist to support each other. The following morning, the service was still disrupted but the team were still highly praised on Twitter for great communication and helping commuters who were suffering continued bus replacement and cancelled trains.

The same afternoon 29th March a fatality occurred on the network. When I arrived at the incident I saw the team engaged and helping customers, two members of this team came into work in their own time as they had seen problems. The level of team work I saw over these two days was tremendous, and without everyone working together as a team we would have struggled to sustain the service we did. It is rare as a site manager that i have seen such professionalism and sheer kindness in two very stressful situations. This team executed great team work and the passengers’ safety was always at the forefront along with delivering customer service in challenging situations.“