I'm not saying it's a bad idea to travel with me

[lovingboth]

The announcements and posters at DLR stations today said something along the lines of "services will be suspended between Bank/Tower Gateway and Poplar/Canary Wharf stations on Saturday & Sunday and between Stratford and Canary Wharf stations on Sunday".

[Poll #1147174]

What is the clear implication of that statement? It is that there is a service between Stratford and Canary Wharf on Saturday!

On arrival at Canary Wharf this afternoon, this proved not to be the case.

Between Poplar and Stratford, yes, but there was no service between Canary Wharf and Poplar and even the replacement bus service didn't go there (some of them went to Blackwall, where you had to catch a train to Poplar and then change!)

After we boarded the replacement bus, the DLR staff at the bus stop asked the driver if he knew where he was going. Ho ho, we thought.

It became slightly less amusing when a long conversation followed, featuring what to do at a roundabout under a dual carriageway.

But eventually we were off. After a while, we arrived at a roundabout under a dual carriageway.

The driver drove all the way around it, 360 degrees. He then went around again. He then took what turned out to be the wrong exit and thus started an unscheduled tour of East London...

The end result was that my journey was much delayed because of the utterly misleading announcements and the incompetence of the driver of the replacement bus service.

I ended up missing what I'd gone for, having a much needed toilet break and returning immediately thereafter.

I'll be submitting a claim for the tickets and I trust it will not be declined because 'it was due to the engineering work'.

Comments

[drdoug.livejournal.com]

That was my reading, too. I wouldn't have expected a decent service on any of the rest of the network either (e.g. Canning Town to Beckton), since I'd expect their scheduling and rolling stock locations to be all up the spout as a result.

It is a confusingly-worded announcement, even if you have the map in front of you.

[djm4]

Yes. The addition of: 'On Saturday, trains to and from Stratford will start from/terminate at Poplar' would have made things a little clearer for those who don't know the network. Otherwise, the Sunday announcement looks like the textbook case of an 'exception that proves the rule', whereas in fact it's nothing of the sort.