Second class citizens

That is something which has puzzled better brains than mine -- and will continue to do so unless there is a radical change in the attitudes of the public and the various service organisations.

Our transport system is a national disgrace, with the railways, especially, providing irrefutable evidence of just how far into the dumper we have plunged.

Only the other day I heard a radio announcer calmly reveal that a spokesman for Railtrack had estimated that it would take years (I thought he said 10, but it could have been 20) to bring the UK's rail transport system into the 21st century and up to a level of efficiency and reliability to match that of our European neighbours.

Who is to blame? Well years of under investment, neglect and poor management contributed, but the travelling public may have unwittingly assisted by enduring such privations with the legendary show of British stoicism. Shoulder-shrugging at its best. We expect things to go wrong. We accept second-rate. We're British.

Other residents of the developed world, and the more enlightened ones from the Third World, are far less tolerant. They consider (and they DO have a point here) that if a customer is spending money and paying the price demanded, he or she has a perfect right to get what they have paid for.

Take Tom O'Connor and Raewyn Hilton, for example. You won't know them but they are couple domiciled in Sydney, Australia, who make trips to the UK once or twice a year to be with relatives and friends.

They are your average, middle class Aussies with no claims to be wealthy socialites, expecting the rest of humanity to be at their beck and call. But they do believe, as a simple matter of logic, that when they enter into an agreement, it will be honoured. But this is Britain. Not Australia. And their latest trip did provide a glaring example of how easily previously agreed and documented contracts can go glaringly awry.

Tom and Raewyn had arranged before they left Oz for England to rent a car for the duration of their stay from a company called Local Contract Hire and Leasing Ltd through their web address LCHCarHire.com. This is a nationwide business with a head office in Leeds.

All went well until Sunday, February 25, the day that Tom and Raewyn had booked to fly to Rome for a short holiday before returning to Australia.

They had arranged to drop off the rented Vauxhall Corsa at the LCH collection point at Gatwick Airport at 10am. They were there in plenty of time. Sadly, the LCH representative was not. Nor did he, or she, materialise throughout the day, despite the booking confirmation form stating that NORMAL Sunday hours were 10:00 to 16:00. Perhaps this was an abnormal Sunday!

Tom and Raewyn made numerous attempts to locate someone, anyone, from the car hire company. Telephone calls became increasingly more desperate, but singularly unproductive, as the time for their flight to Rome drew nearer.

In the end, faced with having a car that no one wanted, they cancelled the Rome flight, reported the incident to Sussex Police at Crawley and returned to their relatives to spend what was left of their vacation time, reflecting on what it was like to be on the wrong end of a pre-paid deal which had gone quite horribly wrong.

Their complaint, which they managed to relay to LCH at Leeds on the following day, is "being dealt with". The question of financial reparation for the lost holiday is under consideration. The company promised to come up with an answer and explanation within 14 days. That time period has elapsed and I have been assured that a letter is on its way to Tom and Raewyn on the other side of the world.

I requested, and was promised a copy. That was six days ago. To date it hasn't arrived. I'm not holding my breath. The usual policy in such cases is stall until the complainant gets fed-up and gives in. That won't work in this case as the complainants are Australian who haven't spent enough time in the UK to develop the British disease. They won't give in. Nor will I. More of this later. WHAT is it about the British that persuades them to accept low-grade standards of public service as the norm?

That is something which has puzzled better brains than mine - and will continue to do so unless there is a radical change in the attitudes of the public and the various service organisations.

Our transport system is a national disgrace, with the railways, especially, providing irrefutable evidence of just how far into the dumper we have plunged.

Only the other day I heard a radio announcer calmly reveal that a Railtrack spokesman had estimated that it would take years (I thought he said 10, but it could have been 20) to bring the UK's rail system into the 21st century and up to a level of efficiency and reliability to match that of our European neighbours.

Who is to blame? Well years of under investment, neglect and poor management contributed, but the travelling public may have unwittingly assisted by enduring such privations with the legendary show of British stoicism. Shoulder-shrugging at its best. We expect things to go wrong. We accept second-rate. We're British.

Other residents of the developed world, and the more enlightened ones from the Third World, are far less tolerant. They consider that if a customer is spending money and paying the price demanded, he or she has a perfect right to get what they have paid for.

Take Tom O'Connor and Raewyn Hilton, for example. They are couple domiciled in Sydney, Australia, who make trips to the UK once or twice a year to see relatives and friends.

They are your average, middle class Aussies with no claims to be wealthy socialites, expecting the rest of humanity to be at their beck and call. But they do believe that when they enter into an agreement it will be honoured. But this is Britain. Not Australia. And their latest trip did provide a glaring example of how easily previously agreed and documented contracts can go glaringly awry.

Tom and Raewyn had arranged before they left Oz for England to rent a car for the duration of their stay from a company called Local Contract Hire and Leasing Ltd through their e-mail address LCHCarHire.com. This is a nationwide business with a head office in Leeds.

All went well until Sunday, February 25, the day that Tom and Raewyn had booked to fly to Rome before returning home.

They had arranged to drop off the rented car at the LCH collection point at Gatwick Airport at 10am. They were there in plenty of time. Sadly, the LCH rep was not. Nor did he, or she, materialise throughout the day, despite the booking confirmation form stating that NORMAL Sunday hours were 10:00 to 16:00.!

Tom and Raewyn made numerous attempts to locate someone, anyone, from the car hire company. Telephone calls became increasingly more desperate, but singularly unproductive, as the time for their flight to Rome drew nearer.

In the end, faced with having a car that no one wanted, they cancelled the Rome flight, reported the incident to Sussex Police at Crawley and returned to their relatives to spend what was left of their vacation time, reflecting on what it was like to be on the wrong end of a pre-paid deal which had gone quite horribly wrong.

Their complaint, which they managed to relay to LCH at Leeds the following day, is "being dealt with". The question of financial reparation for the lost holiday is under consideration. The company promised to come up with an answer and explanation within 14 days. That period has elapsed and I have been assured that a letter is on its way to Tom and Raewyn in Australia.

I requested, and was promised a copy. That was six days ago. To date it hasn't arrived. I'm not holding my breath. The usual policy in such cases is - stall until the complainant gets fed-up and gives in. That won't work in this case as the complainants are Australian who haven't spent enough time in the UK to develop the British disease. They won't give in. Nor will I. More of this later. Confirmation Don't hold your breath for good old British customer service Second best will do - we're British First rate Britain - don't hold your breath