On thin ice

A busy last day in the office followed by manic packing for the Sleeper, arriving in good time at Euston, then.... finding out that the carriage we're booked on has no electricity or running water so we can't travel on it. Bother.

We were asked to go to the Virgin lounge with all the other disappointed passengers. At the lounge, the two Virgin staff were frantically trying to find a customer service number for Scotrail. We'd been told the Virgin staff would be able to book us berths on the Lowlander to Glasgow but there was no guarantee that they had space. In the end, I found a number with a person on the end of the line and booked a couple of berths. I then shared the number and we all got places.

When the Lowlander was ready for boarding, the Scotrail staff on the train didn't know who we were - our bookings hadn't been forwarded to them. We got our berths without quibbling, though. I hope everyone else did, too. It's not too out of our way to go to Glasgow and get the early train to Inverness, but other people had more baggage and young children.

I can understand why the Sleeper staff are striking. It's awful having to be on the front line when carriages aren't working. It's not fair on the passengers or the staff. Sort it out, Serco.