First Class? Fo Shizzle...

Friday 2nd September - 12:22 – Darlington to London

Darlington

Apparently if you have a first class ticket you can’t actually get into the first class lounge, you have to pay an additional £5 to gain that exclusive privilege. I had to persist that this was a bit unfair given the hefty premium I had paid to secure my safe and secure passage out of Darlington, where the people are known exclusively for their general nomadic tendencies and their love of the Civic Theatre.

There was little point persisting, I had stolen a glimpse of the lounge itself. For £5 you were treated to a sweaty high ceilinged room with a loud 15” CRT TV in the corner playing a flickering episode of Judge Judy, soulless seats were left littered, scratched and empty. I withered away with my first class ticket in hand hoping that I could in fact get a first class seat on a first class train. But hey, the train was due at 11:59, it is now 12:20 and the true British Network of Rail has demonstrated once again that for a premium, you actually get nothing more than a shiny ticket probably with a different font and if you’re lucky it might carry a water mark.

Article By David Beattie of Rounton Coffee