An attempt by British Railways to get trains running to time has had unforeseen results. On some main line stations the public are complaining that when trains run to time they are likely to miss them.



A ticket collector at Derby said yesterday: “People have come to rely on trains being late. Now many of them are leaving on time and we get people dashing through the barrier at the last minute and returning to complain that they have missed their train. When we explain politely that the train left on time they become abusive.”

Station buffets are also suffering. A waitress in the cafeteria at Derby said the busiest time of their day used to be around 5 30 p.m. when people were waiting for the York to Bristol express. Now it was running on time the cafeteria was often deserted and far fewer cups of tea were being served.



A spokesman of British Railways treated the complaints philosophically yesterday. He said “they were trying to remove all those little human errors which could cause delay. Punctuality had improved since the campaign started, and some people had been taken by surprise, but no doubt would get used to it.”