Merseyrail Reviews 287

Awful
Late
Missed/skipped trains consistently.
Poor prices.
Let scallies off with not paying fines/dont chalkenge, yet I was fined for genuinely
and accidentally going a stop extra and offered to pay.May not renew Railpass out of principle.

I get the train all of the time and always get. 16-18 and never get asked for my ID, today I have been asked for my ID unfortunately didn’t have it on me so have been charged full adult price Wich the price is actually awful anyway !!! I asked can I please just have a 16-18 I showed my ID on my phone on passport and provisional they still refused me of the ticket so I had to pay full adult price, rude staff.

When running well the service is invaluable, but recently the timetables and train reliability is very poor and leaving people late or unable to get home.. But the biggest gripe i have is that there seems to be a multitude of staff in or around the ticket barriers and i have to be honest i have been witness to several incidents where people have been bullied and spoken to disrespectfuly when they had been asking a question which the staff had not answered correctly. There is an air of intimidation about the staff particularly at Central station, and the customer service levels are now so low that i would advise travellers to find an alternative way to get home.. Merseyrail have been so succesful financially in the past they now feel they dont need to worry too much if they upset people who travel with them with their policies.. Overall Merseyrail are FAILING....

Myself ( Mary Burnett) & my very good friend Laura ( Laura Wilkinson) who traveled from Hamilton Square to Hoylake return on Thursday 26th May , we would just like to say , that the service from the staff at either stations was Outstanding, the thoughtfulness, helpfulness , kindness , Professional Understanding manner in which Laura ( test driving her electric scooter for the first time on public transport) received was Fabulous , Ben at Hamilton Square & Lee at Hoylake
Big Big Thank You to you Both
So very much
I know It meant the world to Laura

Legendary service from the member of staff operating the ticket office at Moorfields on Old Hall Street, around 5:30pm today (7th April 2022).

Polite, informative and happy to answer my questions. I hope you give a nice bonus or some vouchers for his work.

A credit to your team.

My partner had the unfortunate experience of being discriminated against and targetted by the body armour bully boys who seem incapable and scared of dealing with youths or drunken males behaving anti-social and violent. They saw it more fit to intimidate and fine a single female passenger who's foot momentarily came into contact with the opposite seat. The response from their enforcement dept has been equally as disgraceful. My family and I will never use Merseyrail again.

Fined whilst asleep for having my foot touching the seat, gave all my details honestly, no imagery stating in the carriage the bylaws and now it's escalated due to lack of contact. Avoid at all costs.

Today I boarded one of the merseyside trains while on my UK holiday.  Shortly after the train left I was issued a £60 fine for putting my foot on the chair opposite. I was told this was against the byelaws of the train service that you automatically agree to when buying the tickets. I DID NOT PURCHASE THE TICKETS my other half did, so how could I have agreed to the byelaws? When I asked where the signs showing these rules were I was not shown and there were none present on the train.
Considering I did not know this was a rule I was extremely appalled when thrown a £60 fine rather than a verbal warning for this.
What an absolute discrase and scam this company really are.

Useless Company, trains are always late and filthy. They have now reduced service to a 30 minute time table, even during peak times with the promise of 6 carriage trains. What a load of lies I've had to force my way on to 3 carriage trains for the past 2 weeks to get home from work. I saw one lady have a panic attack, it is mayhem, 100s waiting at platforms then all forced on to one train to try and get to work on time which is not possible with the train times now. I am applying for a refund for my season ticket and will be driving to work from now on

Brunswick Station today 20.1,22
I was waiting for Southport train today.
The guard came out of the office to tidy the bins and inspect the platform.....then he advised me that there was a train missing and I would have a long wait.
A spotless station and a very caring station guard (Dave). Much appreciated. Thankyou

My young son bought a ticket on the trainline app to Liverpool in a rush as he was running late for the train and made the daft and understandably silly error of not printing the ticket off. This it seems is close to a hanging offence. You must have a paper ticket and so my son has been fined £125, that's 1400% above the cost of the ticket he paid. That seems a bit steep especially as the fine for not having paid at all is £20 which one would think is a more serious offence. Others have been charged £20 for the same offence as my son. We offered to pay £20 as others have but Merseyrail have refused. Correspondence is ongoing but it looks like they are determined to prosecute. Not before I've contacted Watchdog, Liverpool Echo, Radio City and various other media platforms and taken legal advice. We know things are skewed against the consumer in these things but do we have to accept it when it seems unreasonable. The other reviews on this platform are not so great and I can understand why. I for one will be avoiding travelling on Merseyrail incase I am spotted looking out of the window in a manner unbecoming.!! Are there any positives.. yes there are .Merseyrail are excellent at replying promptly to e-mails and reinforcing how guilty you are. I do chuckle how they finish their e-mails.
("You are guilty of an offence and the fine is owing. Kind Regards")

I'm not sure I could consider"Kind Regards" appropriate.

Staff are bullies. Upset children and have no empathy.

I got fined £60 for having my feet on the seat on the way home from a doctor's appointment (I'm being investigated for having a blood disorder/disease.) I felt really tired and exhausted so tried going to sleep just to be disturbed by a member of staff on my journey. I didn't even know there's a rule for not having feet on seats as it's not well advertised at all. I'm a student and don't even have £60 to give to them and they're threatening to take me to court.

I'm spoiled by the great service and spot on train schedules at Merseyrail. Recently have to use other networks like North Western and Avante which regularly have me stressed and on the verge of tears. So nice to get on one of our lovely trains in the knowledge you will actually get to your destination in good time.

Lovely helpful staff that held the last train i was running for. Couldn't ask for better service.

Absolutely disgusting staff. They are a gang of thugs, praying on the weak, should call themselves criminals.

I've had several encounters whereby I've tried to get a ticket at my local station, only for it to be closed with a "BUY YOUR TICKET AT YOUR DESTINATION" sign in the window. When that happens, theres always a gang of ticket inspectors at the destination (Liverpool Central) looking to issue fines to as many people as possible. Luckily, I've always been able to put them back in their place and avoid any fines, however, I see them nabbing people all over the show, like the money-grabbing crettins they are.

I've now had a colleague and close friend come into work, crying, embarrassed, and physically shaken by her own experience. A very similar experience to what I have seen so many times before, you have treated her like a criminal in front of a packed station, all because of your own failings.

1) If you've got that many staff stood around issuing fines, send them to the stations with no staff and get issuing tickets like you should be. It's not rocket science.

2) Stop praying on the weak; the elderly, young children, the disabled. Shame on you Merseyrail.

3) Why so aggressive? What are you trying to accomplish? Maybe have a bit of customer service behind you, stop treating well-intentioned people like criminals, stop with the intimidation, and be decent human beings for a change.

All of you at Merseyrail should be ashamed of yourself. Those of you praying on people, intimidating people, and issuing unnecessary fines, trating people like criminals - SHAME! Those employees who are actually decent but stand and do nothing when you know this goes on - SHAME! Those managers who have employed the gangs of thugs that call themselves ticket inspectors - SHAME! Those of you in upper management who allow this to happen under your watch - SHAME!

One last thing. On your "Contact Us" page, you have a slogan at the top that reads "We aim to deliver a world class service to our customers in everything we do." Please take that down as it is quite simply a lie. You clearly do not care about customers, so stop pretending like you do.

Disgraceful. My daughter who has Autism bought a ticket online and travelled from Birkenhead central to Lime street. My daughter showed the evidence of her purchase on her phone and was fined twenty pounds for not having a paper ticket. Utter shame on the Authorised collector you knew she payed for the journey so why fine her.
It’s a complete and utter joke.

Went to get my train this morning at 9.20PM at Kirkdale station. There was a sign in the window ‘please buy your ticket at your destination’. I wanted to BUY a return ticket from Liverpool Central to Formby.

So got the train to Formby, then back to Liverpool central MY DESTINATION! Then I got to central and said I needed a return ticket from FOMBY TO LIVERPOOL CENTRAL and he then told my cos I didn’t buy my ticket from Formby (which wasn’t my destination) I was gonna get fined £20. All the security tired to intimate me and I’ve always been friendly to the staff and said ‘keep the change’ when buying tickets. And this horrible man fined me. I tried to run away but the barriers wudnt let me out. Merseyrail is a disgusting terrible train line and I feel like taking them to court over this! I was TRYING to buy a ticket at my DESTINATION And then FINED! I literally told the guy I was buying a ticket from the Furthest station and a return, I pulled out £100 out my pocket I wasn’t trying to scam anything but they just corrupt and stole my money. If I don’t get this sorted I’m taking merseyrail to court for intimidation and also lying and stealing my money!

Went to Formby station and was served by a really helpful and polite man named Ian. He talked through ticket options with me and found the ticket to meet my needs. He went above and beyond his role. Thank you

I stopped using merseyrail years ago due to poor service and went back to using my car. My partner ended up doing the same. But today I had to get from Sandhills to formby to collect my car from a paint shop so thought I’d take my little boy on the train for the first time. Arrived at Sandhills to replacement bus, cancellations, signal problem, no Southport trains etc. I just walked out. No different. A total waste of time, and I suspected it would happen. Got a taxi instead. Delta taxis on the other hand were there in no time. Good work delta👍