Merseyrail Reviews 287

Merseyrail is clearly using their car parks as a means of income to fund their new trains.
I parked overnight there (which I had done on several occasions without getting a ticket) and received a fine. There was only one small, camouflaged sign in the whole car park which was in between the barriers and only on the way out. I did not walk past this sign so I did not see it. When I disputed, they were incredibly rude and dismissive, not listening to anything I had to say which led me to believe they are trying to catch train users out on purpose. They lied and tried to deceive me every step of the way.
Three weeks after I disputed, they erected another sign which was a 'coincidence' as it apparently had nothing to do with my complaint and was merely put up after their bi-annual review of signage.
There No signage upon entry and I was told I should have checked the website before I parked.
The company is a disgrace, their employees are rude robots trained to treat customers poorly and their behaviour is completely unethical and illogical to loyal customers. I know for a fact that they are using this tactic on everyone as I have seen emails to other people who have disputed that were exactly the same and had copy and pasted exact statements.
I was unlawfully charged with a criminal offense while I was still disputing my case and I spoke to an 'Aaron' on the phone who was perhaps one of the most rude people I've ever had to speak to from a customer relations team.
The people who run this company, along with their employees should all be ashamed of themselves.

Since merseyrail swapped to electric trains and also always short of drivers there's only around a 50 50 chance the train you want will be there and get you to your destination. The kirkby to liverpool constant cancellations are shocking. I'm on a bus right now this time I couldn't get a train not because of the constant breakdowns but because they are short of drivers. I worry every day i won't make it to work

This company is absolutely disgusting. Handing out fines based off pure lies. I encourage anyone reading this to tell everyone you know to NEVER use a merseyrail train ever again.

If I could give a zero rating I would. I travelled with my partner on Merseyrail from Chester to Liverpool. The date was 29th July 2024. This was the first time I had travelled on Merseyrail.
I had a very poorly ankle, on which I had had two sessions of surgery. The last session was a year ago. Due to this my ankle aches and swells up. As such I rested (rested) my left ankle on the seat in front of me. One guard came passed twice guards, he said nothing, then two stops before we were due to alight from the train an inspector approached us. She asked to see our tickets and then asked me for ID. I showed her my driving licence. She then said I'd been caught on CCTV as having me feet (one foot resting) on the seat in front. I apologised but she issued me with what I can only describe as summons. I showed her my ankle to no avail, she was adamant and said I'd contravened a bylaw. I was fined £60. No warning, no signs about this visible, nothing. I found her attitude bullying, confrontational and intimidating. The whole experience was very stressful. I'm 76 and never had so much as a parking ticket! She said I could ring Merseyrail and a number was printed on the summons she printed, but when you ring this it's a number to take payment for the fine! I was so distressed, shaken up, that I paid the fine straight away. I located a number later that day, but, again, I was told categorically that there are no mitigating circumstances. I have since emailed Merseyrail, but I get nowhere. This is just awful! My partner and I use public transport regularly in the south of England and have never experienced this type of treatment.

Staff are rude, confrontational, aggressive, hang out in gangs, hide behind corners and behave in intimidating fashion. Running an obvious Penalty Notice racket. I've seen it all on these tracks, from Staff targeting vulnerable people for Penalty Notices, lying about being present at ticket booths to issue Penalty Notices and laughing between themselves about choosing who gets fined. Avoid unless absolutely necessary.

If I could rate a 0 I would. I use this service Monday to Friday for work during peek times and for the past month it has been nothing but cancellations and disruptions. I definitely want my money back. What’s the point in getting a ticket when you can’t even depart or arrive at the destination of your choice and the time you want. Absolutely awful!

On my way to work this morning, about to leave the train, train doors started closing on me so I backed up, put my arm into the door thinking that motion detectors (similar to elevator doors) would stop them from closing, no the doors just closed on my arm and almost trapped it in the door... on top.of that you can always expect most trains to be running late

rude and unprofessional staff on a power trip - especially at young people. why are you a grown man at your job, huffing and puffing and rolling your eyes at teens just because they nearly missed a train? also trains themself are just unreliable and have frequent issues.

Ticket machine was broken man come up to me took me away from my child after I said it was broken showing I had 20 pound to pay and he read me my rights and said I will get a 400 pound fine I have ptsd and mental health and the way he treated me was nasty and now I have to pay this fine it was not my fault it was broken

Son just went from Spittle to Liverpool to meet friends after A-levels. No ticket machine or guard (shown on CCTV too). Was stranded and had to buy online except it said you have to pick up from a station other than Spittal - how is that even possible at 930pm without other transport? He clearly bought a ticket and showed online to guard in Liverpool but he was bullied into £50 plus another ticket. Why is there not a person or ticket box in Spittal - call me cynical but this looks like a calculated trap Merseyrail. Indeed, it is interesting that the BBC released an article the very same day called "Thousands of train fare prosecutions to be quashed", which highlights Merseyrail as one of the providers using the outdated Regulation of Railways Act from 1889 which is entirely immoral when they have essentially snared/trapped law-abiding and paying commuters. Appalling.

If there was a zero that's what I would rate

Today 14 August there has been nothing but poor service across the network broken down trains signal issues etc etc .

It spoilt ny day out to Chester first call was getting flung off at Sandhills train was already delayed at fazakerley with zero communication service status saying good service . Yet there was a train sitting at the platform kirkby side. Memberxof staff said there were no issues when there was.
On return I found out that the escalator from wirral line at Moorfields wasn't working. 97 stairs I went up having to stop 3 times on way to get my breath am 62 with high blood pressure. I didnt get any prior warning of number of steps otherwise I would have got lift no sign or warning that's wrong that and no staff at bottom of escalator to help give advice or warning.

This needs fixing urgently or somebody is going to fall ill have heart attack it's dangerous.

I will be making an appt to see my MP about this and the awful service it's just not good enough

Awful, awful experience with Mersey rail. They are bullies and money grabbers. We could not print off our ticket due to their not being a printer at the location. We had paid for our ticket just didn’t print it off at our end location as we thought what’s the point! Two people came over, scaring us threatening court and gave us an 150 pound fine. They continued to scare us by mentioning the police. Despite the website saying it reduces if you pay early? I have since contacted Merseyrail enforcement. They have denied me the right to appeal and could not state the correct Bylaw we were fined from. This experience has been extremely stressful and his impacted my daily life having to constantly argue my case and worry about the loss of money. On research, a fine for not printing tickets doesn’t exist. It seems like Merseyrails policies don’t inform anyone but yet expect them to obey. When the enforcement officer mentioned the prospect of refunding the ticket (he told us he was charging us because we would have got a refund for not printing it) I asked if I could collect my ticket, thus preventing the possibility of a refund. The enforcement officer then denied me access to my ticket and chose to instead fine me. This seems counterintuitive to fine someone over the possibility of a refund occurring whilst also preventing the person from performing the action that would in turn stop a refund from occurring. In this situation, not only has Merseyrail received money for the tickets of our journey they have now also received money for the fines. If this was truly about preventing ticketless riders then we would have been allowed to print our tickets and not receive a fine. However, the enforcement officers denied us access to our tickets and then proceeded to fine us for not having tickets.

If I could give zero stars I would. My daughter travelled to Liverpool and the ticket machine was not working so her and 3 friends jumped on the train expecting to pay on the train. Instead of letting them buy a ticket they fined each of them £50 if paid within 14 days or £100 after. They were bullied into giving their details to the fine operators and made to feel like they were being arrested. These girls clearly did not try and not pay a fair on purpose. Shocking behaviour from Mersey rail. I would rather walk than use one of their trains again.

13.46 train arrived at Fazakerley 18 minutes late then terminated at Sandhills.

Yesterday, 16.46 train cancelled.

Every day a lottery

Mickey Mouse service

I'm starting to run out of failure stories!

The so-called Merseyrail enforcement officers need curtailing - they go around acting like bailiffs and I expect they are on performance related pay. A poor guy who didn't have great English and may well have been unable to read the sign got fined I think £50 for having his feet on the seat... since when did Merseyside become like this? He got threatened with court if he didn't pay and looked terrified. Someone else tried to help and was threatened with being thrown out of the station - are these by-laws even enforceable I wonder?

Add to this ticketing (why on earth can you not use trainline tickets on your phone??), late running, cancellations or 'running trains through to last stop' when they are around 7-8 mins late (not really much is it!) to try and keep to targets. Plus broken down lifts and escalators.

I don't drive so am stuck with it but I can imagine 100's or 1000's going back to their cars...

My student daughter was issued an on the spot £60 fine for having her feet on the seat, which she immediately withdrew and apologised for. This was clearly exploitation, OTT and inappropriate. A warning would have been in line with the offence. Would this have been the punishment for a 35 year old man? Of course not. This is inappropriate use of power by the authority invested in the agents - who should know better. Merseyrail, let’s have fair and proportionate treatment and eradicate these errors of judgement. I’m disgusted with the outcome of this kangaroo court.

The answer to that question is a resounding NO.
An electrical fault caused mayhem at Liverpool Central this evening. Empty trains that were out of service came and went. Station staff just didn't have a clue what was happening. To rub salt into the wounds Merseyrail then put on a train direct through to Southport --- just to get their scheduling right.
Where were the customers in all this saga? Bottom of the list and being made to wait an inordinate length of time with no information.
Simply shocking service -- but then many would say that happens all too often such as it is now the norm!

I had to travel today from St Michael’s to Upholland. Hadn’t been on a train for ages so was apprehensive. Didn’t need to be as everyone was pleasant, information on the platforms and train's were clear.

The only downside to my journey was having to get on a Northern line train for the last bit of my journey.

Thank you people at merseyrail.

I'm often taken aback at so disengaged some of your ticket staff are. Was at my local station (on The Wirral), by no means busy, the bloke was just so deadpan. I was thinking of those people for whom interactions with strangers are sometimes all they have, in their day to day. Tell your staff to paint on a smile, say thank you, and maybe pass a few pleasantries.