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See Coaches - a bit of a shambles...


Joshuwarr
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So, I opted for the coach and ticket package for the second year running. On the whole it's a great service and I'd not dream of going back to the train or relying on a lift.

However, I was really disappointed with what I saw this morning. Not a single person had their tickets looked at where I was and it became a total free for all. People who had specific coaches were being turned away whilst people chancing it were getting on any coach they fancied. 

Despite this and our driver getting lost on the way to the festival I actually rate the service. Just hope they can encourage stewards to be more vigilant with tickets...

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Luckily I was going to Taunton on the 9:30 coach so not that many people but at the same gate were coaches to Manchester - a few people couldn't get on the coach with genuine tickets.  Mine wasn't checked and I doubt if any of the others were

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6 minutes ago, MartinK said:

Luckily I was going to Taunton on the 9:30 coach so not that many people but at the same gate were coaches to Manchester - a few people couldn't get on the coach with genuine tickets.  Mine wasn't checked and I doubt if any of the others were

We had to wait even though we were booked on that coach as others pushed past. Luckily the next one was only 20/30 mins later. Still annoying though! 

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10 minutes ago, kalifire said:

If you booked a ticket for a specific coach and got turned away from that coach, I'd be asking for my money back. No question. 

If anyone can be arsed to read the terms, (I realise it's black Monday and this isn't going to happen) they probably cover themselves with "another suitable coach" or something similar & sneaky 

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5 minutes ago, Michaels denim shorts said:

If anyone can be arsed to read the terms, (I realise it's black Monday and this isn't going to happen) they probably cover themselves with "another suitable coach" or something similar & sneaky 

Do they, though? 

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15 hours ago, MartinK said:

Luckily I was going to Taunton on the 9:30 coach so not that many people but at the same gate were coaches to Manchester - a few people couldn't get on the coach with genuine tickets.  Mine wasn't checked and I doubt if any of the others were

We were booked on the 8.30 coach to Manchester and Taunton lot went before us. TBH though I was expecting the usual shambles of not checking any tickets and just getting on whichever coach came next. I really don't know why they even bother allocating a return time. What was worse this year was the toiled leaking piss all over the boot on the way there. Thankfully I have everything packed in plastic bags but that was a pretty grim start to the festival. Just had to get on with it and have the best time ever

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Loads of folks don't get on their return coach as going home with their lot with GA tickets and cars. 

If they checked tickets the whole process would take even longer. And they would have to wait for above mentioned people who never turn up. 

Undoubtably it's a shamble but a working shamble. Better than if they tried to be proper about it.

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A shambles that works is best way to describe the seetickets coach park on Monday morning. Thing that pisses me off the most is the state of the coaches they send us in. Understandably they might get shit up a bit but some of the coaches we've been on in recent years have been shockers. We pay top dollar for the privilege of a coach, a working air conditioning system and a toilet you could actually use should be a minimum requirement (both of which our coach on the way down didn't have).

Was anyone on the return to Manchester which had the cracked front window?

I saw the damage at the services then passed it again pulled up on the hard shoulder not long after

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We were impressed this year on the way to Glastonbury, as for the first time in our memory, the 10:30pm Tuesday night coach from Edinburgh actually arrived on time and left on time. 

 

Coming home however, both the Edinburgh and Glasgow buses were around 2 hours late picking us up, our coach then proceeded to break down on the M5 (I have some lovely photos of us all on the hard shoulder like war torn refugees). The driver got it going again, but we then had an hours wait in services for a mechanic to come and "fix" it. Back on the road... another 50-100 miles, and we were back on the hard shoulder of the M6, with the bus goosed again.  Another bus came, we transferred all the luggage/people onto the new bus.  Then another swap onto another bus at Gretna. Around 14 hours to get home. 

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Although on the other hand I am reading that See coaches rescued Shelter volunteers who were supposed to have a (Avalon) coach back to Sheffield and when it broke down were left to fend for themselves.

See know that many with coach packages join them on the way down to get their tickets, but travel back independently. They let stranded Shelter volunteers on to coaches to Manchester, Nottingham and Leeds when they knew they had spaces later in the day.

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Leaving London was a bit of a shambles. I understand if the stewards aren't given much if any information, but telling 3pm coaches at 3:15 that they will be waiting for 30-60 minutes when there's still people waiting for 2pm coaches who haven't heard a thing is not good crowd management. Nor is blathering on about how much you want to go home when politely asked what's happening.

The lack of ticket checking worked in my favour on the way back as I got an earlier one, but this was at 5am and going to London so there was no clusterfuck. We didn't stop at a service station despite sitting on the M3 for ages, which was a bit of a relief.

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On 26/06/2017 at 8:38 PM, kalifire said:

If you booked a ticket for a specific coach and got turned away from that coach, I'd be asking for my money back. No question. 

I complained to See 10 years ago and got no compensation.  My coach was at 9am so we got there in good time.  By 9:30/10am, the See portakabin announced that all of the coaches were stuck in traffic on the motorway and would arrive soon.  While that may have been the case for some, it transpired that several of the companies they issued contracts to did not want muddy festival goers on their coaches and the subsequent cleaning bill.  Many coaches no showed.

It wasn't until about 1/2pm that the rain finally stopped (after 14-15 hours...) but everyone had already cracked long before that and left their bags in the water/mud.  I think See's senior management or MD was overseeing things from the portakabin and having to deal with some livid people.  They promised everyone that solution would be found but after 2pm had left completely.  My coach was one of a few completely stranded and Glasto security had to take over.  Eventually we were picked up after 5:30pm by a driver pulling a double shift (I don't think he had anyone to rotate with) but were delayed hours by a fatal accident less than an hour from the site.  We got back to Milton Keynes around midnight.

That omnishambles should have seen them lose the ticketing contract.  I think some got compensation but they didn't even acknowledge my letter!

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Anyone get stuck waiting for London coaches on Monday afternoon? Sad accident on A303. Not See's fault.

Steward basically said do anything else if possible so we jumped on a Bath coach (half empty, I never would have taken others booked slots). Then train from Bath to London (£20 with 2 together railcard).

Also our coach was delayed on the way out and we arrived at 10pm instead of half 6 on Thursday. Felt like we missed loads of the fest.

My other half says he's never getting coach tickets again. On the other hand, I have always got off site fairly quickly on a coach.

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Bit of a mixed coach experience from Taunton (Wednesday 9:15 departure) this year:

About 100 of us were waiting in the wrong pick up point, possibly our fault but the instructions weren't exactly clear and that's an awful lot of us to all get it wrong. Turns out that the departure point was a layby about 3 minutes walk away.

The driver checked IDs from everyone against the envelopes but gave them out BEFORE boarding. This has happened three times before when I've got the coach from Taunton.

Departed about 30 minutes late. No problem.

The air conditioning was broken on the coach so it was a pretty uncomfortable journey. At least it was only around one hour, any longer and I would have preferred it to be fixed prior to leaving. The driver tried his best and thankfully all passengers stayed calm and didn't give him a hard time.

The designated entry point meant that we came into the side of pedestrian gate A and from getting off the coach at 10:45am I had my wristband on by 11:00am. My friend who arrived by car at the same time walked through PGA around 2 1/2 hours later. I was tempted to get my ticket, turn around and drive in, but in hindsight with the £50 car park fee on the gate and a much longer queue in that Wednesday heat, I made the right decision to stick it out. 

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On 27/06/2017 at 0:46 PM, justperfect said:

A shambles that works is best way to describe the seetickets coach park on Monday morning. Thing that pisses me off the most is the state of the coaches they send us in. Understandably they might get shit up a bit but some of the coaches we've been on in recent years have been shockers. We pay top dollar for the privilege of a coach, a working air conditioning system and a toilet you could actually use should be a minimum requirement (both of which our coach on the way down didn't have).

Was anyone on the return to Manchester which had the cracked front window?

I saw the damage at the services then passed it again pulled up on the hard shoulder not long after

you should have seen the ones for Monsters of Rock in the early 80's:o

 

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21 minutes ago, pennylane07 said:

Anyone get stuck waiting for London coaches on Monday afternoon? Sad accident on A303. Not See's fault.

Steward basically said do anything else if possible so we jumped on a Bath coach (half empty, I never would have taken others booked slots). Then train from Bath to London (£20 with 2 together railcard).

Also our coach was delayed on the way out and we arrived at 10pm instead of half 6 on Thursday. Felt like we missed loads of the fest.

My other half says he's never getting coach tickets again. On the other hand, I have always got off site fairly quickly on a coach.

I was stuck in the A303 stand still but was happy at least to be on a bus. Expected to arrive into London at 1 and got their at 5 instead. 

Next time I'm going to come up with an alternative route home as Monday morning accidents on that A303 seem to be pretty common at this stage unfortunately. 

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