From: Mandy Dodd
Subject: Fw: Booking reference PNR / TFUOZT Matthew Dodd (18)
To: traveller.care@eurostar.co.uk
Date: Wednesday, 29 July, 2009, 11:30 PM

Just to leave you with the fact that your staff were willing to force an 18 year old disabled boy to fend for himself on the streets of France with no phone, no money and in a state of high anxiety.  Is that what Eurostar wants to be?
Amanda Dodd

--- On Wed, 29/7/09, Mandy Dodd wrote:


From: Mandy Dodd
Subject: Booking reference PNR / TFUOZT Matthew Dodd (18)
To: traveller.care@eurostar.co.uk
Date: Wednesday, 29 July, 2009, 11:14 PM

Dear Sir,
I am writing to complain about the way my son was dealt with in France on his return to the UK at around 4pm today.
My son is 18 years old and carries a disabled railcard on travelling in this country as he has a disability called Asperger Syndrome.  He experiences high anxiety when put in situations of stress.  Having said this I am very proud of the way he conducted himself when this happened because he kept calm (though shaking visibly and in tears) and did not lose his temper or shout and swear.  He was treated to a 2 day break in Paris by a friends family.  They booked all the tickets at the same time through Eurostar and booked seats together both ways.
What Matthew did not realise was there had been a mistake on his tickets alone with the date being 27/08 going and 29/08 comig home.  The bar code did not work on the way going so he went to the manual check in gate.  They passed him through and he travelled with his friends to France and on to Paris.  Imagine his horror when on the return from France his friends all went through ok, and his ticket would not scan again (he did not see the date error as he had just been handed the ticket, let through in England and had no reason to doubt the return journey).  He was stopped.
He had taken enough money for the trip and had had to spend more money than he thought on the hotel room, so had nothing left on the return.  No credit card as he is too young to have one.  His phone had run out of credit and he could not speak to his friends as they were on the other side of check in.  The woman just said "no exchange go away" and kept repeating this.  He asked to talk to a manager or something (very sensible) but they kept repeating "go away from here no returns not my problem You are not supposed to be in the checkout area, he asked to speak to his friends and said "I have no money, no credit card, phone and my friend are leaving" To which she replied "that's not my problem you have to leave".  Finally he was so upset he found his way to a Eurostar office who listened to him for five minutes then just said 2 words "no exchange".
Matthew believed that his 2 days that he had so enjoyed in France had become his worse nightmare.  Alone, no money, in a country he did not know or speak the language, no way of contacting us or anywhere to sleep or stay.
Finally a man saw how upset he was and minutes before the train departed he said that as London had let him on the train they ought to let him go back home.  This was under great duress and he result of my son openly shaking and weeping.  He feels humiliated and scarred.
Mistakes happen.  It was not my son's fault, he did not even see the mistake, neither did the check in at London.  The tickets were  booked at the same time, he had no reason to know his was wrong.  To be told to go away?  They could not do anything? Why be so heartless?  They should have seen that London let him through and that he needed to go home.  They were prepared to make him go away and keep him prisoner in the country until the end of August.  Anything could have happened to him, and he was very very scared.  He has had alot of unpleasant things happen to him in his life but he says that this was by far the worst experience he has had.  Whatever happened to customer service and good old fashioned humanity?  He is a very young and vulnerable young man who deserved far better from Eurostar. This was our family's first experience of Eurostar, and we had been planning our own trip to France later this year,  however after this experience and his holiday ruined we will not be going.  I have Multiple Sclerosis and my son needed this break from all the worries at home and your staff have just undone all the good this holiday had done him PLUS it has given me more stress and worry because I got a phone call from his friends telling me he was being stopped from coming home.  Stress is not good for MS.  Stress is not good for Asperger/autism.  This should not have happened to anyone let alone my son. Please conduct a full investigation,
Yours sincerely  Amanda Dodd