Customer Service – London Bridge Style
I know London Bridge station is being rebuilt as a consequence of both the Thameslink upgrade and the hideous Shard, but I doubt you’ll find a worse main station in the whole of the UK.
Like all of the stations and lines south of the Thames, they were planned by a devious and possibly cruel Victorian mind. An example is that as London Bridge is the most easterly of the London rail stations serving the south, you’d assume it would serve all of the stations in Kent. That is an extremely logical and wrong assumption, as you get to places like Margate from either Victoria or St. Pancras.
No wonder you get confused tourists like a group of Spanish, who were trying to get to King’s Cross, by taking a train to Victoria from London Bridge and quite a few other stations, and then using the Victoria line. I told them to use the direct Northern line and was left wondering what idiot had advised them to go via Victoria. It couldn’t have been anybody in customer service as the Information Desk was closed.
Closed Information Box at London Bridge
The London Buses kiosk was also closed.
Closed Bus Information Kiosk at London Bridge
I was trying to get to North Dulwich and was advised to take the 9:48 from platform 15. At the last minute, I was told it would leave from 14 and got there just as it pulled away. After looking for some non-existent help, I found a board which said that there was a train on platform 14 at 10:03. So I ran back and after several goes, I finally got through the barrier, when a ticket inspector let me through.
One of problems I had to get through, was that in strong sunlight, the LEDs that show a green arrow or a red cross on the barrier, can’t be seen by someone like myself with degraded eyesight. After the kind inspector let me through, he said he had problems himself with the barriers and hopefully the new ones arriving soon would solve the problem.
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The Anonymous Widower 
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