This service is poo

Date: 2009-04-22
Journey Origin: Waterloo
Scheduled Dep. Time: 20:20
Journey Destination: Ascot
Estimated Delay: 20 minutes
Details of complaint: The toilets in one of the carriages had overflowed. Effluent everywhere. Rather than just seal off the carriage the decision was made to delay the service to try and mop things up.
Firstly, that is gross - there's no way they could have cleaned the carriage up enough to make it sanitary, let alone not smelling like an effluent pipe.
Secondly, why not just seal off the carriage? SWT regularly decided to only run 4 carriage trains instead of 8 - often at peak hours - so why would only 7 usable carriages on a late train be that big a deal?
Top marks to the announcement from the guard: "I'd like to assure passengers that the carriage will be thoroughly cleaned and the toilet repaired overnight." Helpful.
If you've never had the misfortune to use a toilet on the trains on the Reading line - don't. They are clearly never cleaned during the day, at all. The doors seldom open, and if they do, they either won't shut or else lock you in. The stench is appalling, and often the only free seats on the entire train can be found near the toilets.
Yes, people would rather stand for an hour than sit near the toilet door. It is that bad.