On the 24.10. my wife and I took the 1510 coach service from Cambridge to Heathrow T5 scheduled to arrive at 1805 hours in order to board British airways flight BA0574 to Milan (Malpensa) ETD1930 hours. However, instead of proceeding along the M 25 motorway, the driver took a different route citing traffic congestion and dropped us at the Central Bus Station Heathrow at 1845 hours instead of T5. It took the staff there another 20 minutes to put us on a coach to T5. As a consequence, we missed our flight and had to pay an additional amount of £ 131 each to purchase new tickets on BA 0572 to Milan 25.10.2008. We also incurred a loss of € 110 for our existing hotel booking in Milan and had to pay £ 52.50 for a hotel at Heathrow. As a consequence of the driver’s decision and the failure of the National Express staff at the Bus station we were been put to a loss of £ 14.50 plus € 110. Instead of examining why the driver decided to divert the bus and why he abandoned the passengers at the Central Bus Station at Heathrow instead of dropping them at Terminal 5 and why the staff did not promptly arrange for another bus, the company has chosen to justify its staff's acts of omission and commission on the grounds that such difficulties cannot be foreseen. Given the callous and cavalier attitude of National Express, I would advice others going to the UK to think hard before booking themselves by National Express buses.
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