Great Western Railway Reviews 

Great Western Railway need to sort out there reserved seats system. I got on the 15.27 train from St Erth, which was running 10 minutes late. When I got on board, all seats were advertised as available. I had my 10kg baby strapped to me and was agressively told by a man that I had to get out of my seat because he had reserved the seat and didn't know why it was advertised as available. My son had been strapped to me since 8 in the morning, my back hurt and all I wanted to do was sit down for the last 5 minutes of my journey. If someone has reserved a seat, but it's marked as available, that isn't my problem and I shouldn't have to deal with aggressive passengers forcing me to move. This was ontop of having to get off the 9:24 train to London Paddington at Exeter St Davids on Monday the 14th and wait an hour for the next train to continue my journey. It was an overall unpleasant travelling experience with my son.

ONE WORD - JOKE

NO STARS A Truly Terrible Experience

My experience with Great Western Railway continues to be incredibly disappointing.

What makes it even more frustrating is that the train drivers regularly apologise over the tannoy for the terrible service, overcrowding and cramped conditions. You hear the same apologies journey after journey, but absolutely nothing seems to change.

I appreciate that delays and disruption can sometimes be unavoidable, but when passengers are repeatedly subjected to overcrowded, uncomfortable journeys and the response is simply another apology, it becomes incredibly frustrating.

An apology is only meaningful when something is done to address the underlying problem. With GWR, you are stuck in a cycle of terrible service, apology, nothing changes, repeat.

For the price of the tickets, I expect a reliable and reasonably comfortable service. GWR is currently falling well short of that.

Less apologising, more action.

I took the Great Western Railway train from Paddington down to St Erth on Sunday, September 13th, and even though it was completely rammed, the journey was brilliant although we arrived 13 minutes late due to being stuck behind a freight train!

Our first class host, Tania, was fantastic from start to finish. Managing a packed train for five hours on a busy Sunday can’t be easy, but Tania was so kind and helpful throughout, squeezing down busy aisles with drinks and making sure everyone knew where to go for their connection. She is a real credit to GWR, we were impressed.

The real strength of the service is always the front-line staff who take such good care of everyone. You get a bit more personal attention in First Class, but the Standard Class hosts, train managers, and drivers are all wonderful, especially when delays pop up. A potentially stressful situation becomes completely manageable because of them, and Tania in particular really made this trip a great experience. Thank you!

It’s getting worse by the day.
5 carriages instead of 9. Paying customers having to stand.
Slow travelling trains for whatever reason meaning late to destination. How can there be slow trains when it’s the first morning train?
This is for the 05:49 Chippenham to Paddington (first train) and Paddington to Chippenham (17:30) train.
At Paddington trains arrive last minute, platform is announced minute before departure.

Why and now can 'Great' (!?) Western be QUITE so awful? How does it keep its franchise while treating its passengers with this consistent level of contempt and disdain?

SATURDAY: I had a train from Penzance to Bristol, meeting a friend taking another service from London Paddington. The two trains from Penzance before mine were cancelled, due to "shortage of trains". (What kind of excuse is that? Is it not the job of a railway company to run trains according to its timetable?) So that mine was PACKED. Families encamped on the floor outside toilets working only sporadically. Like a fool, I had treated myself to First Class, and while I got my seat, those who had paid to travel thus on the cancelled trains were standing, crammed into the only first class carriage, so that my view of the Cornish landscape was one of the posteriors of these poor people.

Meanwhile, my friend's train from Paddington was also cancelled!! I had treated her to first class too... and in the end she had a miserable ride packed into that running TWO trains later...

We did manage finally to convene in Bristol, stressed and exhausted by Great Western's crass "service" (hardly the word). Intending to return today (Monday 13th) ... Only to arrive at Temple Meads to find our train CANCELLED AGAIN !!!! Another gruelling, exhausting ordeal.

How much of this is corruption, how much greed, how much sheer ineptitude is hard to judge. Probably a blend of all three, and it is a toxic combination.

Most embarrassing of all was the presence of visitors to this country on these farcical "services", under the impression that Britain was in some way a functional country ... only to be made starkly aware of the appalling depths to which Europe's worst and most expensive railways have sunk.

EV

There is no option to give zero stars, otherwise I would go for that. Worst service in the UK.if you traveling GWR Please aware of daily delays.

Have to give 1 star as zero not an option. I have travelled all the way from Marseille in the South of France today with no issues except when I got to Exeter St Davids and my connection to Exmouth was cancelled (many hours earlier it turned out). After travelling for 14 hours, I had to wait over an hour and a half for the next one as GWR wouldn't do anything and just said to claim for the delay after I got home as if that was an acceptable response. Staff seemed ill informed and just accepted that GWR provide a very poor, unreliable service. While waiting here, 4 of 12 trains have been cancelled or have lengthy delays and it's Sunday evening so not a busy time. Roll on renationalisation!

What an absolute shamble of a company. You have cancelled trains portmouth harbour to southampton, no replacement buses. So you use a 2hr local bus from portsmouth to southampton, 2HOURS!!!!
I had to pay £55 for a taxi on top of an over inflated train ticket cost. What a crap show....what happened, you used to be reliable & helpful....now i wouldnt use you to wipe my backside what an absolute crock of crap. WTAF GWR!

I’ve had need to go in to the GWR ticket office at Paddington station 3 times in the last 5 years
Each time the men on the counters are busy scrolling their phones and are very slow to call customers forward from the queue
Then each time rather than assist or listen to my query they have insisted I call the GWR customer phone line instead of help me theirselves
What even is the point of the office ?
They appear to be nothing but a bunch of work shirkers who prefer to spend their working hours scrolling their phones like little addicted kids.
GWR ought to be ashamed of such representatives
However each time I’ve called the phone line the ladies who have answered have been helpful and have told me they have no idea why the counter staff have not helped me instead

I had two badly delayed journeys. I filled in a claim for a refund for one- it was difficult to do- but never got the refund.

I submitted my Delay/Repay request yesterday as, according to my ticket and Trainline, I arrived at my destination 70 minutes on late. It was spuriously rejected on the basis that I chose not catch my intended connection and chose to wait another hour at Exeter just for the fun of it and that my journey was only six minutes late. I sent details of my ticket with the timings of my journey to no avail.
HELP GWR!

Just had a dreadful experience at St Erth Station. While I was positively impressed by the general public's genuine sympathy for the people involved in an emergency situation today, those of us trying to get back to Truro or further east were treated appallingly. Initially we were told that a bus would be provided; i asked whether this would be a rail replacement, which was affirmed. However, not long after, we were told that this was not the case, as "sorting one out would take several hours", and people were directed to a local service which would have taken 2 hours to get to Truro. From then on, there was no communication, a lot of confusion, and, my main point is that there were a LOT of disabled people in a "queue" waiting for taxis. No seats were available despite the number of elderly and/or people using mobility aids and/or visible medical devices - this does not include those with invisible disabilities (who are equally as valid and worthy of provision of reasonable adjustments) and no one was checking on some very vulnerable clients. I did point this out to station staff; i was too appalled to remember exactly what she said and was basically provided with a shrug when i asked on any updates. One seat was eventually provided for me (plonked), although I got the impression that this was because another member of the public saw me sat on the ground, taking painkillers, debating whether to pay £80 for my own taxi as other disabled people had resorted to doing. A taxi did eventually turn up at half 5, only for those of us in the taxi to be thrown out a few minutes later, apparently because the contacted taxis were called back to Penzance (i will be querying this with the taxi company, too). An hour later, another turned up. Thankfully, the ladies I was with had the compassion to allow a 100 year old woman and her family on. Appalling all around. I dislocated several joints during this fiasco and am exhausted.

I will be taking this much further as GWR's record of provisioning for Disabled customers is astoundingly bad and I can also recount several other issues despite me providing feedback to the "higher ups" in the past. In fact, since 2024, when i last spoke to the "higher ups", things have become considerably worse. While there are some individual members of staff who are genuine gems along the Cornwall line, it is extremely apparent that, overall, there is a genuine lack of care and training. Given the number of Disabled people who rely on public transport for work, appointments, and generally living like a normal person, this is unacceptable in 2026.

1 in 5 Brits are disabled. We deserve dignity and respect and to be allowed to travel without exacerbating our issues. We understand that emergency situations happen - but you also need to plan accordingly and have contingency plans in place for helping vulnerable customers out. Equality Act 2010.

Peter was an absolute joy on the 11.04 from Bristol to Paddington. He was so lovely and chatty, and gave us loads of tips for our day in London. An absolute credit to GWR.

The last 5 train journeys I have taken with GWR have been delayed by more than half an hour. All of them. The journeys were to a mixture of destinations at various times, but GWR never offers a reliable service. They don't seem to understand that delay repay doesn't cut it - I'd rather pay full price and be on time than be compensated but be late.

Additionally, for some reason they deem it acceptable for the first train out of Bristol station - a major transport hub - after 5 pm on a Friday to Bath and London to have only two carriages, which are always heaving.

Appalling service.

Wonderful journey on the 11:04 from Bristol to Paddington today, Peter was brilliant! Thank you

The BTM 11:04 train, Peter made the journey a delight! What an ambassador he is for GWR.

Outward from Tiverton train late, no refreshments although I’d booked First class as a treat because previously haven’t any refreshments at all on this train.
Return train from Penzance cancelled four days before journey but customers not advised of this. A long and tiring journey on old, dirty overcrowded trains with station staff providing incorrect information all the way. Arrived back at home station 90 minutes late.
This is not a train service that can be relied on in any way.

Service appalling- my trains have been cancelled more often than not this summer leaving me with an unsustainably long and stressful commute. Information poor, have let an Elizabeth line train go to catch a GWR showing on time or couple of minutes delay only to have the GWR cancelled numerous times
Have to stand for most of the time
Only given 2 stars instead of 1 as the platform and ticket office staff are lovely, so kind.

Late again. This is an awful rail company. I can’t understand why they are always late. Honeybourne to Worcestershire parkway is a dreadful service.