Greater Anglia Reviews 

Traveling back from a family holiday in Norfolk on Monday 28th July 15.45 from Great Yarmouth to Gravesend. Incident just before diss train stopped at diss while waiting for the police . When we finally got going again we were told the train would be going straight to Liverpool Street after it stopped at Ipswich . Had to leave the train at Ipswich and was told by the driver of the train the train to Stratford would arrive in 5 mins . This wasnt the case . When a train eventually turned up there was hardly any unseats and the train was feeezing cold . As a result of all of this we missed our connecting train at Stratford and further connections were cancelled . In all our 3hr 35 min journey took around 6 hours .
As of 12thbaugustbinstill haven’t revived a refund. My tickets aren’t recognised on the online form I’ve sent emails made calls and still being pushed to and from people on the phone

On holiday in Norfolk and saw the TV ad suggesting ditching local car boots and farmers markets and going to Camden instead. Really? 3.5 hours each way if running to time, 2 or 3 changes and just short of £500 for a family of four (over £1,000 1st class). Considering owned by the Dutch national rail company it would be nice to see the fares available in the Netherlands over here

Yesterday I went by train from Chelmsford to Southend via Shenfield. The journey was made easy by the polite and friendly staff who contacted each station that i had to use to have a ramp to aid my access onto the train as I'm a wheelchair user due having M.S . They also informed the next station as to which coach i would be in. The day out was made enjoyable by the experience and I will certainly have no anxiety with travelling by train again and the lifts were all working and easy to find.

Oh dear dear - delayed trains aside, I have tried 7 times on 2 browsers to submit a delay and repay claim, and every time the GA website crashes at a different point. Can't help feeling a bit cynical here.... as they make it oh so very easy to take a lot of money from me.

Staff try to shake you down with a £150 fine for not realising you couldn’t tap out after tapping on in London. Genuine mistake as we’ve tapped in tapped out to Gatwick previously and tried to buy a ticket once we realised our mistake but they wouldn’t accept that and tried to fine us and call the police. This absolute scum of the earth tried to bully us into paying the fine. Literally ran to another member of staff we went to for assistance to prevent them helping us and then when we got back on the train he proceeded to take pictures and videos of us! It was all very intimidating and left me and my partner shook

I have enclosed pictures of this vile slimey individual and I hope karma pays him a visit but if anyone else ends up in this situation just get back on the train back to Harlow and get an uber from there for £35. We had the last laugh in the end as the train back and the uber was pretty much same cost as the train ticket we should have purchased and avoided the fine😂

Bought the ticket from London to go to the Luton airport, your partners TrainLine that sells tickets on your behalf, didn't advice of expired railcard, managed to buy ticket without one. Got stopped at the airport station, fined, received threatening letter for fare evasion and a fine of £100 + the fee of left over on the original fare £8.35. How does this makes sense? How can fine, be almost 12 times bigger, i have explained that there was no way for me to be aware of this issue, person who wrote the fine, said it's not their problem and it's mine. He was rude and not professional, like I was convict of terrible crime, when your partners that sells tickets on your behalf creates this issue from people using your service, that is also you problem. Appeal system are just ridiculous made to fail anyone so no one could appeal. Threatening letter arrived from prosecution unit 10 days after letter day, on the letter it says if you dont pay within 14 days it may result in legal proceedings which will cost another £175. This is a total joke. How many people you scamming a year with this? dont sell tickets on your partners website that clearly doesnt work, dont send threatening emails to people that always pay for everything. I am not even going to talk about how many trains i have missed due to cancelations in the past. Super disappointed with the fine when you are aware of the issue with your partners website and do nothing about it. Hope your company gets a lawsuit for mistreating customer.

My correspondence to GA...
"Re my travel on June 16 2025.  I took an earlier train than the one I had booked.

I  understand that my ticket was for a later train, and I boarded an earlier one, the reason being that I asked the guard at Liverpool St if I could travel on an earlier train. He replied ‘yes’

The earlier train had available seating and was operating on the same day and route. I assumed, perhaps mistakenly, that traveling on the earlier service would not cause an issue since the train was not at capacity.

I had no intention of fare evasion. My travel was fully paid for, and I simply boarded an earlier train without realizing it would incur a penalty.

I believe the fine issued is disproportionate considering the circumstances — namely, that I had a valid ticket for the same day, the train had available seating, and there was no loss of revenue or impact to other passengers or the service.

Given the above, I kindly request that the fine be reviewed and either waived or reduced to a more reasonable amount."

I have had no reply to date. I had to pay an £88 fine even though I had a valid ticket for 2 hours later.
I understand that the fare conditions don't allow a change time of journey..but I was told by the train guard it would be ok.

Train to Stansted airport, booked with plenty of time announced as delayed by some 7 to 10 minutes. Spent well over 40 mins at the station until a staff member told me no trains would be leaving for Stansted. Why was this not announced in advance? There was nothing on trainline and nothing on google, yet apparently signaling issues were alredy occuring shortly past 13.00.
Spent over 50 quid an more than 1 hr in an uber trapped in dismal traffic outside the station and missed my flight. A simple announcement of severe delays would've helped. I was keeping an eye on the apps and google and even the announcement boards at the station said nothing about cancellation. Pathetic, indifferent, degenerates.

Really helpful staff.

I love the impromptu extended journey times provided by Abellio on a weekly basis. Today I got more quality time with my new book due to no trains running from Liverpool Street to Cambridge. Granted, I’ll probably not get home until a few hours after I should have, but you’ve got to take the rough with the smooth!! Thanks again Abellio, what a service!

Useless platform staff put me on a earlier train they said be okay ticket person was a plonker and nasty he needs more training he needs more social skills
to deal with special needs he a bully needs to be spoken to by the bosses or be sacked with his temper
I said about the platform person never belived me charged me £14extra they should refund my ticket.

Booked a open return to Heathrow
Flights changed to Gatwick, advised by GA to cancel and receive a refund
Cancelled booking and sent tickets off
GA claim there was only one ticket therefore NO REFUND
GA way of avoiding refunding customers

I arrived at Ely station today having had to jump between various trains due to cancellations out of London only to find out there was still no trains due for the next few hours
I went to customer service desk where I was greated by Hannah who apologised (although this was not her fault and not her train line) but offered to look into it and quickly spoke to her colleague (I missed his name) who sorted a taxi for me to my end destination so I could collect my car to drive home
Hannah was very polite and helpful, she was great when I overheard her with other passengers having travel issues and offering to move luggage between platforms
Just who you need to be there when your travel plans go up the wall.. please pass on my thanks for such a speedy onward travel

Useless… terrible platform staff at Ipswich

I have recently started taking the train to work twice a week. So far once a week the train home has been delayed by more than 15 minutes. The delay repay scheme is a con. They never seem to have enough proof. Platform staff never have any answers and app is useless.

On 9 June 2025, my husband and I travelled from Norwich to Frinton-on-Sea with Greater Anglia. Unfortunately, we missed our 15:30 train and boarded the next one at 16:30. A senior conductor named Sonia treated us in a very rude and threatening manner.

She refused to apply our valid Two Together Railcard, raised her voice, told us “that’s your problem,” and threatened us with the police when we tried to discuss our options. She started filming us without warning and only then changed her tone to a calm and professional one.

We were forced to purchase new tickets despite already having valid ones and received no flexibility or understanding. After changing trains at Colchester, other staff had no issue with our original tickets.

This experience was upsetting, humiliating, and completely uncalled for. We have filed a formal complaint and hope Greater Anglia will review this behaviour seriously.

Delayed yesterday by GA on 13:00.
From LST to Norwich. My husband and 87 year old mother were bundled off train at Colchester. Then in the melee for buses told to then run together on next train. One hour late yet their delay repay expects you to jump through hoops with physical tickets when they were bought under my GA account and posted to me. So I have booking ref etc. very shoddy. Very shoddy indeed.
After speaking to my mother this morning about her experience on the train they had to board at Colchester with crowds of passengers. The guard made an announcement on the tanoy saving he hoped they enjoyed their extra walk and stairs at Colchester. That is not an appropriate thing to say to customers some of who struggled together up the stairs and were thoroughly messed around. Perhaps GA could learnt from that. It’s not a laughing matter.

Customer service very poor.. benched from my seat because it was in first class..had to stand all through the journey. Very bad

I had an awful experience with Greater Anglia and want to warn others, especially tourists. I accidentally tapped my contactless card instead of buying a ticket when travelling to Stansted Airport. Upon arrival, I immediately realised the mistake and offered to pay the correct fare on the spot, cash in hand.

Instead of helping, the staff repeatedly screamed at me, refusing to take payment and insisting I had to pay a hefty fine on top of the fare. I explained the situation calmly and offered to pay multiple times, but I was met with hostility and louder shouting each time.

This treatment was aggressive, humiliating, and completely disproportionate for an honest mistake. In the end, I was forced to pay both the train fare and an unfair fine. This is nothing short of predatory and corrupt behavior.

I will never use Greater Anglia again and strongly urge others, especially visitors to the UK, to avoid this company at all costs. What should have been a minor issue was turned into a stressful and abusive ordeal.

Having had a poor travel experience and dreadful "Customer Service" I thought I would leave a one star review to see if that made them respond quicker.
Evidently most reviews are one start so clearly they don't give a damn so what's the point in going into detail. Quick summary: it takes ages to get a refund and they are clearly using deliberate delaying tactics; asking for details they already have and then taking "up to" three weeks to process a payment.
Don't deserve to keep their jobs. Roll on nationalisation.