Merseyrail Reviews 

Useless company.. Always cancelling trains without warning and then you ask them why, they don't know.. Absolute joke of a company.. Sick of them

RAN TO CATCH TRAIN & PAY AT DESTINATION AS IV DONE A DOZEN TIMES WITHOUT ISSUE. TOLD BY GUARD IT WAS OK TO DO SO BEFORE I GOT ON TRAIN . THEN HIT WITH A £54 FINE. ? PURE THIEVING SCUM

My wife couldn't buy a discounted ticket with a senior Railcard because the machine wouldn't allow her to do so.
So, paid extra rather than risk a fine for boarding without a valid ticket.
Contacted customer services and it was her fault, apparently!
Just pay up and shut up.
Another example of broken Britain, I suppose.

Absolute bunch of conmen
Sell 2 day tickets to use Metro rail and bus but they know are no use as I wanted to go to a concert at Anfield but they stop the 26 bus from Sandhill so they can make £5 a person to and from the concert.
Which is an absolute shambles but not surprised as from experience Stagecoach are a big joke but sadly that is like most of Liverpool! A total dump!

Thank you to the staff at Rock Ferry Station who looked after my dad who has Dementia….took care of him and ordered a taxi paid for by Merseyrail…..people quick to write reviews for the negatives but we as a family can’t praise them enough….thank you Ro McGowan, Margi and Chiddy x.

Me and a colleague were travelling to Liverpool from capenhurst then on to leeds, using a northern rail family and freinds ticket, after being advised to by the rail helpline. After the first stop conductor explains the ticket i showed him is not valid for this line. I showed him driving licence and he issed a penalty fine as he said he could/would not sell us a ticket. He only fined me not my colleague.
I tried to appeal via website but he had entered all my details wrong and the station it was issued, he made out It was about 7 station later although time stamp proved him wrong.
They just fobbed me off after eventually managing to appeal and I ended up paying £55 fine because they stated they weren't employed by mersey rail and mersey rail visa versa.
Would have happily bought a ticket it was only £6. Absolute joke of a money grabbing company

They are race biased and inconsiderate. After cancelling my train for an important meeting. They went on to give me a ticket for stretching my legs on the opposite seat for a moment, while other folks do it daily and they don't even bother. I even explained my reason, but they are all about the money. Don't expect anything good from them.

Without a doubt the must useless train service I've ever had the misfortune to encounter.
Third world countries have more efficient train services.

I used them to get work for 5 months and the trains were on time twice in all that time.

Today they just cancelled my train with no announcement.

Utterly useless

Merseyfail - yet again Chester train running late so fast running & missed out most stations due to being delayed - travel at least once a week & this happens constantly
Hot day - air con on but ineffective
Staff are pleasant and helpful mostly but the train service is just dire

NEEDED A WEE BAD!

Never have I ever needed a wee worse than this! Last train home no hope of coming off at a station to relieve myself had to wait 1.45 hours in excruciating pain! Disgusting!!! No toilets on a train should be a crime! Shocking!!! How I haven’t pissed myself I don’t know!!!!

On 26/2/25 my 14 year old son received a fine for none payment of a ticket, the fine number is MRPF0331797. There was a very valid serious reason why he had not bought one before getting on the train. I will not go through the whole situation here as the case can be looked up or I can explain again to you if required.

I appealed to the fine for genuine reasons. My first two appeals were rejected of which I was informed by email so I tried one last time. I never ever received any email or any other communication that my third appeal had been rejected so after about 8 weeks I assumed the case had been closed. I did not realise at that time that I could look on line for the outcome of the appeal or I most certainly would have done so. Because I had received notification by email before I automatically assumed I would do again.

I then received a letter from Merseyrail informing me I have to pay £100 as I have gone past the deadline for the £50. This was incredibly unfair as I would have paid the £50 if I had known that my third and last appeal had been rejected.

Since then I have tried several times emailing Merseyrail explaining the situation that I didn't get notification that my appeal had been rejected. I emailed Merseyrail asking them to send me the proof that I had been informed that the appeal had been rejected, but they then told me it was nothing to do with them and I had to contact the Penalty Appeals. I tried without success to contact them but all their communications are "no reply". I then contacted Merseyrail yet again asking them to help out with this situation and give me a contact for Penalty Appeals.

Eventually yesterday 16/5/25 I received another payment demand from Merseyrail and I have also been charged £2.25 for the cost of the ticket which by the way my son paid for when he got to his destination of Waterloo, and I had sent a photo of when making the appeals. They have also charged me £10 administrative fee!!

I paid the whole £112.25 yesterday to clear this fine, but I am appalled at the way this has been handled. I’m sure you get many cases of people making excuses about not paying for a ticket but maybe you will look up my case and read it and understand why this is so unjust! For a £2.25 ticket that my son didn’t buy for serious reasons when getting on the train but bought at the other end of his journey I have had to pay £112.25 !

At the very least I feel I should receive a refund of £62.25.

Daughter used this “service” for the first time when going back to university from Cornwall. Her Dad had a major medical incident ( brain tumour) and was unable to drive her back to Ormskirk and we needed to rely on National Express and Merseyrail. National Express were excellent and got her to Liverpool One at 10pm at night with no problems. The kid had no previous experience of catching trains in Liverpool, plus it’s at night and she’s under stress after travelling for 13 hours with the worry of her dads condition. She bought the wrong ticket a matter of around £2 difference and was apprehended by a lovely ticket inspector in Maghull, she explained the situation with absolutely no sympathy and was issued with a fine. I appealed this with Merseyrail as I thought this would be cancelled due to the circumstances but was shocked to find absolutely no sympathy, two appeals later and they are still as heartless, disgusting!!!! I would rather pay for an Uber than use these parasites 😡

Travelled yesterday to Liverpool Central & had the misfortune to be stuck on the track just before Sandhills, while there was a concern for welfare incident on the bridge. It was one of the hottest days of the year & air con went off straight away. We were there for nearly 2 hours. I understand that staff were following directions & procedures, but this incident highlighted flaws with the new trains. 1 - no opening windows in the carriages whatsoever, which made it extremely uncomfortable. Doors could not be opened to create airflow, as per procedures. 2 - there were 8
carriages & not a single toilet on board, 3 - if there had been a medical emergency on board the train while the external incident was being dealt with, how long would it have taken to get help? I think that some risk assessments need to be reviewed here. There were some elderly & frail passengers on board this train who were struggling with this ordeal!

Merseyrail are not following the correct procedures when issuing fines. Ask them for a subject access for the video when they fined you , if they have failed to identify themselves and failed to tell you that they are videoing you , report them to the information commissioners office . If they have illegally recorded you, ask yourself if their evidence will stand up in court ? I had my ticket cancelled by them , when I pointed out their actions were actually in breach of gdpr. They are scammers who make up their rules as they go along.

Scumbags watch out every one for the fining officers. Had a valid ticket they will find any excuse. Will be complaining.

"IMPORTANT INFORMATION" for anyone who has been fine by these corrupt company, you can be compensated. They haven't been following correct procedures and have been using courts unlawfully. Please contact HMRC and explain to them this, it is being investigated as we speak and 10000 of thousands of people are getting rightlyfuly refunded! This includes any miss use fines they charged. They took roughly £500 off me for a £2.60 ticket. Mersey fail you will be prosecuted!!

Shocking that on a day where you know that the grand national is on and Everyone as well that you couldn’t organise the trains. Trains delayed more than 1/2 hour and to cancel one at Walton from Ormskirk to make all of the football fans walk just one stop from Kirkdlae was sheer incompetence. Shoddy, delayed, cancelled and very poor communication

Sandhills station on Everton match days will be a really dangerous place especially the stair exit, and the amount of people using the station, all it needs is someone to fall on the stairs and there’ll be a crush, we’ve seen this happen before the Glasgow Rangers and Bethnal Green station disasters for examples. Mayor Rotheram ridiculous statement that it's not worth expanding the station just for the Everton homes games.

Absolute joke, 40 minutes for a journey that takes 7 minutes!!! This company is going from bad to worse every day.
If they concentrate on getting a workable service instead of having mobhanded inspectors trying to fine people they might get somewhere.

Train 25 minutes late to Cental from St Michaels. Then stuck at Brunswick for 15 minutes and counting on a very crowded train with NO ANNOUNCEMENT to advise what is happening

Hundreds of passengers late for work who can't give update to their employers!

Merseyrail isn't fit for purpose