I arrived at work in a bad mood this morning, thanks to an overcrowded and late-running train. I think it's time for a bit of a moan about Coventry Station.

The new signs are working and no longer have the notices covering them. Unfortunately the old screens between platforms 2 and 3 have been removed but not replaced. This means that if you are crossing the bridge you can't see what trains are running late or what platform they are arriving at. They used to have screens on the stairs by platforms 2,3 & 4 displaying the next arrival at that platform. On the platforms themselves there were screens showing all the departures. These have all been removed so the only places where you can see this information are the main concourse and the ticket barrier.

The ticket barrier itself is a huge bottleneck at peak times. On most days the only way through is to insert your ticket into the slot and wait for the barrier to open. This is much slower than the set-up at Birmingham New Street where there are ticket inspectors who look at the tickets as you pass. It may be more thorough but it is much slower and leads to huge queues forming.

Outside of the station, the entrance to the long stay car park has been made incredibly pedestrian unfriendly. A new fence has been erected, forcing pedestrians to either walk the long way around or to squeeze through the gap between fence and hedge, over a muddy patch of ground. There is no pavement alongside the car park entrance so the third option is to walk in the roadway and try to dodge the traffic entering and leaving. The layout seems to have been designed with complete disregard for pedestrial welfare.

Ok, moan over. Hopefully my next blog entry will be a bit more positive.