“Life begins where the comfort zone ends”

Eurolines Secretariat

Place Solvay 4

1030 Schaerbeek

Belgium

Dear Managers of Eurolines, Brussels.

Last September I and my partner had the privilege of travelling on your network from London to L'viv in the Ukraine. Perhaps it was due to overbooking or to some other circumstance, but we were unable to travel directly between those two cities. We were obliged to travel from London to Brussels on one of your services and then to catch another of your services from there onwards to L'viv. This involved a wait-over at your facilities in Brussels.

It can hardly be unusual for passengers to need to change from one service to another at a major city such Brussels, so it would be reasonable to expect that there might be adequate provision made for their comfort whilst they wait. Provision that might offer protection from the weather so that they might be warm and dry. Provision that might offer somewhere for them to sit in a lighted area. Provision that might offer them access to toilet facilities. Provision that might offer them at least minimal protection from the less salubrious aspects and dangers of nocturnal urban street life. Brussels is, after all, a modern, wealthy and sophisticated city very much at the heart of Europe and something of a communications hub.

When we arrived at Brussels there was indeed a well lit indoor waiting area located by your booking office. Unfortunately many of the plastic seats were broken. In some cases they were entirely missing and only the sharp protruding bolts that once held them were left in place.

There is indeed a staffed toilet facility. It is however unfortunate that the toilet seat was not effectively attached to the toilet. Worse, the toilet was damaged in such a way that the seat hung skew with once side considerably higher than the other, rendering any attempt to sit upon it a most hazardous enterprise, one that required quite a level of athletic prowess. Whilst being almost pitched on to the none too clean floor by its rocking, I held myself in place by bracing myself against the wall with my arm. This placed my face close to the graffiti covered door where I read “Life begins where the comfort zone ends”. Clearly a epitaph left by some earlier traveller who had encountered the munificence of your facilities.

This is all such a massive contrast to the facilities provided at the coach station in London, which were immaculate and all in perfect order. I am sure if the facilities in one capital city can be like that so can the facilities in others.

Added to the delight of the facilities provided was the really unexpected pleasure of being ejected from the building by a guard accompanied by his impressively fearsome looking dog. There were, if I recall correctly, three couples and one young man, all waiting for services that were due to depart at different times during the night or early the following morning. In our case the service departed Brussels at 02.00. One other couple that we spoke to waiting for a service that was due to depart at 05.00, I believe.

From midnight to 02.00 we had no option but to wait in the street with no shelter from the weather, the building with the waiting area being firmly locked behind us by the well armed guard. I am not sure but his dog appeared to be smirking - perhaps it was the knowledge that both he and his handler would remain in the warm and dry and that we, by contrast, would now be exposed to whatever inclemencies the weather threw at us or whatever dangers or inconveniences the vagrant night-life of the city might visit on us. The only benches were occupied by a young man who may have been homeless and was sleeping on them. I can say that we did not either feel safe or welcome.

We most certainly did not feel valued as passengers by Eurolines.

Although one does expect some degree of discomfort when travelling I do need to tell you that your facilities in Brussels do Eurolines no credit. They are, quite frankly, abysmal, as are the absence of any arrangements for passengers waiting for overnight connecting services.

Yours sincerely

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Text of a letter sent to Eurolines, with the part left in [in strikeout lettering] that was omitted from the final version sent to Eurolines and copied to their UK associates.