Greater Anglia calls in more CATS to help passengers during disruption

Published on: Thursday, 30 August 2018
Last updated: Thursday, 30 August 2018

Greater Anglia has boosted the number of staff taking part in its new Customer Actions Teams to help even more passengers during disruption.

The support staff, known as CATs, make a beeline for their nearest station during peak time disruption to provide extra help and support to customers and station colleagues.

The CATs teams are made up of back office support staff and managers who volunteer to take part.

24 additional Greater Anglia employees are now signed up to the scheme, bringing the total number of CATs to 194.

During peak-time disruption, crowded platforms and the high demand for advice and information can mean it’s much harder to talk to a member of staff, making a difficult situation worse for passengers who can feel there is no-one available to help them or tell them what’s happening.

Staff from across the business – including Managing Director, Jamie Burles - are ready and waiting between 0700 and 1900 Mondays to Fridays to respond to calls for help and will assist customers and support station staff when platforms become very busy due to disruption.

They provide additional support by helping with customer communication; providing information about Delay Repay, handing out bottled water; helping to co-ordinate the bus replacement service; organising taxis and manning information desks, freeing up platform and station staff to answer passenger queries and offer assistance.

They are easy to spot thanks to their bright pink Hi-Vis vests carrying the slogan ‘How can I help?’

In addition to the CATs, Greater Anglia managers from across the business volunteer outside of their normal hours to help when stations are busy to due to big events happening in the region. Recently they have provided extra help for people travelling to events such as the Latitude festival, Cromer Carnival, the Rize festival and the Clacton Airshow.

Greater Anglia’s Managing Director, Jamie Burles, said, “When things go wrong, we want to do more for our passengers to minimise the problems they face and having extra people available to help can make all the difference.

“We know that one of the biggest complaints during disruption is a lack of information so we have increased the CATs team to address this issue.

Along with volunteers from across the business who give their time to help during special events, this means that passengers are receiving additional help and support at the times when they most need it.

“It’s all part of our commitment to continually improving customers’ experience when they travel with us.”

CATs provide support at Greater Anglia’s busiest stations - Cambridge, Chelmsford, Colchester, London Liverpool Street, Norwich, Shenfield, Stratford, Tottenham Hale and Witham.