Greater Anglia Reviews 

992
•
TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

1.7

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Review summary

Created with AI, based on recent reviews

Evaluating 153 reviews, most reviewers were let down by their experience overall. Consumers frequently complained about extortionate ticket prices, sudden fare increases, and unreliable train services that consistently caused severe delays and overcrowding during peak hours. Many people also felt deeply frustrated by unhelpful staff members, aggressive interactions, and poor handling of penalty fares alongside ignored customer compensation requests. However, some customers also noted that specific station employees were exceptionally helpful and polite when assisting with lost personal items. A few travellers experienced clean train carriages, reasonable off-peak rates, and punctual journeys when regularly commuting outside of very busy travel periods.

What people talk about most

Service

Reviewers highlight negative aspects of service, frequently reporting constant delays, sudden cancellations,... See more

Staff

Customers consistently note ambiguous experiences with staff, as opinions regarding service quality are... See more

Price

People report negative experiences with price, describing the fares as extortionate and extremely high given... See more

Location

Users describe ambiguous interactions with location, noting both smooth connections and frustrating station... See more

Customer service

Clients share profound dissatisfaction regarding customer service, highlighting long delays and unhelpful... See more

Reviews shaping this summary

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful service - constantly delayed or cancelled trans. Staff run around clueless panicking. Upon boarding the train today i was then informed half way that the train would no longer be travellin... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

GA have overnight skyrocketed their prices, with some peak return tickets increasing by as much as 30%. They claim this is to simplify rail fares ahead of contactless being introduced next year.... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolute worst rail company in uk and I use trains all the time really officious ticket inspector on 8.37pm from London to diss on Fri 13th Feb. really rude and unhelpful but par for the course on thi... See more

Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Absolutely scammers. They run a sting (The Scamsted Airport Routine) whereby they deliberately fail to provide clear information on how to pay for a ticket. You tap your card, go through the barrie... See more


Company details

Information provided by various external sources

Greater Anglia is a train operating company in Great Britain owned as a joint venture by Abellio, the international arm of the state-owned Dutch national rail operator Nederlandse Spoorwegen, and the Japanese company Mitsui.


Contact info

1.7

Bad

TrustScore 1.5 out of 5

992 reviews

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No recent history of asking for reviews

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1.7

All reviews

(992)

146 reviews in the last 12 months

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Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Unfair penalty and confusing ticket system

I had a very negative experience using Trainline and travelling with Greater Anglia at Stansted Airport.

I purchased a ticket through Trainline and did not realise a Railcard discount had been applied. The system allowed this without any clear confirmation or verification, which makes it very easy to make a mistake.

At Stansted Airport, I was stopped at the gates and required to pay a penalty fare immediately while trying to catch a flight. The situation felt extremely stressful and pressurised, with no real opportunity to resolve the issue calmly.

The overall experience was overwhelming, and the way checks are carried out made the situation even more uncomfortable. If I had known this would happen, I would have chosen a different airport.

After this experience, I will try to avoid taking trains, as I found the system expensive and stressful, and I will avoid flying from Stansted Airport where possible.

April 4, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Ridiculously expensive

First time getting a train in many years. I know it’d be more than it used to be but I was pretty shocked at how expensive it was. The tickets were also incredibly confusing, I couldn’t find a same day return so I had to get a specific time which isn’t ideal and I bought a direct return ticket and was sent three separate tickets with a a change in Chelmsford.

April 27, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Sad and oppressive prices

INSANE prices. Unbearable. How can they advertise locations for family holidays where a return train anywhere out of London costs minimum £20, even to go a few miles down the road is over £5. the prices are unacceptable! It makes our country inaccessible to us! Imagine? It also pressures people to fly because flights abroad, literally to other countries, are far cheaper than going to a different city in the same country. It is sad and it is oppressive. Imagine the strain these prices are putting on families, on people who are already affected by the high costs of living.
These extreme and unreasonable fares are depleting the small joys in life, of being able to visit the countryside, family or friends and are actively contributing to the downward spiral that is, of England.

April 26, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Terrible Penalty Fare experience – asked for help, paid twice, still got fined

Absolutely terrible experience with Greater Anglia.

Before buying my ticket, I asked for help first because I wanted to make sure I was doing the right thing. I was not trying to avoid paying, and I was trying to sort things properly from the beginning. Despite that, the whole situation turned into a complete mess.

I ended up paying twice, which is already ridiculous in itself, but even after that I was still issued a Penalty Fare Notice. So to be clear: I asked questions first, tried to follow the correct process, paid for my journey, then paid again, and still got penalised.

What makes this even worse is the appeal process. I appealed because the penalty should never have been issued in the first place. Instead of properly addressing the actual facts, the response felt like a generic template, repeating general rules about tickets without dealing with what actually happened in my case.

This is what is so frustrating: I made an effort to do the right thing, I paid, and I still ended up being treated like I had done something wrong. Then when I challenged it, the appeal was declined without any meaningful engagement with the situation.

This whole experience has been stressful, unfair, and incredibly disappointing. Based on how this was handled, I have very little confidence in either Greater Anglia’s customer service or the fairness of the Penalty Fare appeal process.

April 15, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Abusive staff

Witnessed the most horrific abuse of a poor woman at Colchester Station by Greater Anglia and Revenue Protection staff on Friday 10th April around 5pm. The woman had a ticket for a train that was delayed, I saw her speaking politely to the man checking tickets, and somehow this escalated to the man shouting at her, telling her that her ticket was no longer valid despite the train not arriving on the platform yet, calling her a very racist word, making very unprofessional comments, behaving like a schoolboy and pulling in his colleagues to insult her. This whole time the woman tried to remain calm but none of the staff allowed her to talk and kept speaking over her. The collective abuse and highly unprofessional behaviour I witnessed by all staff present was shocking. The woman was later on the phone to customer service for a while and during that time both Greater Anglia and Revenue Protection staff kept harassing her even when she was simply sat in the Pumpkin Cafe and in tears from the bullying while still trying to talk on the phone. The woman eventually left the platform and a revenue protection staff followed her for presumably a long while, which seemed highly unnecessary and looked more motivated by an intent to harass a vulnerable woman. No matter the situation, there was absolutely no reason or excuse for staff to behave so unprofessionally and abusively like this towards anyone. I sincerely hope that woman is okay, puts in a complaint, and these racist lunatics working for Greater Anglia and Revenue Protection are dealt with.

April 10, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Yet another appalling train journey

Yet another appalling train journey by Greater Anglia. I make a trip to Londin 1 time a month and 9 times out if 10 the train is late. How can this be described as a train service!!
When will this be sorted out? This is no way to run a business.

April 24, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Exploitative service since use unavoidable

Maybe 40% of inspectors are great & helpful but the majority of my experiences have been with officious jobsworths.
Trains are overpriced and crowded and the recebt refund update is cruel - you cannot refund tickets on the day of travel - so when trains are cancelled / plans change you've been shafted.
Delay repay is meant to make up for late trains but has never worked in my experience as you're unable to find the intended train to process the request.

April 22, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Never, never, never use to buy tickets

Never, never, never use Greater Anglia website to book tickets. You cancel they charge you a £5 admin fee for nothing. Cancelled as a tube strike on tomorrow. There is no admin fee on the tickets you buy, they just take money for nothing when you cancel and it's not even your fault. You complain and they just hang up on you saying "well it's not us on strike it's the underground" Well charge TFL then, not the poor passenger for the hassle and lost revenue. He hung up on me. I will never use it again. App site deleted. And to think this inept Government have just brought this lot with my taxes!

April 21, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Here we go again

Here we are again. A train to nowhere. £114 for no updates on why the train is late from the driver. I’d give zero stars if it were available. This rail
Service is singularly THE worst train line in Christendom!!! How can you charge for this shite. I mean really? 7 years I have been using this line Norwich to Liverpool Street and only in the last 8 months has it turned into an utter cluster. Martin Moran I’m
Talking directly to you. SORT IT!!

April 17, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Tuesday 7 April 10.30 train to …

Tuesday 7 April 10.30 train to Norwich. Nothing but absolute praise for Lee the ticket inspector. Not only did he sort out my mistake with a smile, he then sorted out a problem with an elderly lady opposite me. Absolutely first class service. Restored my faith in human nature.

April 7, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 1 out of 5 stars

Awful

Had to call customer service today. Slow, incredibly unhelpful & ultimately they failed to help so it was a waste of time. So frustrating having to deal with people like this.

March 30, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Sailem’s suberb customer care


Today I got in an a total muddle when I booked some train tickets online. Everything was totally my fault but I rang greater Anglia for some help and advice. I cannot fault the kindness ,care and time that Sailem took with me today to help me resolve everything and ensure that I got the tickets that I needed. Superb customer care, a credit to GA

March 30, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

Brilliant service

I would just like to say i got on at Roydon used the ticket machine to a delightful lady who helped us she couldnt have been more helpful with our senior railcard so well done .

March 29, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A Positive Experience....

Well... more often than not, I come here to moan. But... I gotta say a big thank you to Greater Anglia who refunded our 'non refundable' fare . We couldn't use the tickets because we were supposed to be going to Dubai - and that got Trumped. Happy to get our train ticket money back and happy to say something positive about Greater Anglia.

March 15, 2026
Unprompted review
Rated 5 out of 5 stars

A really good service

I made my first train journey yesterday for a number of years and was very pleased with the whole process, from the ease of booking online (ticket conveniently on my mobile) to the comfort of the train, good information provision and the helpfulness of staff. It was an easier journey than driving and negotiating prolonged roadworks/diversions.

March 14, 2026
Unprompted review

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