News editor forces Grauniad man to take journey from hell

The article illustrated an important full page three story about delays to the capital's Crossrail project and it seems like the hack and the snapper were sent on a crazy paper chase.

Poor Stuart Jeffries and snapper David Sillitoe were obliged to spend four hours and 11 minutes to take a journey which actually takes two hours and 21 minutes.

The cruel news editor made the two lads change at every possible future Crossrail station on the way from Aylesbury to the yet unbuilt end of the line at Ebbsfleet.

Rather than change twice, he and the snapper were forced to change trains and tubes over a dozen times, illustrating that when transport is working properly, it's not too bad getting from Aylesbury to Dartford, if it only took just over four hours.

However, earlier this year a deposit of snow on the capital meant some people took 15 hours to get home from work travelling from Marylebone to Harrow - a journey that should normally take 10 minutes.

Here's how the crazies did it.

And this is how he should have done it.

A quick gander at the railtrack.co.uk web site, here, shows you can get a train from Aylesbury to Dartford, closest to the Ebbsfleet Crossrail station, which takes two hours 21 minutes and only has two changes

The train stops at London Marylebone - you take a tube to London Charing Cross, and then travel onto Dartford.

Just like the Grauniad man, the fare for a standard day single costs £13. µ

L'INQ
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