A station master’s quick-thinking actions have been praised for saving the fate of a primary school’s trip to London.
Cancellations threatened to scupper the Year 5 class trip to the Science Museum in the capital as the delays meant they would miss their connection at Ashford International.
But when Michael Drohan managed to divert a high-speed service to make a special, unscheduled stop at Wye, he managed to get the day back on track for the children and staff from Lady Joanna Thornhill school in the village.
The class was set to be stranded on the platform at the station after two trains to Ashford were cancelled.
It had left their long-planned visit to the Science Museum in London in tatters before Michael was able to pull off the unthinkable.
Southeastern employee Michael, a regular face at Wye who has worked for the railway for 14 years, made a call further down the line and convinced the driver to make a one-off stop at the station.
The 60 youngsters were left delighted by Michael’s generous act, and celebrated by belting out ‘Here Comes The Train’ to the tune of The Beatles song ‘Here Comes The Sun’.
Lou Lewis, one of the Year 5 teachers, told KentOnline the day would have been “disastrous” without him.
“The kids called him an angel, it was going to be a big adjustment to the day,” said the staff member of six years.
“He came back literally five minutes later, saying he can stop the fast train and those who live in Wye will know that never happens.
“It was a godsend and really saved our day, it just shows how vital having somebody at Wye is for our service.”
Speaking to KentOnline, Michael, 60, said: “We turned the tears into cheers, when the train came in and stopped, the children were actually cheering the train, which is something you don’t get every day, that’s for certain, not in my job.
“We were lucky that we got the right one [train controller] who would let us do it and able to do it safely.
“I’ve got children myself so the last thing you want to see is any child upset and knowing that it was a big trip to London that had obviously been planned for a while and they had a specified time to be there and that I managed to save it was very, very good.
“The school got me a card and some presents and were all saying thank you and gave me a nice hug. You don’t get that every day, especially after a disruption.
“Usually when the trains are disrupted the public are angry rather than nice, so it’s nice to get a reaction like that.
“It was lovely, when the train stopped they got on and all waved at me.
“They were all saying ’thank you, Michael,’ because they all know my name here, so it was very, very rewarding.”
School parent Holly Tennock shared her experience of the day with KentOnline,
“Michael is not a machine, Michael is at our rail station every day selling tickets and occasionally saving 60 kids’ school trips,” she said.
“People are being replaced by machines left, right and centre in the bid for efficiency. In doing this, we’re losing what it means to be human.
“Michael saw the problem – rang the control room and made the high speed service do a special stop at Wye station.
“A ticket machine couldn’t do this.”
Andrew Ellison, area manager for Southeastern, said: “While it is not always possible to add extra stops into our services, we are delighted we were able to help the children on this occasion.
“Michael’s quick thinking and some great teamwork came through in time and the school trip was able to carry on with only a minor interruption.
“We are delighted to have been able to help and very proud of Michael’s extra efforts.”
