Interesting ride back on a Crosscountry train from Leeds to Exeter yesterday... cheap as chips (£35) and bang on time, to the minute at every stop. But...
Wildly overcrowded (the coaches were 'numbered' A, C, D & F, so two carriages short of a picnic, I guess), only one toilet working, and someone who routinely uses the service told me that this was normal, and sometimes the service gets cancelled at the last minute. It's no wonderr they have such a shocking reputation.
On the plus side, the staff were as helpful as could be - the 'imposing' male ticket man had to sell a penalty ticket to one person who had a split ticket but was on the wrong train, dealt firmly and fairly with a rude man who didn't want to show his over-60s railcard, but then spent about 20 minutes with an Italian lady who had only printed out one of her QR codes, but had the receipt for both tickets... he helped her find the email on her phone despite a poor signal, and all was well in the end. Which, of course, wound up the rude man even more. Splendid. I hate it when rude people take it out on staff doing their jobs in difficult circumstances.