Who put the EXPRESS in National Express? (National Express)

Member Name: traveller 2009

Product:	National Express
Date:	30/08/09 (12 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: not sure really!

Disadvantages: endless delays and unreliable drivers

Booked a coach trip from London Victoria to Milano, via Paris for one week. It was like a carry on film, almost farcical and amateurish at times but quite annoying and inconvenient at others.
We had a Polish coach driver who did not know the roads well so we missed our slot at the Channel tunnel and had to wait for the next crossing. This meant that we risked missing the connection in Paris. Coach driver had no idea what to do or who to contact. Our friends at home contacted the helpline who asked for the Paris coach to be delayed by an hour!! When we finally crossed, drove to Paris, our Polish friend didn't know where the coach station was. Some French passengers directed him (loud noises, frustrations and chaos ensued). And when we boarded the coach from Paris to Milan we could read the disdain on those unfortunate souls' faces; they'd been waiting for us for 90 minutes.
On the way back, same story. Coach driver, not Polish, English this time, misses the allocated slot in Calais so we missed the Channel tunnel crossing. Some passengers were heading to Heathrow---they missed their flight. Again the coach driver doesn't know who to contact and disappears to have lunch until the next availbale crossing. Friends back home were busy on the phones again trying to figure out when we would finally reach London. Eventually, instead of arriving to Victoria at 16:20 we arrived at 20:20.
We left Italy on Friday 16:45 and arrived in London on Sunday 20:20. And they call it the national EXPRESS. HA HA HA HA!!!

Summary: not value for money and quite frustrating