CONSUMER AFFAIRS:

Fair Trading Australia is expected to be asked soon to rule whether the owners of the luxury Indian-Pacific train service have engaged in deceptive advertising.

Perth great-grandmother of three Mavis Thacklewaite, 84, says she now has legal advice from her family lawyers that she should lodge such a complaint after her dreams of watching the Three Sisters in the Blue Mountains from the comfort of that rail service were cruelly shattered earlier this week.

Mrs Thacklewaite relies on a walker to cope with enormous mobility problems and had only booked the trip after seeing the Indian Pacific brochure (pictured at top) that suggested the world-famous train service travelled close by the iconic geological feature.

“I was on the eastern-bound service so I slowly made my way up through the train and sat on the right hand side of the outback explorer lounge bar to watch the Three Sisters slowly move past,” Mavis explained.

“That was especially important to me as I wanted to pay my respects to my three older sisters, Edith, Mabel and Dulcie, who are no longer with us.

“I was clutching an old childhood photograph of the four of us,” Mavis said, her eyes filling with tears and her voice wavering.

“I was flabbergasted when the train pulled up at Katoomba station in the Blue Mountains and I was expected to make my way up to the exit, climb the stairs of a coach and then endure another walk at the other end to see the Three Sisters.

“While I am an unashamed train tragic, this whole experience has left me bitterly disappointed and frightfully saddened.”

The Bug’s lawyer Dicky Shearman said the outcome of a similar case in recent times should give Mrs Thacklewaite hope for a successful complaint outcome and a reasonable compensation payout.

“The company that runs the Ghan luxury service between Adelaide and Darwin had to fork out big time after hoodwinking passengers into believing that service ran alongside Uluru, when in fact the rail tracks are some hundreds of kilometres to the east,” Mr Shearman said.