TRAIN UNRELIABILITY

Thu 6 Sep 2012, 21:26

Wearing my Cotswold Line Promotion Group hat, I contacted First Great Western headquarters in Swindon for an explanation for the "cancellation" of the 1536 from Charlbury to Worcester on Thursday 30th August. The reason was, indeed, the fact that the Train Manager's car broke down and no replacement for him was available at Oxford. The train, therefore, had to be cancelled. However, a Train Manager was available at Worcester, so the train ran out of service to Worcester so that the return journey would not also have to be cancelled. On the Cotswold Line, trains are not allowed to run without a Train Manager with passengers on board. In these circumstances, the train would not have called at Charlbury (or anwhere else beyond Oxford). Passengers inconvenienced by this should be able to claim compensation from FGW by returning tickets to Customer Services.

Wed 5 Sep 2012, 10:10

toilets comparable to music festival toilets! The staff at Charlbury aren't normally a problem to be far. it's the barrier staff at Oxford station who have the customer relations problem.

Wed 5 Sep 2012, 10:07

Welcome to the world of First Great Western, bless you! Try living with it on a daily basis - being squashed in like sardines on an uncomfortable train, continual lateness and cancellations at short or no notice, rude staff, customer contempt - the list goes on...

Tue 4 Sep 2012, 15:32

John
I have phoned FGW Complaints today and they are investigating further and emailing me a detailed response which I will post on Forum. Their records cite a conductor's car breaking down and no replacement as being the prime cause for the whole of that (apparently several) afternoon's cancellations.

Mon 3 Sep 2012, 09:53

Yvonne,
If you decide to contact FGW, could you possibly post the details of the response here?
My information about the running of Charlbury's 3.36 on 30th August came from a member of staff at Worcester Foregate Street. That train is booked to arrive at Foregate Street at 4.43, but cannot remain there until 5.28 as the platform is required by other services. Therefore, it returns empty to Shrub Hill where it goes into a siding until it is time for it to return to Foregate Street. On Thursday, it arrived at Shrub Hill too late to proceed any further. Therefore, it remained there until its normal return time. The member of staff did not reveal how late it had run, or whether FGW decided to omit any stops between Oxford and Worcester to allow it to make up some time.

Sun 2 Sep 2012, 13:53

Jon C: Many thanks for telling me of the progress and complaints site. John S: we stood on platform 2 just before the appointed hour; the display sign said it had been cancelled (as did the London sign on platform 1) and next train would be 5.07 - which indeed was the case. It seems you caught the missing cancelled train. If the London-Worcester train was cancelled, they would have to cancel the Worcester-London, otherwise both the trains would end up in one place.

Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:33

Yvonne,
As far as I know, the 3.36 train from Charlbury to Worcester was NOT cancelled yesterday afternoon, although I understand that it ran late and terminated at Worcester Shrub Hill, instead of Foregate Street. I actually caught the train's return service at 5.28 from Foregate Street, where it arrived on time, but empty.

It appears that either the information system let you down, or, perhaps, the train was later reinstated, or even ran non-stop through Charlbury. I suggest that you contact First Great Western Customer Services on 08457 000125 or visit the FGW website www.firstgreatwestern.co.uk and go to the Customer Services section and ask for an explanation of what happened yesterday afternoon.

Fri 31 Aug 2012, 11:31

Small consolation, Yvonne, but at least by going here: ojp.nationalrail.co.uk/service/ldbboard/dep/CBY
and by clicking 'Details' for the train you want, you can check its progress, if any, before you set out.

There's information about complaints procedures on the First Great Western website.

Thu 30 Aug 2012, 18:22

Having encouraged an elderly friend to come from Worcester by train instead of driving to see us today, Thursday 30th, I was very put out to find her 3.36 return train from Charlbury Station had been cancelled. ( A similar time train to London had also been cancelled.) I had to bring her home here and take her back to the station for the 5.07. Both our evening arrangements were shattered. Are such cancellations frequent and how does one complain? Is it ever worth travelling in the day by train from Charlbury? Does First Great Western deserve any more credibility than Virgin Trains?