First Capital Connect : The greatest Cockney rip off

Just suppose that you've been travelling to work on the same train for the last 20 years. Just suppose that your journey takes you from the station at the bottom of your road, all of the way to another one next to your office. It sounds marvellous doesn't it?


Just suppose that one day, the train company announces that they are spending billions of pounds on improving the service. You'd be even more pleased no doubt? Then you read the small print. How do these improvements affect you? Well if you live in Mill Hill or anywhere else on the Thameslink route and you travel to Moorgate, these improvements mean that you cannot get a direct train to work anymore and that you'll be charged more for the privelidge. Full details are here.

http://www.thameslinkprogramme.co.uk/faqs/faqs_categories/public_index#question_25

I think that it is scandalous that First Capital Connect, which uses Moorgate station as a terminus for it's GN route trains, refuses to honour the "London Terminus" tickets. It is bad enough that passengers now have to change at Farringdon to a congested underground service, but to charge people for the tube fare is adding insult to injury. The Government funded a concession on the tickets up until March 2011. When this expires, passengers will face a huge hike in fares as they have to buy a zone 1 travelcard.

Customers of FCC have suffered disruption, delays, cancellations and all manner of inconvenience due to the program of improvements. Most people accept that this is a necessary evil to improve the service, but charging people extra for a less convenient journey is scandalous. Presumably once the new routes open and the the longer trains start service, First Capital Connect will increase its profits - any chance of them sharing some of the loot with those who have to endure a far less comfortable journey?

A customer focussed company would have maintained the concession for London Terminus tickets. Of course we are dealing with First Group PLC, so no chance of that.

First Capital Connect : First class fare for a third class journey

There is a very interesting report in the Daily Express today -  http://www.express.co.uk/posts/view/177412/First-class-train-ticket-con - detailing how rail companies are charging First class ticket prices for routes where there is no first class service. Can you guess which company was described as one of the main culprits? None other than our beloved First Capital Connect. When asked how they could justify selling first class tickets from Luton to Wimbledon, when no trains have first class accomodation. A First Capital Connect spokesman said: 

“It is perfectly feasible for the entire national rail journey from Luton Airport Parkway to Wimbledon to be carried out in first class. FCC tickets to Wimbledon all include cross London travel for people who decide not to travel on a direct service, therefore the suggestion that an additional fare needs to be paid is incorrect.”

 So you are at Luton Airport Parkway, you have a load of bags and you want to get to Wimbledon in comfort and without stress. You know the service can get overcrowded so you buy a First Class ticket. Is there anyone who believes that you'd want to change trains, maybe several times?

 The article says that the ticket for the non existant services is charged at £21.40, rather than £13.40 for a Second class ticket. I have this question for First Capital Connect. How much should the fare be for a Third Class Service. One where trains are late, don't turn up, are too packed to board. I thought I'd visit my old friend, the First Capital Connect Journey check board. What joys did it have in line for us today?

Line problem in the Blackfriars area.

Train services between Brighton and St Pancras International are being disrupted due to signalling problems in the Blackfriars area.
Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected.
Trains are being diverted via Streatham and will not serve London Bridge.

Services will go via Streatham and not call at London Bridge until further notice. Southern Railway are accepting FCC tickets on all reasonable routes.

Message Received: 07:52:51 27/05/2010

Line problem.

Train services on all routes via Shortlands are being disrupted due to signalling problems.
Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Short notice alterations and delays of up to 30 minutes can be expected.

Message Received: 08:57:27 27/05/2010

 So if the 2nd class fare is 62% of the first class fare, surely the third class fare should only be £8.40? Do we get a 38% reduction on our season tickets for the third class service? No of course we don't. Why? Because if there is one thing which is First class about First Capital Connect it is the renumeration package for their bosses such as Moir Lockhead.  You can click here to get the full details of his package :-

http://investing.businessweek.com/research/stocks/people/person.asp?personId=8672986&ticker=FGP:US

Let me give you a summary as reported

ANNUAL COMPENSATION*

Salary	£609,000
Bonus	£160,000
Total Annual Compensation	£769,000

STOCK OPTIONS*

All Other Compensation	£33,000
Exercisable Options	735,853
Exercisable Values	£185,979
Unexercisable Options	297,107
Unexercisable Values	£779,906
Total Value of Options	£965,885
Total Number of Options	1,032,960

TOTAL COMPENSATION*

Total Annual Cash Compensation	£769,000
Total Short Term Compensation	£769,000
Other Long Term Compensation	£33,000
Total Calculated Compensation	£802,000

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

* I like the way it calls his earnings COMPENSATION. I always thought compensation was what you got from a company that provides a crap service. It seems like the only person who gets proper compensation from First Capital Connect for it's tawdry service is the bloke who runs it. If you want to know what's wrong with Great Britain today, can there be a finer example. 

Now there are a few things you can do. There is a number 10 petition to strip this awful company of its franchise. It only has a week left to run. It is 46 signatures short of 6,000. Please sign now if you haven't already. Please ask any fellow victims of this company to sign it if they haven't

http://petitions.number10.gov.uk/FirstCC/

There is also a facebook group, where we keep an eye on the issues related to this company

http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2239285772

Then there is the First Crapital Connect noticeboard.

http://www.firstcrapitalconnect.co.uk/what-can-we-do-about-first-capital-connect.html

If you have a problem with this line, please log it on one of these sites, it makes it far easier to collate information to  write blogs, letters to MP's etc if we know what they are up to. Given the new Government is a coalition and there is a possibility that there may be another election in short order if it all goes pear shaped, I think that now is an excellent time to keep up the pressure.

First Capital Connect : London Pride

The BBC reports on a sale of posters from "The Golden Age of Railways". The one featured above caught my eye. This poster was issued by the Great Western Railway to promote travel to London. Featured in the picture is the River Thames and The Houses of Parliament. The modern day successor to GWR is First Great Western, owned by the same company which operates the Thameslink franchise. First Capital Connect has established a reputation as the worst train operating company in Britain. So first off (pardon the pun) lets see what todays commute on this awful railway brings? This was on their website (clearly not updated from yesterday)

Customer information - updated: Wednesday 3 March 2010, 13:45

From approximately 12.25pm all trains will begin calling again at London Bridge following the earlier line-side fire. Delays of around 15 minutes should still be expected and First Capital Connect tickets will continue to be accepted on local bus and Tube services to/from London Bridge.

As this blog previously established, the FCC route is particularly prone to fires due to electricity supply problems. Not exactly reassuring when you are stuck in a tunnel at Farringdon. The route has seen a proliferation of ANTI FCC websites (see the sidebar) spring up. These have allowed commuters to get organised and vent their spleen. Yesterday the Daily Telegraph reported that rail operators are failing to provide the required number of seats set out in their contracts. Do passengers who have to stand due to the company failing to meet their contractual obligations get anything off their ticket? Of course not. The only beneficiaries are the directors and shareholders of the operating companies who make massive profits. It will come as no surprise that FCC are one of these companies operating a shoddy service.

So what can be done. Well as the poster above shows the Houses of Parliament, let me urge anyone who hasn't signed the No 10 Petition to strip FCC of the Thameslink franchise to do so now. we only need another 215 signatures to reach 6,000. This landmark will allow us to remind the powers that be that the problems haven't gone away.

When was the last time that you felt "London Pride" travalling on a train operated by First Group PLC? Many of us see the River Thames from our train in the morning/evening. I'm a very proud Londoner and I passionately believe that London deserves a better service than that provided by First Group. They've had their chance, sack 'em.

First Capital Connect - Ahoy Mateys - Piracy at Cricklewood !!!!!

It's noon in Sunny Mill Hill and I've just heard some news that made my day. First Capital Connect have made the Noon news on BBC London Radio (I'll put a link here later if I can find it). Guess what for? Yes they've just won an award for running the most punctual rail service in Europe! Only kidding. Nope, sadly they've made the news for doing what they do best - Pissing off their passengers.This morning, no doubt in an attempt to  save a bit of cash, they decided to take a perfectly well working train out of service at Cricklewood. The captain of the ship train driver announced that the train was terminating at Cricklewood and the passengers said "NO WAY" and refused to get off. After a reported half hour stand off, First Capital Connect gave in and the train continued to London. Here's a little song to sing on the way home to the tune of "Go West" by the Village People

"One Nil to the Passengers, One Nil to the Passengers
One Nil to the Passengers,One Nil to the Passengers"

Yup silly and childish, I know, but these little things make me feel better. Well done to all of the passengers who refused to take this crap. I'll have a beer in your honour tonight.


By the way, please sign the petition to sack this rubbish company - There's a link in the Green Sidebar. It's vital that the number of signatures keeps going up to show the Government that we're still suffering from their useless, inadequate service.

First Capital Connect - Another fine mess

You really couldn't make it up if you tried. First Capital Connect have just appointed a new managing director, Neal Lawson. His previous job was to procure new trains for the company. How did he get on with that job? Well First Capital Connect recently bought a new fleet of trains for the Thameslink route. Guess what? They were delivered over a year late and are prone to failure. It has emerged that whilst these trains (class 377) can run for South East Railways for 22,000 miles before they go wrong, the ones First Capital Connect bought go wrong every 6,000 miles. The distance from Bedford to Brighton is 128 miles, therefore these trains break down every 46 journeys. When you consider they may travel the route, 5 or 6 times a day, that means there is only.  a few days between each train failure.

I've done some digging and guess what the most common failure is? The trains have a CCTV system, which allows the driver to see when the passengers are clear of the doors. If this breaks down, the train can only stop at stations where there are station attendants who can tell him when the doors are clear. this means that most stations have to be missed. Now, having spent years commuting, I smelt a rat. The old trains (the 319's) don't have the CCTV camera. All stations have a CCTV system and the driver stops by the monitors and watches these until the doors are clear. Why can't the driver of the new trains, the 377's do this. This is the good bit. They can't because the position of the chair in the drivers cab doesn't line up with the window. As such, the driver would have to stand up and bend his neck. This is deemed a "health and safety" issue, so the drivers are not allowed to do it.

In other words, because First Capital Connect ordered a fleet of trains with the drivers window in the wrong place, thousands of passengers are being inconvenienced on a daily basis. Who is responsible for ordering a fleet of trains that is not fit for purpose (despite being over a year late)? The man who has just been promoted to be the managing director. It is quite clear that to save a few quid on the train design (no doubt boosting First Capital Connects profits), they skimped on the windows, so the new trains can't use the already installed station TV monitors. Yet another reason why they should be stripped of the franchise.

(Picture: A new First Capital Connect 377 train being assembled. Note the lack of a window for the driver to watch the platform CCTV monitors on the side of the cab)

Barnet Eye Roundup - He's not the messiah, he's a very naughty boy!

First up, a trip to Don't Call Me Dave's Not The Barnet Times blog. It seems that he's caught the former Leader of the Tories at Barnet Council "bigging up" his CV. It seems that whilst many Tories had hoped he'd be the messiah, leading them to the promised land of low taxes, to quote Monty Pythons, the Life of Brian "He's not the Messaih, he's a Very Naughty Boy". It's a great clip. Any excuse !

The Guardian has also picked up on this story (3rd story down).

Thameslink Update - The No 10 petition to strip FCC of their petition now stands at 5,477 and is still rising. The Government isn't listening, my MP didn't go to the debate to discuss it, even though his constuency contains two stations. 3,372 messages posted on the I hate FCC website. The people are talking but no one is listening. Various MP's say they are "having meetings with FCC to improve things. This is not what people want. It is just self serving laziness.

The most shameful story this week is Lynne Hillans Barnet Tory Council announcing that they intend to reintroduce the attempts to get rid of Sheltered Housing, after the High Court deemed the previous attempt illegal. What makes me sick is the claim that they want to improve care for every elderly person, but they are sacking 3/4 of the wardens and introducing anew service where a decimated work force has to drive from location to location. You don't have to be a genius to figure out that a dedicated warden gets to know the residents and their needs, wheras a roaming service will be pot luck. On top of that residents will have to use a call centre to get hold of the warden. Lord help us if they need a warden when it snows.

Following reports that Barnet Council Future Shape includes a "superdatabase" so they can snoop on every aspect of our lives, and appoint a "gatekeeper" for our family if we cost the Council too much, I wrote to David Cameron to ask if this is official Tory Policy. As of now, he's not replied. Don't Call me Dave and I have a little bet about what (if anything) the reply will say. I'll keep you posted. I think that David Cameron and the Tories lack the bottle to reply. I won't say what DCMD thinks !

And finally, no day in Mill Hill would be complete without the daily cock up on Thameslink. This from their Journey Check website.

Line problem in the Radlett area.

Train services on all routes are being disrupted due to an operating incident in the Radlett area.
Engineers are working as fast as possible to restore services to normal. Delays of up to 20 minutes can be expected.

Message Received: 11:06:22 05/02/2010

First Capital Connect : An illustration of how they fiddle the figures

The First Capital Connect website quotes their punctuality performance figures. To be late, a train has to arrive more than 5 minutes late at it's final destination. First Capital Connect are desperately trying to hang on to their franchise and one of the things they are doing is trying to fiddle these figures. One method they use is to cut out stops on late running trains. There is a graphic example of this on their journey check website as I write this. Here are the details : -

09:14 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 11:05
This train has been delayed and is now 12 minutes late from Harpenden
This train has been revised.
It will no longer call at: Radlett, Elstree & Borehamwood, Mill Hill Broadway, Hendon, Cricklewood, West Hampstead Thameslink and Kentish Town.
09:14     09:14     Luton
09:16     09:16     Luton Airport Parkway
09:22     09:22     Harpenden
09:29     09:41     St Albans City
09:34     Not Stopping     Radlett
09:38     Not Stopping     Elstree & Borehamwood
09:43     Not Stopping     Mill Hill Broadway
09:46     Not Stopping     Hendon
09:50     Not Stopping     Cricklewood
09:54     Not Stopping     West Hampstead Thameslink
10:00     Not Stopping     Kentish Town
10:04     10:08     St Pancras International
10:09     10:13     Farringdon
10:13     10:17     City Thameslink
10:16     10:20     London Blackfriars
10:19     10:23     Elephant & Castle
10:23     10:27     Loughborough Jn
10:27     10:31     Herne Hill
10:31     10:35     Tulse Hill
10:35     10:39     Streatham
10:40     10:44     Tooting
10:43     10:47     Haydons Road
10:47     10:51     Wimbledon
10:50     10:54     Wimbledon Chase
10:52     10:56     South Merton
10:54     10:58     Morden South
10:56     11:00     St Helier
10:58     11:02     Sutton Common
11:01     11:05     West Sutton
11:05     11:09     Sutton Surrey
This is due to an operating incident.
Message Received: 09:37:01 01/02/2010   

As you can see, the train is 12 minute late at St Albans. This means that it will count as a late train. What did they do? They cut out all of the stops to St Pancras. You will notice that at St Pancras, the train is now only 4 minutes late (inside the 5 minutes where it counts as a late train). It should also arrive at Sutton "on time" by the designated measure.

Guess what? Whilst I was writing the blog, this message changed. It now says :-

09:14 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 11:05
This train is now running on time.
This is due to an operating incident.
Message Received: 10:38:16 01/02/2010

On Time???? Not if you live between St Albans and St Pancras !!!!!! Do you trust this company?

So what has really happened. Passengers at 7 stations, who already had a late train, now have no train at all. Who are FCC running the service for? Clearly not the passengers. Just for their own profits.

There are a few other problems today. The usual mix of Bad weather and "operating incidents".

11:14 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 13:05
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to poor weather conditions.
Message Received: 09:59:34 01/02/2010
   
14:44 St Albans City to Sutton Surrey due 16:06
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to an operating incident.
Message Received: 10:02:38 01/02/2010   
   
18:08 St Albans City to Sutton Surrey due 19:40
This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to an operating incident.
Message Received: 10:04:56 01/02/2010

How long must we tolerate this farce? Lord Adonis must act now

First Capital Connect : Lies, distortions and untruths

First Capital Connect are going into PR overdrive to try and head off the threat to their franchise. This morning must be the first morning for months where the on line departure board hasn't shown a stack of "operating issues". My guess is that they are currently throwing the kitchen sink at the service, sanctioning overtime left, right and centre & possibly even delaying regaular maintenance to ensure all possible units are in service (this last statement is pure speculation, based on a private email from someone who claims to work for FCC - if First Capital Connect would like to comment on this, I'll print their response). They are doing this in the hope that the pressure dies down and they can "get away with it". Yesterday they did a meet the managers session and had a spokesperson on ITV London reports.

What infuriated me was the blatant Lies, the distortions and the untruths which have emerged. Michelle Smart from First Capital Connect said this on ITV London Reports  (The report starts at 5:36) :-

I don't think the companies worried about being stripped of it's franchise. The company knows what the ministers are indicating is that we need to deliver for our customers who value their time and we need to make sure that we can get them from A to B on time and that's what we are doing at the moment we had a good timetable last week, we're running a good timetable this week

Firstly, do you really believe that they are "not worried". If that is true, then they have either received private assurances and the Labour Transport Minister Lord Adonis is lying, or they are so completely out of touch with reality that they are clueless. Second, the blatant porkie. They say they ran a good timetable last week and they are running a good timetable this week. I've been monitoring the journey check board and today is the first trouble free day for months. Every late rush hour train inconveniences approx 500 people. A good timetable is one where all trains are the advertised length and all trains are on time. If you use the line, you'll know that this hasn't happened.

The next blatant distortion I want to expose, again pure hearsay, but believeable. It was contained in a comment by "fijago" on the I Hate First Capital Connect noticeboard - He quoted one of the managers "Julie" who was at St Pancras last night. Fijago said

She also just kept going on about how even though she lives in Northampton she prefers to travel in from Welwyn on FCC as she thinks it is a better service

Here the devil is in the detail. Firstly she probably gets a free ticket as an employee (or at least a heavy discount). Secondly, if she lives in Northampton, her nearest FCC station is Bedford. Welwyn is a considerably longer drive and on the Great Northern section of the route. Bedford is 21.5 miles from Northampton, Welwyn is 48.1 Miles from Northampton. Julie is actually saying she'd rather drive over 26 miles out of her way to avoid the FCC Thameslink route. That sums it up.

There is also a report on BBC London where Michelle Smart says that passengers are happy with the service over the last two weeks since Jan 17th (click on embedded interview). This woman is either deluded or just thinks we are stupid.

My challenge to Lord Adonis is this. If you want to improve ALL railway services for ALL passengers, strip the FCC franchise. This will send ALL operators a message they CAN'T ignore. Can Lord Adonis really let FCC take the mickey out of him by saying they are "not worried"?

Hendon Conservatives failing us on First Capital Connect

On May 6th, we'll have an election. We'll have the chance to elect a new government.  There aremany challenges which this government will have, but one of particular concern to the voters of Hendon (which contains Hendon and Mill Hill First Capital Connect stations) is the state of the mainline railway into London. Anyone familiar with First Capital Connect will know how miserably they have failed to deliver a service. As the local Conservatives are trying to take this marginal seat, you might think that they'd put sorting this awful train company out at the heart of their campaign. Whilst local Lib Dems and Labour politicians have actively joined the campaign to sort out First Capital Connect, the local Conservatives have been strangely silent. I visited the Hendon Conservatives website to see what they had to say on the matter. Nothing at all, not a dickey bird. Whilst there is a cursory mention of issues with the Northern Line (strangely run by a Conservative Mayor) - Boris Johnson, nothing at all on the biggest source of frustration in the Borough. I note with interest that the story was posted on 14th December, at the height of the problems with the First Capital Connect Temporary timetable, due to lack of staff.

I rather cruelly wondered whether the same people designed the Hendon Conservatives website as designed the rather useless one for First Capital Connect. For instance in the ABOUT US section it says about the People section :-

PEOPLE - How to contact your Conservative Councillors and representatives

Now if you click on the link it says :-

People

The Conservative Party is a large and complex organisation, representing and involving people with a diverse range of backgrounds, interests and concerns.  It is a broad church, which encourages open debate and accepts differences of opinion.

It doesn't actually tell you who any of the people are and how you contact them. It then waffles on about their aspirations. Strangely enough, it used to mention some of the people here, but this blog pointed out that a certain individual was, shall we say, rather controversial in Mill Hill and so all the "people" have been removed from the people section. I daresay if you click on enough links, rather like First Capital Connect's website you'll eventually find them.

I just find it amazing that the main challengers for the seat, completely ignore this story. We can conclude that either

a) They don't care

or

b) For some reason they don't want to upset First Capital Connect

Either way, if I were a Hendon Conservative who has struggled into town, I'd be none too pleased at the total inaction of the Party. I also note that there are no reports of Barnet's only Tory MP signing the petition, whilst the other MP's signed up straight away.

The campaign against First Capital Connect is one across party lines. Having said that, I'd expect the candidates to explain their views on the problems. My message to the Local Conservatives - pull your fingers out and tell us what you are going to do

First Capital Connect - The uprising grows ! News round

Just a quick roundup of the campaign to strip First Capital Connect, Britains worst train operator of the Thameslink franchise. The Observer picked up the story yesterday - CLICK HERE TO READ - interesting to read the FCC saying that they are a great company because the Great Northern route hasn't deteriorated to the same level as the Thameslink Route just yet.

There is a press release from First saying they've now got all of the trains they ordered - CLICK HERE TO READ - in this press release they say that as they now have a full compliment of trains, they have no excuse to run short formations. I thought I'd check the First Capital Connect journey check site to see how they were doing this morning. Guess what

07:30 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 09:12

This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to an operating incident.

Message Received: 06:00:54 25/01/2010

 The uprising continues to grow. The current number of signatures is 4,384. I predict that this will rise to 5,000 by the end of the week. Here's a video showing what many of us suffer on a near daily basis. This is a train at Cricklewood. This scene is repeated on a daily basis up and down the line.

I guess Lord Adonis doesn't see this much in his ministerial limo.

***** Update at 18:00 ************
So much for the extra carriages ending the days of short trains. Just spotted this on the Mill Hill Journey check board

17:38 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 19:12

This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.

Message Received: 11:23:30 25/01/2010

 

18:44 Luton to Sevenoaks due 20:43

This train will be formed of 8 coaches instead of 4.
This is due to an earlier train fault.

Message Received: 17:50:18 25/01/2010

 

21:20 Luton to Sutton Surrey due 23:05

This train will be formed of 4 coaches instead of 8.
This is due to a problem currently under investigation.

Message Received: 11:24:03 25/01/2010

First Capital Connect and the Worlds most unhelpful website

There are many things wrong with First Capital Connect. They don't seem able to get even the most simple things right. If you wanted to get in to work this morning from Mill Hill, you'd probably want to check the First Capital Connect website to see if there were any delays. The message to the left is what you'd see on the Journey Check website.

If you wanted the 08:20 and the 08:29 what would you think. The expected time says "On Time" but there is a message to say it's been delayed. The reason? They are waiting for a crew member.

Is it really beyond the wit of this awful company to actually give us some useful information that tells us whether the train is on time or not?

The Barnet Times censor my comment about First Capital Connect

How very odd. I left a comment on the Hendon Times website about this story where First Capital Connect were defending their performance


http://www.times-series.co.uk/news/4859766.Train_firm_defends_franchise_after_government_threat/?ref=mr#commentsList

Guess what? It's gone. I didn't save the text, but as I recall I simply suggested that the Times should do a story where they talked to commuters about the problem and also highlighted the No 10 Petition to get the Government to strip First of the Thameslink Franchise. As I recall, there were no swear words etc.

I rather hope that someone from the Times will explain to me why the comment was dropped. I must confess that I'm mystified as to why they should. Anyway if you haven't signed the petition and you are unhappy with First Capital Connect, I suggest you do. There is a link in the sidebar. We are 67 signatures short of 4,000 with over 1,000 signatures in a week. Let's hope that even if the Times are censoring us, the message gets through loud and clear to Trasnport Secretary Lord Adonis.

Thameslink - Rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic?

You will be pleased to know that First Capital Connect have just appointed a new managing director. It is Mr Neal Lawson. He has been promoted from his previous job of delivering rolling stock for the Thameslink programme.

Excuse me if I don't leap with joy, but this is just rearranging the deckchairs on the Titanic. Regular readers of this blog will know of the track record of failure which First Group have delivered. This blog passionately believes that First Group should have the Thameslink franchise stripped from them.

Had they appointed someone from outside the organisation, with a track record of fixing broken train companies, maybe I'd be prepared to give them the benefit of the doubt, but just promoting someone, who hasn't even been involved with the day to day side of the operation is typical First Group. I sincerely hope Mr Lawson proves all of my fears to wrong, but surely with the track record of First, they should have brought in a heavy hitter. Why haven't they? Because fixing the service would cost money and they don't like to spend it. They'd rather pass all of the cash to their shareholders and directors.

I wish Mr Lawson the very best in his new job. I also note the cynical timing of the appointment. Just as the dispute has finished. My advice to all First Capital Connect Customers. Sign the petition detailed in the sidebar and get the government to take the Franchise away from First Group. This railway line generates pots of cash. This should be reinvested in the service, not lining shareholders and directors pockets.

Thameslink is back to normal !

The Hendon Times trumpets the story "Thameslink is back to normal" on its website. But what does back to normal mean? As anyone who has followed the sorry tale of the First Capital Connect franchise on this website will most certainly wonder. The only safe way to know is to have a look at their website.

This I did and yes, normal service has been resumed. At 09:44 there were a total of 9 trains stopping at Mill Hill Broadway listed as running late. Here's a couple of the excuses :-

08:06 St Albans City to Sevenoaks due 09:53

This train has been delayed and is now 8 minutes late from St Albans City.
This is due to an earlier broken down train. 

 

08:22 St Albans City to Sutton Surrey due 10:05

This train has been cancelled.
This is due to a train fault. 

 

 

 So there you go. Thameslink is back to normal. Delays, breakdowns, cancellations. The Hendon Times had the following message on it's story

Are you a First Capital Connect Thameslink commuter? Did you have an easy journey into work this morning? Contact reporter Sarah Cosgrove on 07795 505 961

 If you are a Thameslink commuter and you had a rotten journey and I know lots of you have been looking at this blog, please do call her. I'd also suggest you sign our petition for Gordon Brown to sack First Group (see the sidebar). Nearly 500 people have signed the petition since I mentioned it on the blog on Friday (it has gone up from 2,650 to 3,109 signatures). When you consider that it is only being publicised through a couple of blogs, that is pretty impressive. I believe about 50,000 people a day suffer from using the service. That means that well over 5% of them have signed the petition, which is a pretty large number. Let's just hope that Lord Adonis follows up his threat to strip them of their franchise.

 

 

First Capital Connect Passenger Bulletin : "Up Yours Matey!"

********** Important Update 2 *************
Just checking the stats and noticed a few people in Westminster have been looking at this blog today. I wonder if this has anything to do with Lord Adonis suddenly deciding to criticise First Capital Connect on the BBC - http://www.facebook.com/group.php?v=wall&gid=2239285772 - ??????
********** End of Update 2 ****************

********** Important Update ***************
I've noticed a large number of hits from the I hate First Capital Connect Website. I've put a link to this and a couple of other relevant groups in the sidebar. If you are disattisfied please sign the No 10 petition. There is an election coming up and if enough people sign it, then they may take note. As of today there are 2,650 signatures. I will provide regular updates on this
********** End of Update *****************


First Group, the company which operates the Thameslink service issued a financial update yesterday. This is the company which has been completely unable to run the service listed in it's timetable for several months. Here's the key statement from the update.

"We are encouraged by the performance of our rail division which continued to deliver growth despite the clear effects of the recession on the UK's rail industry," chief executive Moir Lockhead said in a statement.

Here is the performance stats from their own website :-

 13 Dec-9 Jan            62.8%
 15 Nov-12 Dec         84.1%
 18 Oct-14 Nov          82.1%
 20 Sep-17 Oct           86.8%
 23 Aug-19 Sep          93.3%
 26 Jul-22 Aug           90.8%
 28 Jun-25 Jul            87.7%
 31 May - 27 Jun       91.3%

As you can see, Moir Lockhead, the bloke who runs this lamentable company is "encouraged by the performance" of the shambolic travesty of a company he's in charge of. Could this be because he trousers over three quarters of a million quid a year in "compensation".

Having completely failed to do his job, how can he stick a finger up at his customers so crassly. It is clear to me that there is only one solution. Strip FIRST Group of this and all of their other rail franchises. Lockhead clearly doesn't understand what is expected of someone who is charged with running a rail company. As I predicted previously, the disruption has had no negative effect on the finances of this company. The only people to suffer are the long suffering passengers. I could not believe that First Group think they are doing well. It is time for the Government to step in and take proper action. Gordon Brown has an opportunity to take decisive action and show that he is a tough leader. How can he not take action? Transport Secretary Lord Adonis must take action or resign. This article in "The Argus" sadly shows that Adonis is completely detached from reality. Adonis seems keener to make excuses for this lamentable company than to actually do anything for the hard pressed commuters. I fully agree with Lib Dem Peer Lord McNally, who I heard on BBC London demanding action against First Group. According to the Argus  :-

Liberal Democrat peers leader Lord McNally, speaking from the backbenches, had urged the Transport Secretary to consider whether franchise operator First Capital Connect was meeting its obligations following a series of problems.

Not for the first time in relation to this dispute, it seems to me that only the Lib Dems are taking the concerns of the travelling public seriously. It is Lord Adonis job to sort this sort of problem out. It is clear to me that he's just not interested.

Captain Useless Update : Miss Whiplash makes my day !

All the best people in Mill Hill shop in Marks and Spencers. Mind you, so do all of the worst people. Having lived here all of my life, I know all sorts of people who earn their money in a whole manner of ways. I bumped into one of the more colourful characters I know in M&S last Thursday. I call her Miss Whiplash and much of our banter involves discussions about luncheon vouchers (all rather light hearted, I must add). Now we've known each other for years and she is one of my best sources of info at Barnet Council, for reasons I couldn't possibly disclose here.

Anyway we had a brief conversation as I procured a couple of rather tasty plums at the fruit and veg counter. "You've rather upset a few people recently darling" she said. "Oh, what have I done now" I asked. "You know, you really are a very naughty boy (laughs)" she said. Then she said something which rather surprised me "You've been very quiet on the Matthew (Offord) front of late. Have you been told to tone it down?" she enquired. "Erm no, He's just not really been doing anything of late" I responded. She then said "Yes, he's getting rather a reputation for not doing anything". I suggested that she advised him to pull his finger out, as his opponenent, Andrew Dismore is nothing if not a workaholic at campaigning, if he really wants to win the Hendon seat. Anyway, she then shared a few further indescretions (all completely unrepeatable here) and toddled off on her way, in her six inch stiletto's.

I hadn't really truly understood the true power of Miss Whiplash in the Tory party. It seems that one quiet word from her and they all jump. I checked the Barnet Council website and it seems that Matthew Offord has been told off and he's leapt into action. Whilst his Labour adversary, Andrew Dismore has been speaking in the Commons about the burning issue for Mill Hill Commuters - The Thameslink Dispute, and his Lib Dem opponent has gone one step further and arranged a meeting with the First Capital Connect Directors,  Matthew Offord has identified an issue even more important to the hard pressed commuters of Mill Hill. Yes, he's worried that the financial rigors of the credit crunch will force us hard pressed parents to abandon our children to unsafe and dangerous toys. Poor Matthew must have nightmares of us all saying "Sorry Johnny, we couldn't afford a safe and age appropriate toy for you, so here's a box of matches and some paper, go and burn down auntie Madges shed".

Anyway here's his advice from his latest press release -

Councillor Matthew Offord, Cabinet Member for Community Engagement and Community Safety, said: “Toys are usually at the top of most children’s Christmas lists, so it is particularly important this time of year to think carefully when buying gifts whether the toy is age appropriate and safe. Remove all packaging once the toys have been unwrapped and keep a careful eye to make sure little ones are playing with the right toys. By keeping toy safety at the top of your list you should be providing your children a safe and fun Christmas to remember.”

I'm sure Miss Whiplash will be most impressed to see that "old Nanny Offord" is giving us sensible advice and making sure that we look after our little darlings. There's nothing us parents like more than a nice patronising press release from our favourite Councillor, telling us things which are blindingly obvious.
(Picture at top : The Future Shape of Barnets Road Safety)

There's something in the air in Barnet - an opportunity for the Lib Dems

Something rather strange happened today. I got a massive spike in the number of hits on my blog. The strange thing is, I don't understand why. Normally if I get a day where it's much busier it's because someone has linked to a story, there is a big news story and I've come up in google searches or someone's emailed their mates and said "look at this great blog" or words to that effect.

I thought it was possibly something to do with Andrew Dismore being in the news for his flipping of flat expenses, but strangely more people found the blog today searching for Vanessa Gearson than Dismore. I don't think that this is in any way a vindication of Dismores expenses, I just think people are so sick of him they can't be bothered looking. For my part, I wrote a letter to the Edgware & Mill Hill Times as a Labour Member six years ago telling him that he'd come unstuck. He wrote a letter back to the Times saying that if I was a Labour Party member, he'd never heard of me. He's done a fair bit as a constituency MP so I have fairly mixed views on him, but ultimately, if you carry on like this, it is bound to end in tears. I just wished he'd listened when I told him.

A careful analysis of the searches showed that there are two things people were looking for. Blogs on First Capital Connect and it's rubbish service and the disarray of the Future Shape project. Lots of people were emailing their friends and lots of people connected to Barnet Council were dropping by.

As to First Capital Connect. Tonight they were giving out "emergency timetables" with excuses for the disruption on. The new one is "it takes a year to train up drivers and we've lots of new trains". Here's the question. How long ago did they order the new trains? I suspect that it takes a bit longer than a year for a company to order a brand new fleet of trains. I could understand 5% of the trains not running but 50%? The advice from First Capital Connect? Use the Great Northern Route. It takes me 30 minutes in rush hour to get to Blackfriars on their train. It would take me nearly as long to drive to new Barnet, the nearest GN station. These people really don't know what they were doing.

The Lib Dem candidate for Hendon is Matthew Harris. Unlike Andrew Dismore, no Lib Dem MP's in London have claimed a second home allowance. Labour has had 12 years to sort out these awful train operators and haven't. If I were him, I'd stop by Mill Hill Station and Hendon and speak to a few commuters. They might just listen. If I were Matthew Harris, what would I tell the hard pressed commuters. I'd tell them that in 12 years, the service has got immeasurably worse. I'd tell them that John Prescott said when Labour took power "If we haven't sorted this mess out in 5 years we've failed" when asked about the rail privatisation. And once I'd told them about Labours record, I'd turn to the Tory Party. The local candidate is Matthew Offord. He is one of the architects of the Future Shape program, which is spectacularly unravelling as we speak. Matthew Offord spoke up for warden cuts at cabinet. He smugly told all of the public gallery that he knew better and that wardens weren't needed by many people in sheltered housing. A rather well to do octogenarian turned to me and used language that would make a docker blush at that. She then apologised to me profusely. But most of all, if I were Matthew Harris I'd tell them that rail privatisation was a Tory invention. The whole system was their last big policy initiative. All of the suffering is down to them. Someone asked me on the train who is more to blame, the Tories for bringing it in or Labour for not getting rid of it?

The sad truth is that they both are. I've not got a clue what the Lib Dems plans are with relation to Thameslink, but THEY CANNOT DO A WORSE JOB THAN THE TORIES OR LABOUR.

I wrote to Andrew Dismore about the awful FCC service. I printed his response on the BLOG.

Here is a highlight from his reply :-

Station refurbishment

Though this is not uppermost in passengers’ minds at present, I was pleased to see on my visit to Mill Hill, the following improvements over the last year:

· platforms resurfaced;

· new information screens;

· new lighting;

· new shelters;

· new platform name signs;

· removal of the graffiti on the platform canopy.

I added no comment as I was livid. How can the man be so out of touch? I read the paper today to find out the reason. He has a nice comfy flat in Notting Hill Gate. He doesn't have to suffer the crap service. How long does it take to get from Notting Hill Gate to Westminster? TFL says this

• Departing:  Monday  23  November  2009 at: 20:29
• From:  Notting Hill Gate
• To:  Westminster
• Restrictions:

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
1	20:26	20:44	00:18

How's about from Westminster to Mill Hill, near where his other flat is?

Journey Summary

• Departing:  Monday  23  November  2009 at: 20:31
• From:  Westminster
• To:  Mill Hill Broadway
• Restrictions:

Route	Depart	Arrive	Duration	Interchanges	View
1	20:20	20:57	00:37		View

Problems are currently reported on this route

I'm sorry but anyone who thinks they should get a £65,000 subsidy to save themselves less than 20 minutes on their journey really has lost touch with reality. I suspect that if a few more MP's used the service, that little message in red under the journey may appear slightly less often.

So what am I saying here. I honestly don't believe that anyone who is aware of the track record of Matthew Offord at Barnet Council or Andrew Dismore in his expenses shenanigans could vote for either of these two. If I was Matthew Harris, the Lib Dem candidate, I'd tell everyone in the Borough my story. I really hope Matthew Harris does and I hope that EVERY SINGLE disaffected voter in Barnet listens to him, because that other party of protest, that I'm not going to name, will be a big beneficiary if the disgruntled Tories and Labourites stay at home. If you are tempted to stay at home for the next elections, think again. I'm not endorsing anyone here, but with two such tainted candidates, I suspect that for many people in Barnet, there really is only one choice at the moment.

A question for James Cleverly GLA member and Boris Ambassador - Where is the common sense?

I despair of this country sometimes. It seems to me that that there is no such thing as common sense or common decency in the petty minded, bureaucrats we have to deal with. If you received an official letter from an arm of the government about one of your children, how would you react.

Putting aside the obnoxious and patronising tone for one second, you might think that my child had been up to some serious no good. Talk of courts and sentences. What henious crime do you think the offspring of Rog T have been getting up to.

Well one of my children went down to London for the day with some friends. On the way back, she decided to use the Thameslink Service from St Pancras to Mill Hill. She touched in at the Thameslink station and the barrier opened. She went and got on the train.At Mill Hill, she was stopped by a ticket inspector. "Where's your ticket" He asked. She produced her pay as you go Oyster card. He said "That's not valid at this station" My child replied "Oh, I'm sorry I didn't know, it let me get on the train and it's in zone 4 so I thought it was". The inspector replied "You should know that Thameslink isn't covered by Pay as you go". My child replied "There were no signs". The inspector was adamanant "You should have checked, I'm giving you a £20 penalty fare notice". My child has never been in trouble and was quite traumatised. As she'd touched in but not touched out, she'd actually been charged more than the cost of the journey, she'd been terrorised by a bully in a uniform and she'd been told she'd have to pay a fine.

My wife wrote a letter of appeal to the appeals service. She explained that my daughter, had made a genuine mistake. Shes not familiar with the ins and outs and arcane payment rules. She didn't realise that Thameslink is not in the scheme. There are even PAYG readers in the station. She explained that for young people, unfamiliar with all of this the system can be confusing. She explained that my daughter had used her Oyster PAYG at ST Pancras, so presumably had actually been charged for her journey. She assumed that as PAYG worked in St Pancras it would work in a Station in zone 4. The fact that Boris can't get the system to work at Mill Hill, despite having the readers installed for nearly a year, is not relevant. The fact that there are no big signs alerting kids. The fact that she'd never done it before. Nothing mattered to the cash hungry vultures. Here's what the reply said.  Click on the letter for a readable view.

Even more insulting to me was the letter from the "revenue collection" side. This is the bit of the organisation which wants your dosh. If this is how they treat youngsters who have made a genuine and understandable mistake, is there any wonder that we are losing respect for such institutions.

What justification can there possibly be for being so threatening and patronising to parents of a child who has made a genuine mistake. I can think of nothing worse than bullies in uniforms picking on children. Especially when they are backed by a cruel, heartless and aggressive bureaucracy. One other point I will make. Boris Johnson said when he took over that he'd sort out pay as you go Oyster cards on National Rail. There was a revenue protection hit squad at Mill Hill Broadway on Tuesday evening, giving penalty fares to people with PAYG Oyster cards. I asked one of these people when the PAYG Oyster, which they have readers for at Mill Hill would be available. His reply "I'm not here to answer questions". Boris's deputy mayor for Young People is a Conservative GLA member called James Cleverely. He's a good guy, by all accounts. He talks straight and seems honest. I have this question for you James. What message has all of this sent to my child? What opinion of authority will she have now? Have a word with your boss Boris and get him to sort these numskulls out. By all means fine kids if they lie, repeatedly get caught or try and evade fares. In this case a polite explanation and a warning not to do it again would have sufficed. It appalls me. Here is the full letter from the purple nasties.

National Express - More like national disgrace

National Express has given the keys to it's east coast mainline train set back to the government. The reason, we've got a recession & they won't makes the pots of money they hoped.

We've been here before. Railtrack went bust when the government wouldn't bale it out. What happened when the shareholders were cut out of the picture? Costs went down, service got better. I'm not anti private sector. I believe that small business is criminally ignored by all parties (too fragmented to have a block vote). I do believe that railways are a national asset and should be managed for the public good.

Ironically on the day that the wheels came off the railway privatisation, Barnet council announces it's massive "Future Shape" privatisation plan. Do they never learn? When John Major's Government privatised BR, we were promised faster, cleaner, cheaper trains.

In 1993 the fastest journey from Mill Hill to Kings Cross was 11 minutes. It's now 14 minutes. There were 8 rush hour trains an hour, now there are 5. They even had a tea trolley on some trains then.

I did a quick google of Thameslink prior to writing this blog. Turns out that there are a load of new trains for the line. They were meant to be delivered months ago, but the private company that builds them has messed up. To keep the service running, First Group have had to borrow trains from other companies. The only people who have benefitted from the cock up are the trainspotters, who are getting most excited about all of strange rolling stock turning up.

The truth is that these private companies are a disaster. I'm disgusted that after three Labour victories, with record majorities, they have not all been nationalised.

Memo to Barnet's Tories, proir to the cabinet review of future shape. If the private sector is so marvellous, why has National Express failed?