Thanks for three months of commuting hell, FCC

This is the letter that I have sent to Lord Adonis, Secretary of State for Transport relating to poor services on the railways
Dear Andrew – I am sure you are aware of the situation that has been unfolding involving First Capital Connect (FCC).

Even though the situation may have now reached some form of resolution, following on from the vote result last week, I think it may be time to look at the future role of FCC.

I have been contacted by many angry constituents, who travel on a daily basis on the Bedford to Brighton line, regarding the debacle that became worse by the day and had an increasingly negative impact on their lives.

While there are certain aspects of the situation that could not be immediately rectified there are others that, after three months of disruption and complaints, could not be excused.

An example of this being the constant changing of timetables: from temporary, to emergency and, at times, completely ad hoc. This was made worse by poor and inaccurate communication of such changes.

One constituent checked the FCC website on January 9, 2010 to see that FCC had returned to four trains per hour, returning to the regular timetabled service i.e. until 1.30am.

Upon arriving at a local station it was discovered that trains had been cancelled and that those running included additional stops and therefore a longer journey.

The level of communication was appalling – often even station managers had no clue as to what was happening. I wish to raise the question as to whether FCC should lose their franchise as many of my constituents have lost faith in them to provide the services that they are supposed to.

In the very least it would appear necessary for FCC to have a financial penalty imposed upon them, in order to set a precedent to other operators who may consider treating its customers in such a manner, and to prevent the practice of under-employing the necessary number of trained drivers required.

It is impossible to quantify or to emphasise the distress FCC have caused to all of my commuting constituents, I am amongst them, or how frustrating it has been as an MP to have been totally unable to do anything, other than raise the issue over and over again, achieving zero result.

It appears that ASLEF silently used the frustration and disrupted lives of all commuters to their own ends without regard or respect for the damage and distress they caused.

If FCC had deployed appropriate recruitment and retention practices ASLEF could never have held us over the barrel in this manner.

I look forward to a speedy response and a decision as to how FCC are to be held to account for the last three months of commuting hell.

Yours, Nadine