BUT – how will this system work? Word on the street is that customers will be issues some kind of scratch card that will allow us to choose what day we want to use our free travel on.

Details are still being confirmed, and it is not clear what season ticket holders will qualify i.e. weekly / monthly season ticket holders / oyster travelcards.

Details to follow.

Mary Grant (Managing Director) has issued a statement saying sorry.

http://www.firstcapitalconnect.co.uk/sorry

I am also sorry – because I dont know what sorry means. Do you ever find when you repeat a word over and over again it loses all meaning? I have heard the word ’sorry’ so many times from FCC it doesnt mean squat….

We are sorry to announce that the blah blah train is delayed
We are sorry that the train is cancelled
We are sorry we have no drivers
We are sorry the train has broken down
We are sorry the train did not stop at the advertised stations
We are sorry we  didnt communicate  properly

ENOUGH SORRYS MARY – SHE DOESN’T EVEN LOOK SORRY!

Mary suggests that we all claim compensation using the ‘delay repay’ scheme, but to be honest (and as many of you have pointed out) this scheme is a complete joke! And for the following reasons.

1. Compensation only paid on journeys delayed 30 mins or more. So even though I have been delayed on average 16 minutes on every journey / 32 mins a day, 2hr 40 mins a week we get nothing. FCC managed to reschedule trains so most people were delayed under the 30 mins!
2. When claiming compensation there is no space (online or written form) to enter extra details. For example, a train is cancelled, but the next one was overcrowded and so impossible to board, hence making the delay greater than 30 mins. This needs to be detailed. I have emailed FCC about this and they suggest writing to them by post or email to detail the journey.
3. You are only compensated 50% of a single ticket when delayed up to 30 mins, so that amounts to a couple of quid in the form of a rail voucher! Great use when you use an oyster card.

13 18 19 25 31 34 40 50 funny and creative acronyms below!

1. Failure Consistently Comes
2. Frequent Commuter Calamities
3. Friday Cancelled Commute
4. Failing Commuters Consistently
5. Fairly Crap Company
6. First Cattle Connect
7. Fewer Commuters Carried
8. Feverish Chaos Created
9. Failing Chu Chu
10. Finally Considers Commuters (after executives and shareholders…)
11. Freely Culling Commutes
12. F**king Crappy Connect
13. F**ing Can’t Connect
14. Fine Craftsmen of Cockups
15. Fundamentally Crap Company
16. F**ing Cramped Carridges
17. Farcical Constant Cancellations
18. Fusty, Crusty Carriages
19. Fiendishly Crushed Commuting
20. F**king Clueless Clowns
21. F**ing Cattle Carrier
22. Full Cramped Carriages
23. Four Carriage Crush
24. Flawed Commuter Connector
25. Franchise Can’t Continue
26. First Crapital Connect
27. Foot, Cycle, Cart – almost anything is better than the train
28. Frequently Causes Cancellations
29. Forgets Commuters’ Compensation
30. Farcical Cancellations Chaos
31. Fobs-off Cynical Commuters
32. First Capital Con
33. First Capital Crap
34. First Crap Connection
35. Franchise Change Certainty
36. Feckless Conveyors of Chaos
37. Frequently Chastising Customers
38. False Customer Commitments
39. Failing Customer Communication
40. Farcical Customer Charter
41. F**ing Crap Company
42. Failing Customer Connections
43. Failing Customers Commute
44. F**ing-up Customer Commuting
45. Fantastically Crowded Commuting
46. F**ing Crap Commuting
47. Forlorn, Cranky Commuters
48. Feckless Conniving Cowboys
49. F**king Cheating C**ts
50. Frozen Cattle Carrier

Keep ‘em coming!

Minister Told of Thameslink Anger

Labour’s parliamentary candidate for Streatham has contacted FCC and has met with the transport minister to express his anger over the continued disruption to services as a result of the staff unofficial strike.

Chuka has written to First Capital Connect protesting against the current disruption being experienced by Thameslink passengers and met with the Transport Minister to relay residents’ concerns over plans
for the line.

Chuka said

“The disruption to Thameslink services this week has been awful and is simply unacceptable”

Nuff said!

Thanks Chuka.

Thameslink route

Northbound
- 09:37 Sutton – Kentish Town
- 16:18 Elephant & Castle – Bedford (calls at Farringdon at 16:27)
- 16:04 Brighton – London Bridge
- 17:58 Elephant & Castle – Luton (calls at Farringdon at 18:07)
- 18:18 Herne Hill – Bedford (calls at Farringdon at 18:37)

Southbound
- 08:06 St Albans – Sutton
- 08:54 Luton – Elephant & Castle
- 17:11 London Bridge – Brighton

Great Northern route

Northbound
1312 Moorgate to Hertford North terminates at Alexandra Palace
1332 Moorgate to Hertford North cancelled
1442 Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
1552 Moorgate to Stevenage cancelled
1638 Moorgate to Hertford North cancelled
1757 Kings Cross to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
1808 Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
1823 Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
1937 Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
2007 Moorgate to Welwyn Garden City starts at Alexandra Palace
2152 Moorgate to Hertford North cancelled
2241 Kings Cross to Welwyn Garden City cancelled
0106 Kings Cross to Letchworth (Saturday morning) cancelled

Southbound
1232 Hertford North to Moorgate terminates at Alexandra Palace
1343 Welwyn Garden City to Moorgate cancelled
1452 Hertford North to Moorgate cancelled
1544 Welwyn Garden City to Moorgate cancelled
1620 Letchworth Garden City to Moorgate due 1726 will no longer call at:  Letchworth Garden City, Hitchin, Stevenage and Watton-At-Stone.
1659 Stevenage to Moorgate cancelled
1736 Hertford North to Moorgate cancelled
2058 Welwyn Garden City to Moorgate cancelled
2310 Hertford North to Kings Cross cancelled
2318 Letchworth to Kings Cross cancelled
0516 Royston to Kings (Saturday morning) cancelled

Iv’e recently been contacted by a fellow Thameslink sufferer – ‘absinthedude’ who has posted the following clips on Youtube demonstrating how awful the service is….

• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q7i-Tt5ZygU
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4w5EuPgVt80
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OQUkWpMM5FY&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zJl0RZiM91k&feature=related
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FVMsTJ561jg&feature=related

Absinthedude has also been bombarding Thameslink with letters such as the one below;

Good morning Thameslink,

I thought I write to you on this fine day. With the credit crunch in full swing it seems even our lovely rail firm are taking the measure to save cost, and I can just see the memo that must have been sent out to the work force:

1) Lights – keep lights off to save on the energy bill (18/08/09 – 07:35am train from Leagrave, and not the first time it’s happened). It took someone to brave a run to the train driver’s window before he realised.

2) Cancel trains – to save on staff and running costs ((10/08/09 – 10:01am train from Leagrave)

3) Keep maintenance to a minimum – such that trains brake down more often hence saving on running cost (17/08/09 – 45mins delay around 9pm due to a broken train at City Thameslink)

4) Musical platforms – to ensure maximum disturbance for users (hopefully that way they might go else where) (30/07/09 – 07:35am from Leagrave). I think a fellow commuter perfectly summed it the mood up on that day, when he said “how the F*** do you loose a train in a few seconds” – how true!

Well it seems with all these cost cutting initiatives and the INCREASE in rail fare you would be making healthy profits. What joy!! Shame I am not a shareholder.

Oh, when you do remember us, the poor old commuters, then do consider some thought of how we feel. The recent increase in train problems just highlights how poor things are becoming. But would I expect a refund? Doubt it very much.

If anyone else has contacted Thameslink or would like me to post a video or picture,  please contact me.  Also, please remember to link to www.ihatethameslink.co.uk like this –> ‘ Thameslink ‘ on any blogs or website so we can get this website on thie first google page when people search for it!

One love, and one hate.

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