Entries Tagged 'First Capital Connect and Thameslink News' ↓

First Capital Connect have published their Thameslink service statistics for the Jan/Feb period.

Following the abysmal service experienced over the Dec/Jan period (when only 62.8% of trains reached their final destination less than five minutes late) First capital Connect continue to disappoint with only 76.8% of training running ‘on time’ in Jan/Feb.

It was also revealed that 8.3% of trains were cancelled for part or all of their journey across the whole FCC network. I Hate Thameslink has previously pointed out that FCC do not reveal how many cancellations occurred on the Thameslink route alone which we feel they should.

IHateThameslink has got its grubby little hands on a leaked internal First Capital Connect document that outlines the full terms of the Compensation FCC are offering commuters. We cannot reveal our source, as unfortunately the email self destructed within 10 seconds – weird.

Anywho, you can read the whole document by downloading it here, but we have also summarised the main points below. Continue reading →

It has been reported by The Times that FCC will extend its compensation package to season ticket holders to 5 per cent of the value of a season ticket or ten free days of travel. This is an increase from the 5 days of travel previously announced by FCC directors. Analysts expect the compensation package, which is on top of the normal ‘Delay Repay’ compensation to cost FirstGroup about £1 million. Continue reading →

First Capital Connect recently revealed their results for ‘period 10′ which covers 13th December 2009 to 9th January 2010. The FCC press release reveals that in this period just 62.8% of trains ran with less than a five minute delay on the Thameslink route and Continue reading →

First Capital Connect is facing growing pressure from consumers and politicians which has led to Lord Adonis – Secretary of State for Transport, stating that he would not rule out stripping FCC of the Thameslink franchise unless urgent improvements were made.  For more information read this BBC article.

Continue reading →

First Capital Connect advised customers  not to travel and to leave London by 7pm yestersday. Their Twiter status was

Limited service this eve on Thameslink route, don’t travel unless you have to. Advise that you leave London by 7pm. May not be later trains.

Morning commuter services were severly disrupted, by up to 2 hours in some cases,  and nearly all services were cancelled by mid afternoon. A snapshot of the live departure table, submitted by one of our readers shows the extent of the disruption. Continue reading →

Mary Grant has confirmed that Thameslink commuters will receive five free return tickets. FCC spokesman Gavin Beazant also said: “We will be offering passengers these tickets from mid-January. It means they can use them for a week’s free travel or to take four friends out.

It is still not clear how these free tickets will be issued, and how customers will be able to claim them. Stay tuned in to I hate thameslink for more info.

In other news, our friends over at Penalty Fare Appeal have been sent this shocking video of a FCC driver with the door to the Continue reading →

It appears that FCC have hit an all time low by providing an abysmal level of service today on the Thameslink route. I was lucky enough to take today off as annual leave, but have been able to monitor the chaos via twitter. It appears FCC have not only delayed customers for (literally) hours but have endangered lives.

It looks like a train broke down which caused unimaginable chaos. This combined with the bad weather and the ongoing dispute with drivers was just just too much for FCC to cope with.

A selection of tweets are posted below. Shocking. Continue reading →

According to penaltyfareappeal.co.uk and a chap on twitter who ‘knows a man who knows a man’ it looks like Thameslink season ticket holders are to get 5 free days travel. More details can be found on the penalty fare appeal website here. FCC have seen a backlash from customers who feel the current ‘delay repay’ system is inadequate , especially during the recent debarcle with the drivers refusing to work overtime and it looks like FCC have decided to ‘get customers back on side’ by giving us 5 days free travel. Continue reading →

First Capital Connect announced the following on Thursday 10th December;

ASLEF has withdrawn the ballot for industrial action.
The union has considered our revised pay offer and agreed to recommend it for acceptance to members. The offer is spread over two years and includes productivity based increases. We are working jointly with Aslef to encourage our drivers to resume rest day and overtime working, our aim being to provide a full, normal service to our customers as quickly as possible.

Despite this, the reduced timetable is stil in operation. Leaflets were distributed at thameslink stations this morning that state;

Fewer than the anticipated number of drivers have put themselves down to be rostered next week given that they only learned on Tuesday night of the ASLEF decision.

Another poor excuse, and being the betting man I am, I would put m Continue reading →