Entries Tagged 'Thameslink fail' ↓

It appears that the First Capital Connect official Facebook page mentioned in my last post is on a downward spiral (much like its actual train service) towards complete closure.

Visitors to the page since yesterday, 21st July 2010, have been greeted with this message (left):  “First Capital Connect has no more posts.”

This was certainly not the case just 24 hours before, when the page was filled with more than six months’ worth of messages from angry passengers asking – and getting answers to – their questions about FCC’s operations and failings. Continue reading →

First Capital Connect recently published their performance stats for the period running between 30 May to 26 June. Once again, performance on the Thameslink route was unacceptable with just 88.2% of planned train service running less than 5 minutes late at their final destination. 3.2% of planned services (Thameslink + Great Northern routes combined) were also cancelled for part or all of their journey.

FCC also disclose that their target is for 90.32% of planned Thameslink services to run less than 5 minutes late at their final destination. Therefore, in the May – June period FCC underperformed even by their own standards! Continue reading →

First Capital Connect have taken steps to prevent their passengers posting new Wall comments on their official Facebook “fan” page, and have made other changes to its layout.

The move comes after many negative comments posted on its page since “The Troubles” of late 2009 and early 2010, when the beleaguered train company was running an emergency timetable, citing “Force Majeure” due to drivers refusing to work overtime. The Facebook messages from angry commuters were met with fairly light-touch moderation, and regular – if somewhat “toeing the line” – responses direct from the company’s PR department, who did seem to make an effort to answer some of the more difficult questions.

The staff member (known to regulars as “Miss FCC”) who had been moderating the Facebook page seems to have disappeared, leaving many posts unanswered. Continue reading →

Today the Government responded to the e-petition (one of many) that asked the Government to strip FCC of their franchise.

The response noted that whilst the disruption experienced at the end of 2009 was unacceptable, FCC did not breach their franchise terms, and so the franchise cannot be taken away. The response then goes on to say that FCC have been improving and are recruiting additional drivers to lessen the reliance on drivers volunteering to work overtime and rest days

Given the severity of the disruption we feel this response is particularly weak. What is your view? Leave a comment.

The full statement can be read here.

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 →

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 →

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 →