Entries Tagged 'Thameslink fail' ↓
August 21st, 2010 — Thameslink fail
Although I’ve already written two posts on here, I haven’t fully introduced myself.
I’m Stuart, I work in a technical role for the BBC on a freelance basis in London, and commute from one of the often-forgotten stations between Bedford and Luton at all times of the day, week and year. When I’m not starting work at 06:00, I’m finishing at 23:00. When I’m not working on a bank holiday Monday, I’m trying to get some sleep after a 12-hour nightshift. You get the picture.
9-5 commuters may be aware of a little thing called the Thameslink Programme which currently closes the cross-London route for 25% of the week, and 100% of the weekend. This means Farringdon, City Thameslink and Blackfriars stations cannot be reached by using First Capital Connect services, and those needing to cross the river to complete their journey need to get the Tube between London Bridge and St Pancras. This is scheduled to be the case for at least the next two years, and has already been happening for well over a year. Continue reading →
July 23rd, 2010 — FCC and Thameslink news, 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 →
July 19th, 2010 — Thameslink fail
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 →
November 24th, 2009 — Thameslink fail
I’ve asked all those following ihatethameslink to tweet their FCC acronyms. Within minutes I had received a whole bunch and expect more to follow. So if you are on twitter – tweet your FCC acronym to @ihatethameslink (or post them below) and I will publish it on this post. Perhaps I will set up a vote and see which acronym wins the prestigious ‘best FCC acronym’ award…
13 18 19 25 31 34 40 50 funny and creative acronyms below!
- Failure Consistently Comes
- Frequent Commuter Calamities
- Friday Cancelled Commute
- Failing Commuters Consistently
- Fairly Crap Company
- First Cattle Connect
- Fewer Commuters Carried
- Feverish Chaos Created
- Failing Chu Chu Continue reading →
September 20th, 2009 — Thameslink fail
'Nervous? If yo’re travelling without a ticket you should be.' No ticket? lethal injection is only fair.
A new FCC advertising campaign suggest that all anyone travelling without a valid ticket will receive some sort of injection as punishment! The advert tells us that we should be nervous travelling without a ticket and features a medical looking person holding a needle in the background. If in fact FCC are not planning to inject us, it still suggests we should be as fearful as receiving some sort of injection which is completely over the top, and I am surprised that this even got past the advertising standards people.
This is probably the worst advertising campaign I have seen in a long while.
Leave a comment and let us know what you think or tweet @ihatethameslink !
*not confirmed by FCC, based on interpretation of poster!
September 17th, 2009 — Thameslink fail
Video footage was released today of the new ‘radical’ Alstom trains which are one of a number of options being put forward to the Department for Transport as it considers options for the Thameslink line.
Footage can been seen on the Telegraph website.
The video is very nice, but it does appear to me that Alstom have got a little confused…
Leave a comment, and let us know what you think about the new trains! What is the point in these new trains if they will be as delayed, and with as many cancellations as before?
Shout out to @smiggers for the link via twitter.
September 8th, 2009 — Thameslink fail
The Department for Transport recently requested under the Freedom of Information Act statistics on the 10 most overcrowded train lines/journeys in 2008. And guess what – FCC came out top!
They also had another two services in the top 10!
The three FCC service in the top 10 are as follows:
- Claiming the prestigious number 1 most overcrowded service is the 17.45 First Capital Connect service to King’s Lynn which had 352 passengers in excess of its capacity of 494. Continue reading →
August 20th, 2009 — Thameslink fail
Im back, and Thameslink is as bad as ever.
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….
Absinthedude has also been bombarding Thameslink with letters such as the one below;
Continue reading →
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