Great Western Coffee Shop

Perhaps not surprisingly, where there is a train fault or a late running service, then the stations furthest west suffer most with the cancellation of their service - due for example to turnback of a late running train at a more easterly point.   Most often it seems to be stations between Hereford and Worcester that lose out, although today it was Carmarthen and on other occasions it is Cornwall west of Truro or Par.  These stations may only have an hourly service or less and so the inconvenience is considerable.  Once a passenger has suffered from a cancellation they may decide next time to take the car, hence leading to loss of future revenue and so perhaps then to a downgrading of service.  In Cornwall for example a number of business travellers drive to Exeter and take the London train from there.
Is there a solution to all this, or does the overall tightness of rolling stock and manpower meant that the "ends of the line" always lose out?

Easing of the financial penalties for punctuality would encourage TOCs to think of getting their (already late) customers to their destination without further delay, rather than their pocket.

In my experience, turning a late-running train short is something that happens between the peaks. During the peaks, once a train is on its way out of Paddington, that's it. So on the Cotswold line, the between-the-peaks journeys to Hereford will indeed be truncated to turn round at Worcester. But the 17:22 and 18:22 will always make it to Hereford.

A lot of the Cornish business traffic drives to Exeter because the train is so slow from Bodmin to Plymouth and even slower from Plymouth to Exeter. By comparison, the A30 is much much better. It's about journey time, not about reliability.

I've done this on several occasions, it is far cheaper and quicker to drive to Exeter or taunton and  park at my relations, and get a train from there to anywhere else in the country.
As an example it takes approx 2 hours and ^15 quid of petrol each way to Taunton from my house near Hayle.
Looking at tomorrow morning as an example St Erth to Taunton quickest journey time is 3 hrs 14mins, average is 3hr 30.
ticket prices for peak time saves ^50-60 a return going from Taunton instead of St Erth at least, (last time i travelled, may have changed in around 6 months)

I recall some years ago when LM (or may have been Central at the time) consistently terminated a regularly late Birmingham to Hereford train at Ledbury at the time when evening commuters were going.   It meant waiting at Ledbury an hour for the next train.   This finally came to a head when the passengers refused to leave the train at Ledbury in a passenger's revolt.    There was little alternative then to allow the train to proceed to Hereford.    They didn't try it again with this particular service.