Great Western Coffee Shop

Quote from the MTLS forum :

About time.

As Mr. 12hours sunday pointed out, someone will end up with egg on there face, and it won't be first!

There is some justice then! Hope they take that individual to the cleaners and set the standard for a future fare strike, they can't say that they weren't warned before hand, it was doing the rounds on the forums for months before!!

Hopefully FGW will be lambasted on the media or even taken to court, as it's very unfair to critisise an individual and let others get away with it.

How can FGW be taken to court? THEY'RE THE ONES ON THE RIGHT SIDE OF THE LAW!!

If they were on the 'right side' of the law, everyone who 'broke the law' should have been prosecuted, not just an individual. It's not right or ethical to pick and choose someone at random where thousands followed suit.

thousands followed suit??.thought it was a hundred or so

Same said for most things though, some just get caught by the wrong people at a guess. It is fair though, they have the right to do it to anyone they want!

I wonder whether she was counted as a fare dodger rather than striker as Ox-Rail agreed not to participate in the protest. I haven't received anything yet and I think if I do I'll probably pay it. It was really about making a point rather than breaking the law.

I think I'm probably going to regret posting this, but here goes, anyway ...

I agree with mada - this lady travelled from Bristol to Oxford: against the flow, so to speak, of the well-publicised 'fare strikers' travelling into Bristol.  Therefore, she may indeed be being treated as a 'fare dodger', rather than a 'fare striker'.  However, it's interesting that FGW have apparently only asked her to pay a penalty fare and an admin fee, to avoid any further action being taken.  Not unreasonable treatment, I'd say, for a normal 'fare dodger' - irrespective of what FGW may have decided to do about the 'fare strikers'.  The lady now has the option, having made her point, of paying the price (clearly, rather higher than her normal ticket cost) and having the matter closed.

For the record: I do not agree with fare dodging, I made a point of buying a valid ticket on Monday 28 January (which I have kept, in case vacman wants to check it! ;D )  However, I also want to express my support for FGW in their apparently measured response to the strikers - 'yes, we know you are unhappy, but there are still rules to be followed, please!'

On this particular point, I think FGW are indeed 'transforming travel' - in a positive way.

Yes, if I were her I would pay up and close the matter too...though I just wish FGW chose an 'All or none' view. I felt the way they treated the other 'strikers' by posting a friendly letter detailing the service improvements seemed highly professional and avoiding confrontation (and perhaps helping to stop further strikes).

Don't get me wrong, I wouldn't 'strike' myself, and I feel I took a very wise decision by avoiding the trains altogether that day. But it just seemed strange to me that one was singled out and everyone else got away with it...

I believe the official response was that details taken would just get an information letter.
But if people refused to give details then discretion would be used on would happen to them.
Without full details it's hard to speculate on it.

I received an "informative" letter today explaining the reasons for the issues and apologising for the poor performance. No penalty fare, no demand for payment, no anthrax!

Fair play really.

I think that's sensible. There must have something about the lady that made her stand out (was a rather long journey - not a typical daily commute) as trying to take advantage rather than a genuine protestor.

So, let's hope that some of the speculation on the forum proves correct and some additional stock is heading our way. Anyone know how long before anything is confirmed?

You'd think FGW would be shouting it from the roof tops about 3 car 158's! Maybe they want to spring a pleasant surprise on the commuters on the first day of the new timetable?

andrew.haines[at]firstgroup.com  ;D

Thanks. Sorry for posting twice, I realised that the message would be better on a different thread!

Ah - explains my confusion  :P

I'm not for OR against fare strikes!

It needs to be remembered how many fare strikes took place on Wessex operated lines, or Thames Trains or Even FGW when they ONLY ran Inter-City services.

I thinks the answer is NONE!!!

Only FGW have themselves to blame, they took over Wessex services with a Reduce Trains, Reduce Carriages policy, if somebody from First had BOTHERED to look at Wessex services, especially the Bristol Portsmouth line they would have seen that longer trains were required, not shorter.

I don't think it right to fare strike, but then it's NOT right to Bulldoze service reductions into place First Group style.

Talk of service improvements???

Sorry but if you are only getting things back to a Pre-April 2006 level of services thats

NO DAM IMPROVMENT

Smokey

I totally agree, any claim by First for improvement, especially on the Pompey/Cardiff route will have to be seen from a pre franchise baseline, and they had better not be left in any doubt about that.

The remarkable thing was how much effort Wessex actually made considering the limitations they were working to. Good publicity (sponsoring local weather) increasing 158 capacity, and although not entirely popular with staff the 31^s for the summer and Friday relief. There also seemed to be a hell of a lot more engagement with their passengers. And as I^ve posted before this would seem to have made everyone forgive their smaller failings for which we now gleefully haul First over the coals for.

Returning to the main theme of the post, it would be a shame if TA has succumbed to Daily Mailisms in the pursuit of First, and as in all reports of this nature no-one knows the full story, so I would be reluctant to make much comment based on the limited facts available so far. Two conclusions, real fare dodger and deserves everything she gets, or a lone Strike Ticket holder travelling away from Bristol, (centre of the protest), and is being singled out possibly unfairly as she didn^t have Dom Jolly and a film crew close to hand.

What business have FGW got maintaining dams?  :P

I agree with everything you say about Wessex and the things they did, BUT they recived ^75m subsidy per year! FGW have to pay back ^1bn!
As for the fare striker, it may well have been a faredodger who jumped on the bandwagon, but who knows......

I agree with you if she is a fare dodger then tough if not then perhaps she needs a little bit of sympathy as far as the old thorn in the side about the Portsmouth Cardiff and the Weymouth line is concerned I know Wessex had  a subsidy but when FGW took over the line they accepted it as was they should have then maintained it with the same standard of service as Wessex did they put in the tender and they should have been willing then to maintain that standard of service as was. I know they seem to be showing some signs of
improving the service now but ?

Ok so Wessex got ^75m subsidy a year.

FGW only have to PAY BACK ^1bn plus BECAUSE THEY OFFERED TO!!!!!!!!!

Rummour is that the nearest tender from Nat Ex or Stage coach was about ^200m pay back to DfT.

If thats true FGW shot themselves for about ^800m

NICE.

Is it true that First did not have to bid for the "West" Routes, that they could have just had the InterCity and the Thames parts?

The SRA started the Greater Western franchise putting FGW, Thames and Wessex into one pot.
To bid for part of the Greater Western franchise wasn't an option.

(Wessex was only formed as a stop gap untill The Big franchise started.)

Maybe so, but the DFT awarded it to them, even though the origional bid was to cut services even more dramaticly than what they did, for a government that needs to attract rail use then not really ideal! I don't really see why you get so worked up about FGW smokey, you only travel by train once or twice a year! And as for your view on contractors, well every TOC uses contractors for maintainence! In fact, FGW are one of the few TOC's that have their own in house painters!

Are these FGW's, vacman?

(http://www.raildocuments.org.uk/jan08photos/300108yeopenmill7.jpg)

Not sure??

As I've said before FGW in house painters do a darn good job of their painting.

There is a headlock conflict with using contractors, the theory is contractors are VFM, but as contractors aim to make money (as much as possible), things don't get done to anything like a high standard, cutting corners is one way to increase profit both in safety and quality.

Seen the 153 in New FGW colours (368 is it?) Pity somebody couldn't put 10pence worth of Black paint on the Head/Marker light housing.

But things will never change.

Mind you NR make a handsome profit compared to Railtrack.

I wonder where the meggar saving came from?

But like i've said, other TOC's use far more contractors, the manual ticket barrier at Birmingham New Street was (and possibly still is??) manned by agency staff (a form of contractor), FGW probably use far less contractors than other TOC's, FGW are by no means perfect but I really don't see why you've got so much hatred towards them?

Yes I did but whilst I agree that all fare dodgers should face being named and shamed I have to point out without being reported for personal attacks on the organisers of this pointless exercise that it is THEM that First and the British Transport Police should be pursuing due to the fact that it was them that ENCOURAGED people to break the law by not buying a ticket. Whats different in say incitiding someone to smash windows in the high street to doing what was done the other week, nothing as it's both against the law. I expect on the other hand though, that whilst encouraging the 100 or so not to purchase their fare that the individuals concered probaly had their MTLS ticket in their hand while having their valid ticket tucked away in their pocket. If that was the case then they aint so big that all their hard talking on the T.V suggests!

In some ways I agree. But those commuters go through a heck of a lot of strain every day. As the ticket says "to hell and back." So can you blame them for wanting to take "big" action when the fares go up....again?

Actually you were reported (and NOT by MTLS supporters!) for breaking one of the few rules of the forum - which is "no personal attacks".  Rather than raise this in public, I raised it with you in a personal message, to which I have yet to receive a reply ...

I am busy doing me real job at the moment, but this post too has been flagged up to me.   I am going to put a "hold" on this account until I have a chance to get back and fully review it, and perhaps until I receive an answer ...