Correspondence below sent to FGW^▸ (First Great Western) and local MP^▸ (Member of Parliament, or Mile Post - a method of measuring the railway in miles and chains from a starting point - usually London, depending on context) this morning in despair of the service:
Dear Sir / Madam

I wondered if there was any explanation for the 20 minute delay to the above service?  In addition to this delay, the frustration suffered by everyone waiting at Oldfield Park this morning was compounded by the following things:

^   An Intercity service sped though OIdfield Park with plenty of space available and did not make a stop despite there being c.90 people waiting at Oldfield Pk.
^   A 2 coach service finally arrived at c.08.11 which had people standing already, leaving several people unable to board at Oldfield Pk and Keynsham.
^   The information point at Oldfield Park was not working and has not been for several weeks.
^   The First Great Western line (0845 6002244) currently has information relating to Sunday 13 November!
^   No information was offered on the train as to the reason for the delay or lack of coaches, and no apology offered.

I am sure that the above is self explanatory enough to convey my frustration and anger at the current levels of service, and the prospect of paying more for such a service in January is totally inconceivable.  I want to make it clear that this is NOT an isolated incident and to this end a log of my experience of services offered since the winter timetable change is below:

Date      Incident               
10/12/07   07.51 delayed 16 mins
11/12/07   18.07 delayed 7 mins
12/12/07   Didn^t travel
13/12/07   Didn^t travel
14/12/07   Didn^t travel
17/12/07   18.07 delayed 6 mins
19/12/07   18.07 delayed 8 mins
18/12/07   Service ok
20/12/07   07.51 delayed 20 minutes

This gives a total of 57 minutes delay in under 2 weeks and as you can see several days I didn^t travel so have do not know what level of service was provided on those days.  I do not think that this level of service is acceptable. 

I also feel that the decision to stop intercity services at Keynsham but not at Oldfield Park in the morning peak has been ill conceived and taken without realising how this has further antagonised and alienated the commuters at busy Oldfield Park who now have a longer wait between services in the morning and suffer seeing the intercity service go through without stopping.

I am very disappointed about the service provided by First Great Western and I only wish there was an alternative for me. In the meantime, I look forward to seeing what response you feel is appropriate.  By copy of this email I wish Don Foster MP to note the current service levels experienced.  I have also made this correspondence public via http://www.firstgreatwestern.info.

Regards