hi all
just looking for info on fgw and found this site and was wondering if there was any body here who could help.
i live in gosport and took my wife and 4 month old baby girl down to see her family in plymouth last thursday. the train from portsmouth to westbury wasnt too bad but then we had to find space on the westbury to plymouth train, i saw a space in the buffet car and quced to get on, a dispatch guard said we would better further along so we followed him and got on the train to find he had put us in a door way with nowhere to move to. when we got the the next station we moved to buffet car where i was planning to go and all was fine until my baby filled her nappy and i went to look for and changing room. what a surpize when i found there werent any when i said this to the guard him said " you aer right there isnt any this is the second train train i have been on today that hasnt" not much help to me. i had to change her nappy while she was in her pram as there were no seats in the buffet car.  i could have complained to the staff when i go to plymouth but i just wanted to get my family to my inlaws and settled down.

then we came to the return trip.
plymouth to westbury was great, lovely train loads of room. then we got to westbury and saw the crowd waiting for the porstmouth train. this is going to be fun i said. when the train came in it was only two cars and standing room only.
there was another girl and a pram waiting to get on standing waiting to talk to the staion manager.
i asked him how was i suppose to get on the train and he said "you cant thats the risk you take to see if there is room". i came back with even if i could get on where would i put the pram, he said "there isnt anywhere to put it".
i then asked him if the next train was likey to be the same and he said "yes we only run two cars on sundays". i said then how am i suppose to get my family home he said "just wait to see if there is any room you might be able to push in".
there were able 30 people who couldnt get on that train how many would be waiting for the next one??
i then tried a different apoatch. i said to him that i had a seat booked on that train (which i did) and how was i going to get it, he said "that dosent mean anything it dosnt mean you will get a seat" surly that is why you book a seat i said "doent mean anything" he said.
by this time i was a bit p***ed off and said well how do i have to complain to he said he would get me a form "for all the good it will do you"
i decided to get a taxi home as i couldnt wait around allnight on the of chance that we might be able to get on a train and the fact the the toleits were closed so i could sort my baby out and asked him were they were "down there" he replied down where i dont live here " down the stairs and there should be one"
we when downstairs and luckly there was a portsmouth taxi there who had dropped of a FGW^▸ (First Great Western) guard who had missed his train. it cost ^140 to get my family home.

we are writing letters to FGW and to keiven gale who is the trains director for FGW and also to the portsmouth News and the plymouth herald. can any body give me some advice as to where i stand?

many thanks