Until recently, I had the misfortune of commuting daily to London from Reading and I have read with continued interest of the bad service and fare hikes still being experienced by commuters who like me have had no option but to accept such poor service as the norm.
I actually enjoyed my job in central London and even though I have spinabifida, I got used to the back pain encountered of never having a seat, getting bruised by train staff desperate to get bowls of rolls to First Class Passengers and regularly being trapped on the train outside Twyford with no explanation and then having to pay £10 to get a taxi home as the train never quite managed to meet up with the bus times! Thankfully, those days are now gone following an accident where I sustained a Compound Fracture, reserved seats were never reserved and most times I was unable to get through the overcrowding in my sling to get to my seat. The turning point was when I fell and bashed my fracture against a wall. My complaint fell on deaf ears and I decided that I would have to leave my beloved job and take a pay cut and work closer to home – even though it took double the time to get there (it involved a mile and a half walk from the station to the office) the small benefit was the seat on the train!
I’d obviously tried blocking those years of agony from my mind but came across a number of news articles over the last few days that brought it all back to me! The Reading to Paddington line is labelled Britain’s worst train service and from today fare hikes see an extra £256 going on top of the annual season ticket – no doubt much more than that will be going on top of the train lines salaries! Many, like me, see little comfort in extra planned carriages coming in soon on a train which on average is already at times more than 300 people over capacity. If First Great Western know that this line is over capacity and I must say at times very unsafe, surely a better solution should be found? For example, a Fast shuttle train between Reading and Paddington would alleviate the pressure.
I found this article on a website which I believe got it from the Guardian – its seems I’m not alone in my views. Plus looking at the traffic coming to my blog from search terms such as “First great western tender” it seems others are hoping that a new train company comes in and dramatically improves the service. well we can hope, can’t we?