First Great Western "Not Fit For Purpose"

9.52.38pm GMT Thu 25th Jan 2007

Cornish Liberal Democrat MPs participated today (24th January) in a debate on the First Great Western's dire performance. During the debate it became clear that problems exist in every area of its franchise and with every aspect of its service. All the MPs indicated that they had received huge numbers of complaints from the travelling public, covering the inadequate and perverse timetable, the collapse in reliability and productivity, enormous fare increases and the declining standard of rolling stock. This culminated in the recent action to withdraw carriages from Cornwall to address chaos in Bristol leaving Cornish travellers with only a bus service.

Colin Breed, MP for South East Cornwall, commented today,

"It is quite obvious that First Great Western is just not fit for purpose and should not even be responsible for a train set let alone a whole network. It is time to consider withdrawing the franchise.

Matthew Taylor, MP for Truro & St Austell, said,

"Reducing the on-board services, including the withdrawal of breakfast from early trains from Cornwall, is totally unacceptable penny-pinching.

Julia Goldsworthy, MP for Falmouth and Camborne, added,

"In previous years we saw rolling stock being diverted from branch lines such as Falmouth-Truro in the summer to meet demand elsewhere. We were assured that the new franchise would tackle these problems. Instead they have got worse with carriages being taken from Cornwall altogether. This is not acceptable and both the Government and First Great Western must be taken to account for this."