I AM writing in relation to Greater Anglia recently coming second from bottom in the country in a recent customer satisfaction survey. I have to say this is a big surprise to me.
It is a surprise it was not voted the worst provider and I feel terribly sorry for those who travel on First Capital Connect, which was voted the worst.
Greater Anglia is trying its best to inform us of all the good it has done, but it still fails in one fundamental area every time: Listening to your customers and investing our money (its profits) in the right areas. If it put as much effort into running a decent service as it puts into PR we would have a world-class service.
Greater Anglia claims that it has improved punctuality of our trains, yet I have found this to be false information.
I have discovered from questioning Ruud Haket, the chief executive of Abellio, the Dutch firm that runs Greater Anglia, over the punctuality claim and he has admitted that peak-time trains – the ones we and UK businesses rely on – do not arrive within their advertised claimed average of 92 per cent. This 92 per cent is overall performance.
Peak-time trains, the most expensive services, are only on time 84.3 per cent of the time, so nearly two in every ten trains will be at least five minutes late.
In January I was stuck at Shenfield for an hour and watched two trains bound for Ipswich and Norwich go through and not stop at our station.
I asked one of the staff why this was and the answer (and this is honestly not a joke) was that they can't stop these trains because it will delay them.
Bear in mind I had been there at this point for 40 minutes and there was 20 minutes between the two trains that went through and nothing else went past.
How could making an additional stop have added to the delays?
Once again the Greater Anglia staff were able to pass around a message of 'we don't know what's going to stop next' and 'control won't let it stop here as it will cause delays'.
Meanwhile, the whole time I continue to be delayed and it seems the £1,600-a-year I pay to get to work in Brentwood means I am not entitled to a proper explanation.
One of the main points I remember Greater Anglia saying when they took this franchise over was that they would refurbish trains, but not buy new ones.
Again, I must highlight that a tacky looking vinyl sticker in the toilet does count as refurbishment.
The locks are still broken, toilet roll paper is often the wrong size for the dispenser and the other day one had a broken seat.
What have Greater Anglia done for me since it took over the franchise from National Express East Anglia?
It has – along with Network Rail which maintains the tracks – made me late more often for work and caused me to be the most delayed I have ever been at a station.
I now have less room on platforms as they are taken up with these new empty information booths, which are meant to be staffed. I pay more for this service than last year and the firm will put it up again next year.
My message to Greater Anglia is a simple one: "listen to your customers".
My message to the Government: force every line to have two operators to introduce competition – it won't make the infrastructure better but they would have to compete on price and or service so we would see improvements at customer level.
As a final thought, does anyone else think it is strange why the company that came top of the survey, Virgin, was nearly forced out by the Government?
Personally, I would like Virgin to come and operate our line. I've used them a couple of times and their trains are fantastic. They have more room, are of better quality, are quieter and faster.
For now I've decided to start driving to work at the end of the month because I am so fed up with the service.
The train companies pay to win a franchise, but if they fail it is subsidised by the taxpayer so they can never lose.
Year on year they earn huge profits and no money is invested back into the rail network.
I cannot see anything changing for at least the next five years and by then they will just be playing catch up anyway.
Good luck to everyone who has to continue on the trains and to those who work in London and have no choice but to use the train service as no competition or alternative exists.
As I work in Brentwood I have decided the cost of a car against a bus and train journey is now a cheaper option, as well as being more convenient and less stressful.
Yes I will face the occasional traffic jam and yes like everyone I'll moan about it, but while I sit there in a heated car I'll be thinking of all the poor lost souls stranded across the county's train stations in the cold and rain.
Something needs to change in Essex and personally I think it needs to be Greater Anglia.
Your views pages 16-17
