Reader Comments:

Views expressed in submitted comments are that of the author, and not necessarily shared by Railnews.

• forex robot, Cairo, Egypt

  good article as usual!

• YORKIE BOY, Northamptonshire

  I can't believe a train company relies so much on drivers working overtime to run a good service. To reduce the service by 50% beggers belief, even if relationship between drivers and FCC were good these cancellations could still happen for number of reasons which just goes to show how many restday drivers must have been working up until now that is.

• Jim, London

  No pay rise is better than redundancies. Get a grip.

• Jim, London

  Why do they rely upon drivers to work overtime to run the PEAK-TIME services? These should always be unaffected.
  
  

• Simon Groom, Luton

  I agree with the above and would add the following:
  
  This disruption is a complete disgrace and the fact that according to Passenger Focus, no compensation is available as the "matter is beyond the control of FCC" is a joke. If FCC are not paying the drivers overtime that has allegedly caused this disruption then why cannot they pay this money to compensate passengers? FCC have caused the problem and done nothing to resolve it. Their franchise should be removed
  
  Simon Groom Luton

• A.Freind, st Albans

  I,ve been talking to drivers on FCC and the general consensus is they don't like causing dirsuption their flustrations are not aimed at passengers and never will be, but they know there the ones who have to suffer the cancellations.They would like the passengers to know they feel they,ve been forced by FCC managment to stop working overtime.The fact is FCC have made money out of this franchise even through the recession, passengers will have noticed their trains are still packed at peak times and carparks are still full at all the main stations.The fact is this years payrise should have been settled before the 4th April 2009 the union have been ready and waiting to get round the table but FCC managment kept putting it off, it is the feeling of drivers the reason for 0% for this year is because if there was an offer that would have to be back payed to 4th April which would mean some drivers receiving lumpsum back payments and because drivers have been helpful in the past by doing alot of overtime so FCC could go ahead with training and get them were they are today this is going to cost FCC alot of money. It sounds to me the only training that remains to be done is in the managment and accounts deparment.

• JohnnyX, St. Albans (if I ever get home)

  This disruption has now gone on for two weeks and is an absolute disgrace. Every morning and evening there are numerous cancellations, delays, and additional stops during peak hours. I spoke to a member of staff at a London station who admitted the public pronouncements by senior staff are lies, and that they will not recruit drivers. Also see the response to question 94 in the last Meet the Directors session (I would welcome the next session immediately) on the FCC website. Nothing on their website, nothin gin the news, when will the BBC cotton on and start holding these people to account? I note the Sutton MP has spoken up, about time all the others did. And FCC just received another £140 million subsidy - for what??? SORT IT OUT NOW and stop blaming the drivers' unavailability, hire some more.

• Unemployed of Bedford, Bedford, uk

  FCC stopped recruiting for new drivers in 2008 as i enquired for a position, I was then told recruitment would begin again in Easter 2009, and to check the web site. No new vacancies have since been advertised. Bedford depot I believe is approx 30 drivers short, so why dont they advertise ? How can FCC run a service when so short of drivers, and more worrying is how much overtime were the drivers working to run the service before this action !

• paul Humphreys, Luton, UK

  What with the threatened tube strike taking place over the xmas period , No drivers on the bedford /brighton route , How can these company's get away with holding the country to ransom,
  
  But remember this , When the tories win the election , I can predict wide scale strikes and industrial action all over every industry , Its got to happen as the conservatives have stated they will dramatically cut budgets , and freeze pay, Just look at what is taking place right now under labour , just wait and see and now is the time to begin making alternative travel arrangements into london,

• A.FREIND, st Albans

  Anybody watching lookeast news on 9/11/2009 will have heard about no train services on FIRST capital connect GN route on sunday 8/11/2009 that report was immediately followed by bus drivers not willing to work in Essex did anybody notice which bus company this was,well for those that missed it,it was FIRST.Now can i take you back to a statement made by a manager from FIRST capital connect who said the reason for the cancellations being witnessed on FIRST trains is drivers being unavailable because of ongoing training this is not the case, but what is true those bus drivers were offerd the same pay rise as the train drivers and have reacted in the same way.I think it is time FIRST GROUP stop insulting it passengers intelligents with lies and start getting the problem resolved.

• Max, London

  This is a sad state of affairs but alas was entirely avoidable.
  
  The fact of the matter is that an annual pay review was due in April of 2009.
  
  FCC have used every excuse in the book to avoid talking to those representing the drivers and whilst doing so have relied on the same drivers to do overtime in order to cover training, sickness AND normal leave. Individual drivers have often done them favours by swopping shifts and making short-notice changes to start/finish tme, thinking there was some goodwill.
  
  There are simply not enough drivers to run the service without a significant number working overtime. When FCC finally (in October) offered 0% for 2009 and had the cheek to discuss 2010 as well at 0.5%, a large number of drivers decided enough was enough and they were not prepared to do help FCC any more.
  
  The fact is that money is not everything in life; MOST drivers were expecting little anyway but they were not grateful of the way it was dragged out to then end in what was tantamount to an insult. I for one commend them for standing up to such an arrogant bunch of chancers!

• Buzz, Paisley, UK

  At first I thought the drivers were being greedy and holding the company to ransom but having no payrise this year is a bit stingy on First Group's side. However, many companies and employee's have taken no wage rise or cut their hours to ensure that job losses are prevented in the tough economic climate. I think people in the organisation need to look at the bigger picture and think of the customers who are the ones being effected by this.
  At least the drivers are still being offered and PAID overtime - if they so wish.

• Notabanker, London, Uk

  These poorly mangaged franchised companies should all be got rid of . They are trying to run our National railway in the same way as they run local bus companies . The managers [ like some of the failed banks ] come form retail and other backgrounds and are not railway specialists . Nobody should be expected to work overtime especially in jobs with a safety component such as train drivers. I used to rely on FCC but thankfully no more ! Sadly SW trains and Southern are very similar I'm discovering .

• A.Friend, ST Albans, England

  On the 22nd of October FCC offered drivers 0% for 2009 and 0.5% above RPI for 2010. As drivers they were'nt expecting anything fantastic taking into account the present economical climate, but the above offer is a kick in the teeth to them having already put themselves about working rest days which is optional overtime to get drivers train up on the new 377 trains operating between Bedford and Brighton and other drivers train up on the new route to sevenoaks. All the training was payed for by the DFT. All that training is now complete at Bedford and Brighton,so when i heard on the local news last night a statement from FCC that the cause for the cancellations is ongoing training which is causing a shortage of drivers i felt compelled to set the record straight. There are drivers at Blackfrias being trained on the new 377 but only about 4 at a time this would not cause the amount of cancellations being witness the real reason is majority of drivers feel let down by FCC over the pay deal and don't feel why they should put themselves about any longer. FCC know training is coming to an end for now, so the message is thanks but now BOG OF . Regarding their statement i think they are to embarrassed to admit the real reason is the derisory offer regarding pay, so they resorted to lying to their passengers.

• Ric Euteneuer, Stevenage, UK

  There's no Sunday service at all on the Great Northern line this weekend, which obviously updates the 'GN not affected' issue. The St Alban's Observer has a quote from the FCC management -
  
  "Company spokesman Gareth Beasant said: “Recently drivers have decided not to work overtime or rest days and we have not had adequate driver availability.
  
  “This had led to a significant number of cancellations. We do have ongoing pay talks but have had no notice from the trade unions to suggest this is official action in relation to this.
  
  “We have been working hard to ensure we operate with as little disruption as possible and apologise for any inconvenience caused. We are trying our best to run the most robust service we possibly can on each day."
  

• Christian Cozon, Harpenden, England

  But why are so many trains running 4 carriages instead of 8. Surely an available driver is just as capable of running an * car train as he is a 4? There must be ill will being demonstrated somewhere to cause the maximum disruption to passengers.

• Paul Burns, Haywards Heath, England

  I would encourage anyone who suffers delays to claim compensation if they are entitled to do so the form is cleverly hidden on the First Capital Connect website and is not advertised

• Nick, London

  Disgusting. Lack of information is a disgrace. Come clean, FCC.

• Bob, london

  There has been no sacking , it is just there are not enough drivers to cover rosters, all drivers should be entilted to their rest days, and if chosen not have to do any overtime if they do not wish to.

• Natasha, London

  I was told by a platform staff member that it was due to FCC sacking some drivers which meant the remaining ones were working to rule. Even if that's not true no service should have to 'rely' on staff overtime.

• Joe, london

  www.ihatethameslink.co.uk nuff said

• Jonathan Morris, Hatfield, UK

  The problem IS affecting the GN side too. It's affecting all of FCC, but there's still no official statement. For some reason, the press doesn't seem that interested - even though it's been known about for over a week.
  
  Speak to any driver at 'Christmas shopping' and I'm sure they'll tell you the full story.

• Joe, Streatham

  I think the least First Capital Connect could do is own up to their difficulties and let the public know what is going on. How hard would it be to put a notice up at the station? It would make their apologies sound almost sincere.

• leslie burge, leicester, england

  I don't think franchises should be relying on overtime to run services.
  They should employ more staff to cover the rosters.
  Surely everybody is entitled to a day off.