WILL FCC DELIVER A PROPER TRAIN SERVICE THIS WEDNESDAY?

10.50.00am BST (GMT +0100) Wed 23rd Jun 2010

Local Liberal Democrat campaigner Sandy Walkington has asked First Capital Connect's Managing Director Neal Lawson for assurances that FCC will run a full and proper service this coming Wednesday 23rd June when England plays Slovenia in the World Cup.

"Last Friday a mass of trains were suddenly cancelled with the excuse being given in each case that it was 'due to a member or train crew being unavailable.' The cancellations just happened to coincide with England's game against Algeria," Sandy noted.

"We all hope England begin to perform on Wednesday but FCC has to perform too. The company has a duty to run its advertised service on what will still be a normal working day for many people - just like last Friday. If the problem is that FCC is still overly dependent on voluntary driver overtime, they should come to an appropriate arrangement to ensure that they deliver their service without disruption to passengers.

"There is simply no excuse for them to go back to the feeble performance of the winter months," Sandy concluded.