Text of a letter sent today to the DfT and FGW:

I am not sure if you are the correct contact, but I would appreciate it if you would forward this email to the relevant person.

For the last 3 years I have, in the mornings, travelled from Bridgwater to Bath Spa via Bristol Temple Meads and returned in the evenings and I have to say that the service has shown a marked downturn over this period. The franchise was first operated by Wessex Trains who were bad enough, and I was anticipating improvements when First Great Western took over. However, all they have achieved is to accelerate the all-round decline of the service, listed as follows:

Trains which are frequently late.

Cancellations have become commonplace, although not as commonplace as --

Breakdowns. Being ejected from a failed train at a facility-free station is almost a weekly event. This is usually, eventually, announced (announcements are rare and informing the passenger of delay or train breakdown seems to be at the bottom of the list of priorities) with the reassurance that a following train will be with us in a matter of minutes. Of course, as this is usually formed of just 2 carriages, it is invariably impossible to squeeze aboard as it is standing-room only before it has drawn to a halt.

Short-formed trains. The appalling conditions in which people are expected to travel cannot be allowed to continue. This is, of course, assuming that one can board a jam-packed train in the first place. If you are unlucky enough to find no room available then a lengthy wait at Temple Meads is assured. And, as I understand it the wait is soon to become even longer.

The rolling stock is sub-standard and some way past its sell-by-date, as the frequent breakdowns prove. FGW committed to refurbishment, but this is simply not going to solve the problem of these dirty, noisy, uncomfortable and unreliable transport antiquities.

Now I understand that FGW's commitment (there was nothing about this in the franchise documents) is actually to cut services, to cut seats out of Bristol Temple Meads by 20%. The astonishing thing is that the services are already overcrowded. A good service could be run on the line from Taunton to Bristol, but all FGW seem to be doing is running it down and forcing people off the trains by making it as difficult as possible for them to travel. Where is the logic? Perhaps I shouldn't look for logic. Last Monday I was handed a leaflet by a FGW staffer. It opened with an assurance that there were to be "a number of benefits to the new timetable", and closed with the advice that the two peak-time services were likely to "be extremely busy and I would advise you to catch alternative services". So far, I can't see where the benefit is for me in reorganising my working life to suit FGW. I didn't know that regular passengers who pay full-fare each and every day could be such a burden.

The question is, if FGW have misled the travelling public, the regulator et al, and as their agenda seems to be to impose stealth cuts then what on earth can be done about it?