London Travelwatch said the performance of the franchise was 'simply not good enough.'

Last month, FirstGroup apologised to passengers after a national passenger survey showed satisfaction with the Great Western franchise had fallen 6 pct points to 72 pct.

First has faced heavy criticism for the performance of Great Western, which runs services from London to Bristol, Wales and the West Country.

Passengers in the south west protested against sweeping service cuts and reductions in rolling stock that First imposed after taking over services formerly run by National Express' Wessex franchise. The outcry forced FGW to review the service reductions and to introduce more carriages and the company later said the situation had improved.

London Travelwatch held a public meeting today addressed by FGW's managing director Alison Forster and Network Rail's regional route director Robbie Burns.

The watchdog's chairman Brian Cooke said the most recent peak time performance of FGW trains in the London and the Thames Valley section shows that the percentage arriving on time had fallen to just 68.4 pct and the average over the last year was 75.6 pct.

'This is against First Great Western's London and Thames Valley target of 92 pct,' he said.

'FGW also significantly exceeds the target for carrying passengers in excess of capacity (the rail industrys measure of overcrowding). This is simply not good enough.'

The London TravelWatch board heard that, in the most recent National Passenger Survey, satisfaction with the service from FGW passengers in London and the Thames Valley, had dropped to only 53 pct from 66 pct a year ago, against an average satisfaction rating in London and the south east of 77 pct.

Cooke added: 'Passengers have been telling us just how bad FGWs recent performance has been and that the standards of customer care and information given to passengers have been appalling.

'This franchise is only 15 months old, but First was running the service before that, so there is no excuse for the abysmal service FGW are giving their passengers.

'Since before the franchise began, we have had numerous meetings with FGW and FirstGroup, but the situation has just got worse, and there is no sign of stabilising the decline.

'We believe now is possibly the time for the government to consider firm action on the future of the franchise, or the decline will continue. We believe they should examine all areas of the franchise agreement and look at potential breaches.'