Nick Harvey MP for North Devon says:

‘The degradation of service and fall in quality of carriages on the Barnstaple-Exeter line has resulted in a deluge of complaints to both me and the North Devon rail users group. I am appalled that people have to travel in freezing cold bone shakers.’

Following strong complaints by Nick Harvey, Julian Crow, General Manager, West of England, First Great Western defended his company’s position by blaming the Government:

‘The Department for Transport makes the strategic decisions about allocation of rolling stock and the allocation of part of the fleet that we were leasing until last December to other franchises, has left us no choice but to take a lease on 12 ‘Pacer’ trains to replace 6 units that have gone elsewhere. This has enabled us to restore the 10.40 service.’

Nick Harvey comments: ‘I am pleased to see that people power seems to have got First Great Western to see the error of its ways in terms of unacceptable scheduling, but there appears no immediate end to the use of the hated ‘Pacers.’

Regarding services on the Barnstaple line Mr Crow responded:

‘The changes to the time table were a result of the specification for the current franchise, which effectively reduced the number of services on the Exeter-Barnstaple line by one. This has clearly left an unsatisfactory gap in the service to Exeter in the morning, exacerbated by the strong growth in the use of the line and I am pleased to say that a service at around 10.40 will be added in May.’

Nick concludes: ‘I find blaming Government policy on rolling stock availability and franchise requirements for time table changes a little rich. Complaints still abound about lateness and heating which quite frankly, especially at this time of year, are simply unacceptable.’