Watford MP Richard Harrington takes London Midland petition to commuters

11:22am Thursday 10th January 2013 in News Photograph of the Author By Rebecca Perring, Reporter

MP takes London Midland petition to commuters MP takes London Midland petition to commuters

Watford MP Richard Harrington took his petition against London Midland to commuters this morning after he has become increasingly frustrated over delays and "top dollar" prices.

Over the last year the Conservative backbencher said he has attended five meetings with London Midland bosses but has received nothing but "promises and jam tomorrow" over the problems afflicting their services.

Mr Harrington said he has had enough and now hopes to gather 5,000 signatures from unhappy commuters to present to the Prime Minister, Transport Secretary and Chief executive of London Midland.

Standing outside Watford Junction station, the MP said: "This is about prices and delays.

"Particularly delays because people are paying top dollar for this and the least they can do is when they get to the station and it says 7:24 the train will take a couple of minutes either way, but it will turn up.

"They don’t want bus services, they don’t want excuses. They just want what they are paying for."

The petition has been set up after passengers have suffered a series of problems on services to and from Watford.

He went on to say he had heard "every single management excuse" from London Midland, including a shortage of drivers, training of drivers, promises of "it will be alright after December 6" and organising a new roster.

A spokesman from London Midland said: "We are fully focused on delivering services that passengers want and expect. The temporary driver shortage has been addressed and current levels of performance are good, however we clearly recognise that recent disruption has been unacceptable to passengers.

"A number of trainee drivers continue to complete their training which will assist in dealing with short notice unavailability, such as on the day sickness, which all operators face. We are also continuing our recruitment and training process to add further resource resilience."

The petition can be found at http://www.richardharrington.org.uk/not-fare

Comments(10)

TRT says...
11:31am Thu 10 Jan 13

Funny how animated RH can get when it's something that affects him.

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Mohandas says...
12:31pm Thu 10 Jan 13

I suppose TRT, it becomes rather difficult to ignore or turn a blind eye to a tsunami of criticism from residents which has been on the horizon for months.

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Mohandas says...
12:34pm Thu 10 Jan 13

I suppose TRT, it becomes rather difficult to ignore or turn a blind eye to a tsunami of criticism from residents which has been on the horizon for months.

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TRT says...
1:25pm Thu 10 Jan 13

The train service is but one of a vast number of issues our elected representatives receive complaints about, but it's the only one which has our MP standing in the only 10square feet of pavement left outside the station that is not fenced off making videos of himself. And he tells is why he's petitioning his seniors in that video - it affects him directly. If he drove into London or was chauffeured in, or caught the bus, I strongly suspect he'd be making videos at Staples Corner or Bushey Arches or Henly's Corner.

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Harry Caine says...
4:55pm Thu 10 Jan 13

Here we are with the highest rail fares in Europe with the daft paradox that the German National Railway company runs franchises here, gets subsidies from all of us and exports the profits back to Germany where doubtless they subsidise lower rail fares for travelllers in Germany.

39 quid - that's all it costs to travel by rail from St Pancras all the way to Frankfurt in Germany!!

But that's capitalism for you except in Germany instead of selling everything off, creating a free-for-all, they formed a company with the German Government as it's only shareholder and then stitched it all up.

Creative or what?

Betcha Rich Harrington is shedding crocodile tears all the way to the bank in Mauritius

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Harry Caine says...
4:59pm Thu 10 Jan 13

TRT wrote:
The train service is but one of a vast number of issues our elected representatives receive complaints about, but it's the only one which has our MP standing in the only 10square feet of pavement left outside the station that is not fenced off making videos of himself. And he tells is why he's petitioning his seniors in that video - it affects him directly. If he drove into London or was chauffeured in, or caught the bus, I strongly suspect he'd be making videos at Staples Corner or Bushey Arches or Henly's Corner.
Na ................ The Finchley Road by Swiss Cottage Station more like it!!

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Razor Sharp says...
11:42pm Thu 10 Jan 13

RH seems drunk in the video.

The train fares are extortionate, unless of course you get paid expenses!

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chrissw says...
5:12pm Sat 12 Jan 13

The privatisation of the railways seems to have had very few positive effects for the travelling public.

It's true that one operator can be replaced by another (remember Silverlink, who were replaced by London Midland) but from the commuter's point of view, this is nothing but the replacement of one monopoly with another. There is no market here, and no competition.

I remember the days when you were allowed to get on an Inter-City train at Watford Junction heading for London; since privatisation, that is expressly forbidden now. This does nothing for commuters.

It is the policy of Mr Harrington's government to ensure that fares increase by more than inflation on a regular basis, because they want to reduce the "burden on the taxpayer." A laudable aim on the face of it. However it does nothing for society as a whole (let's also remember the colour of the politician who once said "There is no such thing as society"), because we all benefit indirectly from free movement on road and rail.

It does nothing for business when commuters face such difficulties just getting to work, and when they have to pay so much just to get there, reducing their disposable income by vast amounts.

I accuse Mr Harrington of doing the right thing, but for the wrong reasons. By all means, draw everyone's attention to the appalling "service" that train operators provide, but let no one forget that Mr Harrington's party was directly and singly responsible for getting us into this situation.

Let no one forget that the train operators are raking in the cash, with little or no apparent benefit to those who have to use their trains.

And let no one forget that, despite repeated assurances that the operators' repeatedly increased fares will be used to fund upgrades and investment in the railways, there is little evidence of this actually happening - which I suppose is the reason for Mr Harrington's smokescreen petition.

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Razor Sharp says...
11:04am Sun 13 Jan 13

Watford is still a good place to live and to commute from. However, train fares into London on London Midland trains are extortionate, the service usually packed at peak hours and not always reliable.

Standing outside Watford Junction and producing a video of oneself swaying about and pitching like someone who has taken an illegal substance and collecting signatures is not really a productive use of a circa £60k salary + expenses. One of his cronies or the 'man on the street' could have done that. How is RH adding political value to an issue that adversely impacts on so many people's livelihoods, real disposable incomes and time expended commuting, not to mention stress levels?

Why doesn't RH get the signatures, launch a campaign, then publicise the outcome, rather than publicising his contribution to a process that might not lead to a tangible or realistic outcome. It's publicity on the cheap. Are we really that gullible? I think not.

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TRT says...
11:20am Sun 13 Jan 13

The cynic in me now sees additional value in the Tories running the ridiculous vaguely competitive if you squint hard enough private franchise system. It gives them a ready made supply of scapegoats for when things inevitably aren't going well.

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