THE RECORD of First Great Western went under scrutiny at a consultation to find out what the public want from Swindon’s next passenger train operator.

The franchise to operate the services is up for grabs, and the meeting was held so local people’s views can be passed on to the Department for Transport.

Swindon Council’s scrutiny committee is consulting in the town after First Great Western ended its franchise three years earlier than expected.

Just seven people – including only two representing the public – were present at Tuesday night’s meeting, part of a DfT consultation process ending on March 31.

Gordon Edwards, director and company secretary of Travel Watch South West, said: “The Office of Rail Regulation publish periodically details of the most overcrowded trains and in their two most recent surveys, in the last but one, First Great Western have six of the 10 most overcrowded trains in the whole of the United Kingdom.

“By the last survey we had made an absolutely clean sweep. We had all 10 of the most overcrowded trains in the United Kingdom. We have trains now regularly in the morning peak where passengers are standing from either Chippenham or Bristol Parkway to London. That is the extent of the overcrowding.”

Mr Edwards also drew attention to First Great Western’s record on price.

He said: “Swindon to London was for its distance the highest walk-on fare per kilometre anywhere in Europe.

“Swindon has now been overtaken and the highest walk-on fare in Europe per kilometre is now held by Westbury, which is over 90p per mile travelled, and this is a major issue for customers. The Government has now issued a consultation on rail fares and rail ticketing and I do hope that this borough council will respond because this is a very clear opportunity to make the views of rail passengers clearly known.”

Mr Edwards told the meeting research showed the public wanted safety, punctuality and reliability, a seat, and value for money.

The council’s own research found that the public wanted value above all else. The views will be passed to the DfT, which will decide the shape of the railway in Swindon for up to 15 years, starting next year.

Committee chairman Kevin Small agreed with Travel Watch that there was a need to ensure services ran smoothly through the planned upgrading of the line. He said: “We would support Travel Watch’s comments about the need to manage disruption during the upgrading of the First Great Western main line.

“It is criminal for a rail company to charge somebody £100 for a rail fare to travel to London at peak times by train and get off at Didcot and do the rest of the journey by coach. No account is taken of the fact your journey’s longer than by road and more uncomfortable.”

Coun Des Moffatt (Labour, Western) told the meeting fares were too high and Swindon station needed access from the north. He said: “Lack of attendance here is lack of belief that anyone’s going to take any notice of what we say anyway.

“This is a railway town, or was, but it has become so remote now I don’t think anyone can believe we can have much influence.”

A shortlist of bidders is expected to be announced in the next two weeks.