I opened Thursday morning entry with the words 'I've not blogged this week becasue there's been no news relevant to GNER, no incidents to report or delays or anything really'. Talk about tempting fate.

For the first time this week I managed to leave the office on time to catch the 17.20. I was gutted when I reached KX to find all GNER services had been cancelled and barriers around the entry to Platforms 1 to 6. It wasn't long before the lady on the tannoy told us that the lines were down between P'bor and Huntingdon. FCC were running a limited number of trains to St Neots where busses would take people on to Huntingdon and good old Tindsel Town.

I have to say despite being a Friday night, on the whole all I saw we people being quite calm about the whole situation and station staff who seemed to know what was going on, why and what they had to do to help passengers.

Knowing that GNER trains occupied all but platforms 7,8,9,10 & 11 I decided to walk down the western side of the building to where the FCC trains were. Glad I did as there on platform 8 was an 8 coach FCC train due to leave within the next 10 mins for St Neots. The locked doors were surrounded by a throng of people though on board most seats were already occupied. God knows how they got on or why they locked the doors. Anyway I opted to walk to the front and try my luck there. Just as I reached the quietest doors they opened and I jumped on with everyone else.

I manged to find a bit of space by the toilet along with another, well dressed fella. After what seemed like a good 15 mins we set off only to stop for an unscheduled stop at Finsbury Park. I subsequently got chatting to a few people round about me. The well dressed fella was on his way to pick his car up in Newark to drive to Lincoln for a 7.30pm meeting. 'Do you think I'll make it?' he asked me. 'Sorry mate, Not a chance' I replied. Next was a young fella on his way to York for the weekend. Oddly he lived in Stevenage, the next station we stopped at and he opted to stay on board and try for all he was worth to get to York that night. I just asked if he thought he might be a nutter and would it be safer to stand at the other end of the coach. There were also 2 ladies, one early twenties the other arround 40 i'd sya. They were going to Nottingham but didn't have a clue how to get there in all the mess. I told them to get off at Sandy and walk but they knew I was joking and I did put them straight.

I've no idea what time we arrived at St Neots but it was bedlam when we did. FCC should be ashamed of themselves for the way they left passengers to fend for themselves in that madness. At first site it looked quite organised. There was some women trying to make an announcment on the tannoy but it was so quiet and the sheer number of people made it impossible to hear unless you were stood directly underneath the speaker. There were also 3 or so FCC staff on the platform directing pasengers across the bridge towards the station exit. They didn't know if there were any buses there or where we could find them but they did know some were on the way if not.

As I was at the front of the train I was thereofre at the back of the que to cross the bridge. Once the platform was nearly empty ONE OF the FCC staff sparked a fag and they all stood on the platform by the train for a chat. From the top of the bridge we could see one or two busses arriving but 2 wasn't going to shift 500 people.

By the time I got out of the station the 2 busses had been filled and left already. There were no FCC people telling us where to go, there were no signs there was nothing. The only fcC people in site were guarding the train we've just emptied. Along with the well dresed fella I walked to the road thinking how ironic it was that this was the 2nd time I'd been stuck at St neots since oct/nov time. When we got there we found a hole throng of people trying to get on 3 or 4 buses.

The posh bloke and I didn't manage to get on one so we stood with the others and waited for the next few to come along. We waited and waited and 2 double deckers eventually graced us. We borded one which then went into the station car park to fill the empty seats and eventually left a good 15 mins later.

Becasue there were no Huntingdon passengers on board we were able to go straight to P'boro. After a stop for fule at Brampton services we eventually got back to p'boro station at about 9 ish or to put it another way, 4 hours after I left the office.

There are a few things that gauls me about yesterdays delay. Most passengers accepted the situation and just got on with it. Both GNER & FCC staff seemed to be coping at KX and knew what to do but the state of affairs at St Neots was appauling. FCC should hold their heads in shame for how they treated those poor people. No organisation, leadship or sign of any plans what so ever. Fracking useless is the only desription. The only staff that I saw kept well away from the caos thats for sure.

Most gauling of all is that this is the second time in as many weeks I've been delayed for 4 hours or more. None I might add has been GNER of FCC's fault. However thats 8 hours of my life I've lost. Had I been a regular ticket holder I would have been entitled to compo. As an annual season ticket holder I have to wait until it expires to see if GNER have hit their targets to see if I get any compo when I renew. It's a lottery. 8 hours (thats 1 working day) in 2 weeks plus another 5 last Oct/Nov and how many other 30 mins here, 1 hr there have there been and will there be before I renew. I estimate I'll loose about a day an a half of my life this year due to trains.