I have recently had the "misfortune" of catching the 18.20 from Kings cross which is now a nightmare. It used to be a good train to catch with enough seats for all, even on a Friday. However since it now stops at Stevenage it is the train from hell, to get an unreserved seat you have to be there 10mins+ befor it leaves, and by the time it goes even the vestible areas are packed. Why are they packed?? because of the 100s of Stevenage commuters that more than fill the train. This leaves us longer distance commuters and casual travellers having to stand until Stevenage.

Stevenage passengers do not pay extra to use NXEC services, and should therefore not travel on these trains. As we know from previous comments on this blog the guards turn a blind eye and avoid any conflict by simply not checking tickets until the train departs Stevenage. They should be banned from these services unless they have purchased a vaild NXEC ticket, FCC season tickets are not vaild to/from Peterborough on NXEC so why should they be vaild to/from Stevenage. It would be easy to solve, a few platform ticket checks and warnings announced on the train would surley frighten most of them away and therefore the passengers that have actually payed for a seat might get one.