I am really surprised and makes no sense at all why there would be shorter carriages/coaches during rush hour?!! and longer carriages outside rush hour Particularly the 07.31 from Hendon into the city - It has been 4 carriages/coaches for a very long time! Could this be changed please. It doesn't make sense to have shorter carriages between 7 and 9 am Mon - Friday. Thanks

First Capital Connect - or Thameslink - is not only the worst train service I've ever experienced (and I've been on trains all across the subcontinent) but in fact the worst service of any kind. Just another morning commute today from the suburbs into London. 2 trains cancelled, one delayed and horribly overcrowded. No apologies. No warnings. And £8 for the pleasure of it (barely a 15 min journey). And the staff are so poorly trained. What a terrible company. Hopefully one day someone senior in the company will be prosecuted for their greed and utter disdain for their customers.

Not only do FCC prosecute when travellers have purchased a ticket they also fail to tell people when they intend to prosecute. This results in an obvious "no show" at court when judgements are automatically awarded againt the defendant/traveller. FCC do not have to present any evidence and the defendant has no chance to give their side of things. Currently court fines in these cases are at least 200 pounds plus an equivalent amount in court costs and other fees. Failure to pay these charges within a very short space of time (about 1 week or less depending on mail delivery)will result in a considerable increase in said fine, possible baliffs visits to seize assets of an equal value, referral to credit reference agencies greatly affecting the ability to obtain future credit, possible arrest, deduction from salary/social security benefits etc..

I unfortunately was a regular user of First Capital Connect/Govia Thameslink Railway and its possibly one of the worst services I have ever used. First of all the the ticket prices are completely over priced for the quality of travel. The seats are uncomfortable the toilets are filthy. To top it off the ticket inspectors are rude and always looking to rip people off. So many times I have witnessed genuine mistakes by customers however the inspectors still want to fine customers with the most amount possible. When the trains are full and people are standing for hour journeys but first class is empty -people are forced to stand in order to avoid being fined. This is disgusting behaviour from any company. Even with a railcard I am paying ridiculous amounts to travel but If you are caught peak time having to buy a ticket on the spot - you'd have rather hired a car out it would be the same price! RIDICULOUS!

My daughter commutes every day of the week to London cant get a seat a lot of the time trains running late, for what paying nearly £500 a month and I hear the prices are going up this is day light robbery. I can only assume that its all to do with keeping your share holders happy. It is cheaper to use a car

I got FCC trains on the 7 august to go to Lewes via H Heath...4 coaches each time. Standing room only each journey though this was not in the rush hour, hot, smelly. Horrible-just horrible. I have read some of these reviews & my heart goes out to people who have to use this terrible train company every day. How oh how do they get away with it..comparable standards in retail or hospitality would mean a defunct business....but they know their customers are trapped..it's exploitation of the very worst kind. The Southern trains I got on/off at H. Heath were a pleasure..spacious, cool, airy...the contrast was like moving from a wealthy country that has a decent train service that expresses respect for people to a struggling two-bit dump with failing infrastructure & where human well-being & comfort is not important...ghastly. FCC managers should not be sleeping at night...who would want to waste their professional life being associated with running such a fiasco?

We live in Radlett and my wife and myself travel to London often and the biggest gripe is they do not announce over the train PA system which station the train is arriving at. When its dark its not obvious where you are and if you are visually impaired would have no hope. I have emailed First Capital Connect and was fobbed off with some old line that they follow the guide lines they have to. Well in my eye's it's not good enough, sadly they are not willing to change and we have no other option to get into London but using this service. They are are rubbish train service and do not care for the visually impaired and frankly I'm appalled they get away with their actions. Craig Gemmell

I am unfortunate enough to have to travel on First Capital "Disconnect" daily. Part of my journey is with Southern, part with FCC and I now prefer to walk for 40 minutes through London than try to attempt the second part of my journey on FCC trains to a station close to my place of work. In the past 3 weeks 100% of the FCC trains I have used (or tried to) have either been cancelled, delayed (missing connections), or short formation. I have got off two of this latter category as I was physically crushed by fellow passengers as conductors encouraged us to "move down to allow more people on". Travelling conditions on the very outdated rolling stock fall way below their competitors. And they regularly break down - their maintenance programme is clearly down to reactive rather than preventative. This situation is clearly acceptable to FCC as there are NEVER any announcements, apologies or explanations to their woefully poor service. And don't think of trying to claim for your journey. They will wriggle out of paying any compensation despite messing up your day. They should be ASHAMED of themselves and the service they run. They should give up the franchise and let a company that cares about service before profit provide this essential public service.

On the above date at Mill Hill Broadway we were subjected to numerous cancellations and delays because of overhead wire problems. All commuters can understand that things go wrong, but what we cannot comprehend is why FCC can't give accurate information. There was no accurate information on the platform and the man at the other end of the Information machine said trains would be coming soon to platform 1. Eventually the indicator on the platform said a Brighton train would be coming into platform 3 but this never arrived. It is such a waste of time and life to hang around waiting for non-existent trains. Surely FCC could announce that no trains would be available, then we could all find alternative routes. It took me 2 hours to get into work, one hour of which was waiting on various platforms because of incorrect information. I do hope FCC do not get their franchise renewed.

I get the trai from London blackfriars as man times as I can per week, and most times I go there, there are always delays in my option first capital connect are the worst train service and I have never had a problem with any other trains rarely

I would award 0 stars if possible. I commuted on the Bedford-Brighton line (via London Bridge) for 6 months and the service was so appalling that I actually moved home in order to ensure that I would never again be forced to use FCC. The trains are disgustingly dirty. The reliability levels are grotesque. I'm not interested in the reliability statistics which FCC provide themselves - any commuter can tell you that at least 1 in 2 trains are late and/or cancelled. When something goes wrong, you are simply dumped on a platform and left there, with no communication from anyone. It is truly appalling. I've used Virgin, South West Trains, and Southern: and although all have their faults, FCC is without any doubt the worst. It would appear that FCC have lost the Thameslink franchise as of today. Delightful! I hope that the next stage in the sorry saga of FCC is insolvent liquidation and striking-off from the register of companies.

I along with so many others on this site ( take note managers, if you even care..) detest this company. They take our money and treat us like cattle. The trains are old and poorly designed-so narrow that virtually the whole carriage have to disembark to allow one passenger out. They are constantly so overcrowded that often people are left standing on the platform, unable to board. The company bosses can treat us with such contempt because we are forced to use them. Bring back nationalisation-can't happen fast enough in my opinion. If you don't have to-do not use this service..

I have absolutely no doubts that at this moment in time First Capital Connect have the quality worst trains in the United Kingdom. I commute from Welwyn North every day and the trains are absolutely crud. The majority of them were built in the 80s - the 80s! 30 year old trains! The doors and windows rattle and bang like they're made out of old deckchairs, the journey is loud, the seating arrangement is horrible, not to mention the train bumps around like it's riding over Lego. Thankfully they've announced that they are going to introduce brand new trains. How many of these are going to be added I don't know, although I get the feeling they're going to be focused on the St Albans line and they're still going to keep a lot of the old trains. Please don't, send them to the scrap heap, please.

I have been an unfortunate user of FCC for 4 years, enforced as a commuter, this is a company that sees it customers as cash cows, doesn't have the first inkling about what good customer service would be, poor trains, poor service, poor website, confused information when problems occur which is all too frequent and fares that are an outright abuse. FCC should not have an operating licence

I've only just starter commuting into London every day from St Albans and I have to say this really puts me down from actually working in the big city. It's not only because the trains are delayed or cancelled almost on a daily basis but the fact that even when the trains are running'fine' they are ridiculously overcrowded if they are the 'fast' ones or almost empty otherwise. To this makes absolutely no sense as probably it would not be that hard to rearrange the schedules and train lenghts to better match the demand, but I apparently this is a company that is not really interested in such a thing... My major complain is that given they charge one of the highest fees in Europe, they are no way near German, Swiss, Scandinavian or any other Western Europe trains... Excluding perhaps only Spain and Italy.

I unfortunately have to take the FCC train twice a day and always dread it! The trains are filthy with gum, dust and bits of food on the floor, very worn out seats, dust sometimes falls whenever the train hits a bump, vandalised windows preventing you from even enjoying the view outside, very few trains are on time etc. The cost for tickets is quite high and staff check your tickets frequently despite all these issues. I do not usually write reviews but I am soo disgusted with the service that i felt it was necessary.

I am unfortunate enough to take FCC trains every day, yet I am still often surprised by how bad their service is. Trains are more often late than not and frequently cancelled. Announcements at stations are rare, and on the train itself occassionally you will be told you have reached the train's final destination and the train is terminating, so get off it, but never any announcement of the stations on the way there. I take the train into Moorgate from Hornsey, and when the train is so packed that you cannot see out of the window where you are it would be really helpful if the driver would tell you. Truly awful company.

In this morning,26 March 2014, at 09;30, I starded my journey from New Southgate with First Capital train.We start our traver and after 10 minutes the train stoped . We waited in there for long minutes. After 30 minutes the train go back to the station, I lost my money, my time and my patience. I was one hour and 30 minutes late until I reach my destination. Terrible journey, I will never take this First Capital train.