First ScotRail on wrong track over delays

PASSENGER satisfaction with how First ScotRail handles delays has plummeted, despite the firm introducing measures to improve communications.

Only 30 per cent of passengers were happy with the information they received during disruption last autumn, compared with 50 per cent the year before, a survey shows today. Overall passenger satisfaction fell four points to 84 per cent.

Passenger Focus, the rail watchdog which carried out the research, called for an action plan to target routes where travellers were least satisfied.

The group said a new approach was required because previous attempts to improve the situation had failed.

First ScotRail staff were given "prompt cards" to help respond to incidents, and station announcements were improved after satisfaction with delays- handling also fell last spring.

Mary Dickson, the managing director of First ScotRail, said: "We must improve the way we deal with train delays, regardless of the cause. In particular, we accept the need to keep customers better informed, not only of the disruption itself but also by providing regular updates of what is being done to get services back to normal."