A SECOND Meet the Manager session put on by First Capital Connect (FCC) in the district was dominated by difficulties passengers were experiencing with the compensation package. MD Neal Lawson, was among FCC managers at Harpenden station last night for a

A SECOND Meet the Manager session put on by First Capital Connect (FCC) in the district was dominated by difficulties passengers were experiencing with the compensation package.

MD Neal Lawson, was among FCC managers at Harpenden station last night for a Meet the Manager session following disrupted train services as a result of a drivers' dispute and the bad weather conditions.

They were invited by Lib Dem parliamentary hopeful for Hitchin and Harpenden, Nigel Quinton, who said he was delighted that there was no shortage of managers available to answer the public's questions.

He went on: "According to my discussions with Neal Lawson during the lull caused by (almost inevitable) train delays, most of those centred on difficulties passengers had found with the compensation package being offered by FCC."

Mr Quinton said his view of the problems FCC had experienced in the past 12 months was that the train company and the Department for Transport had jointly underestimated the impact of delays in rolling stock delivery.

Then FCC had pushed the good faith of their drivers beyond what was reasonable and were then punished with an unusually severe winter which exposed the fragility of their infrastructure.

He added: "One might say they were unlucky but my experience in business is that you make your own luck and the impact of the problems was worse than it could have been. Whether this justifies the termination of their franchise is another matter - all I would say is that they have no room for complacency.