FIRST Great Western has blamed the weather after a survey showed it has the worst customer satisfaction rate for punctuality in the county.

The train operator said delays caused by flooding and snow are to blame, after satisfaction with punctuality on the line fell by two per cent.

The latest Passenger Focus national passenger survey revealed 76 per cent of FGW passengers were satisfied with punctuality – down from 78 per cent last year.

The latest figures put FGW below the national punctuality satisfaction rate of 78 per cent.

FGW spokesman James Davis said: “Although overall customer satisfaction figures are disappointing, they are not unexpected.

“We are pleased, however, to see significant improvement in key areas such as stations and passenger information.

“The most important factor driving satisfaction is punctuality. Our train service was impacted by severe weather conditions in the survey period, with Network Rail’s infrastructure flooded at a number of locations.

“This drove a significant reduction in punctuality and reliability. With services disrupted for almost 12 weeks, this also had a knock-on effect on our cleaning and non-safety maintenance schedules, which impacted our scores.”

On punctuality, CrossCountry had an 80 per cent satisfaction rate while Chiltern Railways came out top with 89 per cent.

First Great Western had the lowest overall satisfaction rate of the three with 80 per cent, compared with 84 for CrossCountry and 89 for Chiltern Railways.

Chris Bates, from the Cherwell Rail Users’ Group, said: “If you look at each operator, satisfaction with Chiltern is down by two per cent, satisfaction with First Great Western is down by two per cent and CrossCountry is down by one per cent.

“It’s quite surprising that overall people are remaining as satisfied as they were a year ago and it’s various specific things which are affected.

“I will be working with the operators concerned to pick these issues up and see what we can do about them.”

Passenger Focus chief executive Anthony Smith said there continues to be a wide gap between the better and weaker performing services.

He said: “Satisfaction with individual operators ranges from 76 to 95 per cent.

“Value for money by route is even more striking, with satisfaction levels ranging from 17 to 76 per cent.

“Given that performance is the key factor that underpins most passengers’ general view of the railway, train companies and Network Rail must keep striving to get more trains on time.”

Chiltern Railways customer service director Jennifer Payne said the National Passenger Survey is a useful tool to help monitor performance.

She said: “We take the findings seriously as they will play an important role in helping us make improvements to ensure that we give our passengers the best service possible.”