Madam,

Re: Arriva Trains Fails. As a regular traveller on the Cambrian Coaster, I write to you in disappointment at certain recent events on this service.

Firstly, we happily had a reinstatement of the train from Machynlleth to Pwllheli leaving at 19.00 hours. (Latterly, this had not stopped at certain request stops to the justified dismay of affected locals). But this reinstatement had been at the expense of the late train from Ma-chynlleth now leaving at 21.43, which means getting into Pwllheli at around midnight and, assuming a journey begins before Machynlleth, including a 50-minute wait on a cold platform in Machynlleth after the visiting room has closed.

The other unfortunate change introduced is the tickets. These take much longer to print than the premium tickets and are vastly larger and flimsier. They cannot be used at barriers unless staff are present to open the gates. They are also unusable for London Underground travel or for another destination beyond London. How is this ‘progress’ benefiting the passengers, let alone the poor harassed staff who sell the tickets, each ticket taking the best part of a minute to process?

Yours etc

Clare Marno

4 Base House

Aberdyfi.