I know moaning about commuting is old hat, but today I just got unbelievably mad at First Capital (Dis)Connect. After weeks of consistent delays and cancellations, including a journey that ended up taking three times as long without them offering any information about what was going on or what to do...

Today I got hauled off the train in London Blackfriars because a ticket inspector said I had the wrong ticket. I get the same ticket every week from the machine, which since the first purchase has told me it's the right ticket. But oh no, I had to stand in the cold and explain everything to one and then two inspectors. They never explained what the consequences were, but kept asking for more details like my name, address, proof of address, date of birth, and so on until they finally read me my rights (!) and took a transcript of an admission that I had avoided my fare for about a month. They were asking really leading questions, and it took a few protests to get them to add my point about the machine selling me the ticket to the transcript. Finally they finished and explained that they'd send the info on to the company's prosecution service, and that it would probably go to court!!! What the hell?

How can they get away with running a really shoddy service, then witholding information from me when asked whilst taking down a transcript that, it turns out, will be used as evidence in a court case? Now I just have to hope that they accept my story about the machine selling me the ticket, otherwise goodness knows what's going to happen. I wish passengers could take the company to task for the recent problems in such a deceptive and accusational manner! As it stands, after a week of really bad delays I will only get about a 14% refund, if my (in)valid ticket doesn't ruin that too.