Complaints bought by Mrs. Elizabeth Warner in 2001

Elizabeth Warner, a regular commuter at the time, decided she had enough of the Southminster Branch Line, and decided to do something about it. Elizabeth has kindly agreed for me to make the information public on this web site, although her address has been withheld.

First she sent an email to First Great Eastern, the franchise holders in 2001. She copied the email to her MP, John Whittingdale OBE, the Transport and Road Planning Department of Essex County Council, and the DETR.

First Great Eastern wrote a letter to John Whittingdale on the 9th March 2001, responding the Elizabeth's original email.

John Whittingdale wrote to Elizabeth Warner on the 13th March, enclosing the copy of the letter he was sent by One Great Eastern.

On the 16th March 2001, Elizabeth received an email from First Great Eastern, which she was not happy with, so replied a few hours later, but First Great Eastern never responded to her second email.

A few things strike one as rather odd here.

• First Great Eastern replied to the MP before before replying to Elizabeth
• The second email Elizabeth sent to First Great Eastern, which she did not copy to her MP, never received a reply.

This behavior makes believe that writing to MP's seems to achieve quite a bit. My father worked for a council, which received numerous complaints from residents. But complaints from MPs were taken more seriously by the council.