Here's the message from RingGo:


We are here to help you park quickly and easily.  We take pride in making sure you don^t get parking tickets that you don^t deserve.  Behind the scenes we keep all your data secure and encrypted and store your credit and debit card details in vaults operated in line with the highest levels of accreditation on the planet.
APCOA^▸ (Car parking company used at GWR^▸ (Great Western Railway) - controlled stations in the area), the parking enforcement company that is engaged to collect money in the car parks of both First Great Western and NetworkRail, has asked us to withdraw RingGo at all of the stations of both companies from the Sunday after next. 
That^s in about ten days' time.
Our lawyers are keen we say nothing more.  We feel compelled however to let you know that RingGo is not in contractual breach, or even alleged breach, of any issue of quality or data integrity.  This is about something else.
Because we cannot comment please do not get in touch with us.
If you do want to do something about this, there is a web site which lets you have your say.  Click here to find it ^ The Yellow Lines.  We don^t own or manage this site, although we do now help sponsor it.  It was set up by a RingGo fan, who is excited about just how simple and joined-up the process of parking could be in the UK^▸ (United Kingdom). 


I've signed up with Apcoa Connect - why must it be over complicated? Instead of "1d" for "1 day" I must now remember "801" 

Here's a letter from FGW^▸ (First Great Western) to a colleague of mine. She helped out when a chap had a stroke on a London - Temple Meads train last week. Hamper has arrived too!

Simply because in many cases, military vehicles (particularly the big heavy ones) are sent on different routes to those on the roadsigns so I presume this is to ensure the drivers aren't looking for some other alternative.

Unbelievable, isn't it? I have to go to London on Thursday, what a chuffing nightmare that will be. They want 5% when the rest of the country is dealing with redundancies, pay cuts, short working and pay freezes. Bob Crow is a disgrace.

Not hard, is it? 

On this page:

http://www.firstgreatwestern.info/coffeeshop/index.php?action=login

there are 2 places one can log in. One in the middle of the page, and the other the "quick login" in the header area.

If I use the main login box, I get "password wrong". If I use precisely the same details in the quick login area, I am logged in fine.

Most odd!

It wouldn't surprise me if he had lost a partner, friend or family member in the UN accident.

More 4-seat-plus-table slots on HSTs^▸ (High Speed Train) for me when you take over thanks Lee!

Clearly a reasonable level of announcements is useful, but the reality is that we are bombarded with information we mostly don't need and it is mostly delivered by people who really shouldn't be allowed near a microphone. We had a train manager on Friday who was borderline screaming into the PA^▸ (Public Address) and it really is bloody annoying.

The coast route from Bath Spa to Brighton is pretty hellish to be honest. Back in the day it was tolerable when one could settle into the smoker with a couple of cans of pop and 40 Marlboros but today the least painful journey is via Paddington, then on to either Victoria, or you can go to Farringdon on the Hammersmith and City and pick up the Thameslink down to the coast.

Reading - Gatwick is somewhere between the two in terms of sheer unpleasantness. Be prepared for a long, slow haul with lots of stops and lots of people with more luggage than is strictly necessary for a long weekend in Margate.

Leaving a bag on the seat next to you to stop someone else sitting there is futile.

The correct approach is thus:

1. Make eye contact with person eyeing up the empty seat
2. Lick lips
3. Look at empty seat
4. Lick lips again
5. Rub hand on empty seat whilst staring at person

It's guaranteed, I tell you 

Indeed; although I now commute by car, I do still do one or two trips a week to Paddington and to be fair to FGW I can't remember the last time I had a problem.

Is there any reason why **every** westbound Paddington - Bristol / South Wales HST^▸ (High Speed Train) has to use platform 4 at Reading? There are 2 westbound lines into and out of Reading, so why do all the trains queue up to use 4?

When I used to commute Hassocks to Brighton (to school!) there was a mix of two types of slam door stock - one as mentioned above with a door for every set of facing seats with internal release handles, and a (newer) version with less doors, and requiring the lean out of the window approach to egress. As an aside, the sets with internal release doors had bars welded over the windows to prevent leaning out at some point around 1992-ish.

The arrival of the Thameslink 319s with their sliding power doors was most exciting!

I fail to see the problem

Chippenham is on the list for lifts to be added (but not for a few years), and in the meantime, it's not a major hassle to cross the track. Certainly better than having no mobility-impaired access full stop, isn't it?