A COUNTY councillor has promised to campaign “vigorously” for improvements to Great Western Railway (GWR) services, following apparent last-minute cancellations and communication issues with customers.

Cllr Alan Amos, cabinet member for highways, said he would fight GWR “until we get a decent service” in response to complaints from disgruntled train user and city resident Derek Fearnside.

Mr Fearnside, 71, said there is also a lack of easy-to-find information regarding updates to services, particularly for older people who do not use phone apps or the internet.

Cllr Amos had previously slammed GWR’s decision to cancel all trains from Worcester Shrub Hill to Oxford after a heavy snowfall earlier this month had already largely thawed.

He said: “It is clearly going to take some time to see much, if any, improvement but I don’t give up easily.

“This is such an important issue for local people and our whole region.”

Mr Fearnside, from Northwick, said he has been travelling by train to attend weekly classes in Oxford on a Sunday since last October, and claimed every journey had been problematic.

He said: “Trains have either been cancelled, run late or failed to provide the onboard services advertised, for example, no reservations or refreshments, or had dirty or blocked toilets.”

Earlier this year he was stranded in Moreton-in-Marsh and advised by the train manager to take a taxi and send in a receipt to GWR customer services for a refund.

“It took nearly 20 emails to recover my money,” he said.

Mr Fearnside, who previously worked in social services and in NHS psychological therapy, said GWR too often hid behind the excuse that information was on its website.

He said: “Such information is often difficult to find unless you know where to look.

“They do not care that many, particularly older, public transport users rely on the published timetables and for one reason or another do not use the internet or have a smartphone to check live train updates.

A GWR spokesman said the company is aware that recent performances on the North Cotswolds route – which runs between Oxford and Hereford – have not been good enough. He added: "We are sorry."

He said the company has had issues with driver training, as well as damage sustained to some of its fleet and infrastructure challenges – saying the company had had to make “some hard choices to deliver the best service."