People who use ad blockers don't get enough criticism. Adverts are how these things are funded, you do realise? Using an ad blocker with free content is almost as bad as piracy in my own opinion.I only watch online. With adblockers, precisely because of the amount of advertising. No TV and no live broadcasts. That saves me £145.50 a year.
People moved out into the countryside along the GWML (and many of them far beyond the Thames Valley) because of the High Speed Train, which made long-haul commuting feasible - before 1976 only the hardened few were doing it. The HST also put Reading within 20 minutes of Paddington, which you weren't going to manage on the M4 even then. And then more and more people cottoned on to the idea of whizzing up and down on a 125 and then more and more houses got built in places like Reading, Didcot and Swindon (or places like Abingdon, Witney, Wantage/Grove within striking distance of stations) and more and more people wanted to use the trains, a process which continues to this day.
FGW just happen to be the ones trying to deal with the results of that process - same would apply whoever's name was on the trains and they would get the same stick, not that I necessarily think the charming types who post abuse on FGW's facebook and twitter pages are exactly a representative sample of passengers anyway - and FGW kindly provide a forum for them to do it. Does DafT offer somewhere for people to abuse it about the state of traffic on the M4, M25, etc?
I expect that they will be at it again as soon as this series starts, burbling about it all being one-sided propaganda for FGW, failing to portray the true horror of their daily commute, etc, etc
I know one of the guards the film crews were following, and she has had nobody telling her what to do or how to behave, and the film crew have been following her on her normal shifts.
Hmm, 12 is a lot but it is something I will watch with interest. I hope the TOC shows he good and the bad, otherwise it is unbelievable. A bit like the BBC one where both good and bad sides of railway were shown.
FGW one of the most hated TOCs around, nice to see them try and defend themselves. Although my summation of the problems on the GWML are as follows.
-You moved out into the nice countryside along the nice part of the thames valley and used your new expensive cars to drive along M4 into London. Railways got underused and therefore declined.
-Surprise surprise the M4 got full and you all decided you wanted to use the trains again.
-Surprise surprise they are full and can't take the traffic.
-You moan.
I know, they wanted the young attractive blonde, not middle-aged bald fat blokes! None of us can understand why!You mean you're not in it? I wanted to see you flapping your wings.
Is the entire series on FGW? The reason I ask is that East Coast have in the last couple of months had posters up on trains advising people that their staff are being filmed for a TV documentary series too?
You'll have adverts over the interesting bits if ITV do one.
People who use ad blockers don't get enough criticism. Adverts are how these things are funded, you do realise? Using an ad blocker with free content is almost as bad as piracy in my own opinion.
If this series on FGW proves to be as popular as we think it will be how long before one of the other toc's aka Virgin decide they want to the same?
They've been filming at Dawlish today for the program whilst the air show was on.
Buy a Freeview+ box so you can record it. They're dirt cheap, although some low end ones can be rather clunky.
But ads cost nothing for you to watch except a small (insignificant) amount of time, and unlike avoiding tax or train fares, there's no way at all for the "loophole" to be plugged in a significant/permanent way.The criticism has a little justification, but only on an individuals moral interpretation. If the tools at my disposal allow me to do something within the law, then why shouldn't I use them?
Avoidance versus evasion. It has a parallel with rail fares. Is exploiting ticketing loopholes, the NRCoC, or Routeing Guide, to save money 'as bad as piracy'?
You may counter with the argument that if everybody watched commercial television online on catch-up with adblockers then the programmes would never be made, as there would be no income. Equally, if every passenger used all the tools at their disposal to save money on their rail fares then the whole rail fares house of card may come tumbling down.
Both are a moral argument and I'm happy with my own morals. Others may disagree, but what I'm doing is within the law so that's all that concerns me.
Should I be concerned about the greater good? Maybe. Maybe not. However, I'm not going to lose sleep over my choices when those choices are within the law. My moral compass is governed by what is within the law.
And where there isn't a law, I'll make my own decision, which means RailUK is white listed on my browsers and I'm happy to be advertised at here.
But ads cost nothing for you to watch except a small (insignificant) amount of time, and unlike avoiding tax or train fares, there's no way at all for the "loophole" to be plugged in a significant/permanent way.