RAIL passengers in Oxford are demanding a rapid improvement in services from First Great Western after an apology from its top manager.

And they are urging the firm to freeze fares, instead of increasing them next month.

Andrew Haines, 43, from East Hanney, near Wantage, started work as chief operating officer three months ago and promised commuters on his arrival that there would be "no shocks" in the new timetable, launched at the start of last week.

But commuters travelling between Oxford and London Paddington have been infuritated by the delays and cancellations they have experienced in the past 10 days.

FGW's own punctuality figures for the four weeks to December 8, the day before the new timetable began, show that only 66 per cent of its trains on Thames Valley routes ran on time.

In a letter issued to passengers, Mr Haines said: "Over the last few weeks we've not been giving you the service you deserve, and the level of disruption many of you have experienced is simply not good enough.

"I know from my own experience just how frustrating it can be when your train is late and I want to say sorry for our recent poor performance and the inconvenience it has caused.

"Signalling and track problems, overrunning engineering work by Network Rail, freight and passenger failures, trains without enough carriages and crew shortages have all caused problems."

Mr Haines said that the firm's ovehauled High Speed Train fleet was almost complete and offered season ticket holders compensation equivalent to two days' travel in rail vouchers.

Zahra Akkerhuys, of commuter group Ox Rail Action, said: "A grovelling apology to passengers does not get people to work on time.

"Mr Haines can blame Network Rail if he likes, but the buck stops with him and we will continue to press for fares to be frozen in January, instead of being increased."

Passengers travelling from Charlbury to Paddington have also complained about constant delays to services.

Mr Haines' letter says FGW's passenger charter provides compensation to ticketholders delayed by more than an hour.

However, passengers on former FGW Link services, which include the London-Oxford-Banbury route and the Cotswold Line, are also entitled to compensation if they are delayed by more than 30 minutes on a journey of less than an hour.

A commuter, who did not want to be named, said: "It's bad enough they can't run a reliable service, but they don't even seem to know their own rules on what happens when they mess up."

Tayfun Fadil, 37, from East Oxford, an education agency worker who was travelling to London from Oxford yesterday, said: "The service is appalling. The last time I caught the train the fast service was cancelled, so I had to get the slow train.

"Most of the time I get the coach, because it's cheaper and much more reliable.

"Mr Haines needs to deliver what he's promising and if he provides more trains, more frequently, then people will not complain."

Insurance broker Steve Bamforth, 43, from North Oxford, said it was "too easy" to blame First Great Western when there were also major problems with the rail infastructure.