Rail managers got to hear rush-hour commuters' concerns first-hand - over a glass of wine.

First Great Western held the Meet the Managers session at Oxford station on Tuesday evening, allowing passengers to voice concerns over rail services, while enjoying mulled wine and a slice of cake.

The event was specifically designed to attract peak-time commuters.

But it received a mixed response from passengers, who are fed up with the firm's poor rail punctuality.

Lesley Archer, 38, who commutes to Oxford from Swindon, said: "I think they are wasting money that should be spent making the trains run on time. It's just a PR exercise, but then all the stations do it."

Ms Archer said her main problems were trains being held up at Oxford, causing her to miss her connection at Didcot.

She added: "I write a letter of complaint every day about this, and it hasn't stopped it from happening. So I doubt me complaining here will make much difference."

John Devlin, 40, who also works in Oxford, said: "This is just a typical First Great Western stunt, and I doubt anything will change as a result of what is said here today.

"This is just them trying to save face, and if they want to waste their money on wine and cake, let them go ahead.

"They need to concentrate on getting the trains running on time and sorting out overcrowding, rather than silly gimmicks like this."

However, pensioner Brenda Sadat was more impressed.

She said: "It gives people who are not inclined to write letters of complaint the chance to get things off their chest and let the rail company know how they feel."

Richard Rowland, FGW's regional manager for London and the Thames Valley, who heard the views of commuters in Charlbury with regional route director Mike Carroll at a meeting last Friday, said sessions like this were invaluable for getting feedback from customers.

He said: "We have held sessions like this in the past and they have proved useful in highlighting issues commuters feel strongly about.

"Last year it was train timetables, which we were able to make a lot of changes to this year.

"We realise that our performance and delivery have not been where we, or indeed our customers, want it to be and hopefully sessions like this can help us make changes."