Thameslink Reviews 

Worst train service possible in the uk. Maybe the world. It’s slow. Infrequent. Stops at signals like it’s as if the driver needs a nap. AVOID it at all cost

On Monday the 26th of August 2025 as I finish work in the evening I left East Croydon on a train and I was going through a rough day because I had a panic attack and a mild learned disability and chronicle anxiety and I have mental health and suffer from depression and suffer from claustrophobic and vertical issues.

I was having a really bad day and I slept in the first class of the carriage and even though I have a special pass to travel.

I fell asleep and I saw the revenue inspector and went to a different carriage and he followed me and gave me a fine with over 65 pound and threatened me with a criminal record.

I am telling you to be a worn when you travel on the City Thameslink.

City Thameslink do not travel with City Thameslink and do not approach revenue inspectors at all.

There are disgrace and an embarrassment to the company they should be sacked all together for dealing with people with disabilities how do you treat them all together.

There were very unprofessional towards me and treating me with disrespect and I lost my dignity this is unacceptable.

From City Thameslink and the revenue team there hasn't been no remorse from them towards me and not even apologising to me about the whole situation.

They did not even apologize to me they just told me like pay for the fine or get a criminal record or be sent to the court and I will get a criminal record the way I got treated by City Thameslink is disgusting absolutely unprofessional and unacceptable the way they treated me.

City Thameslink appeal process is appalling and I showed them all my evidence and there's still didn't want to revoke my fine.

The appeals team wanted evidence to show that if I've have a disability which I showed them and I have a special pass to travel on the trains but it was not the case and they said in the letter that people with disabilities and I have number of medical conditions should read posters and written articles about how I should pay for ticket it felt like City Thameslink treating me like an invalid and did not respect at all and chucked my dignity down the drain and I was so petrified. It felt they said if you don't have a ticket we were going to throw you out of the window.

I was treated with disrespect and very unprofessional by the organisation which was very unacceptable.

To tell someone who's got a disability condition and who struggle's with Mental Health and number of medical conditions that to read a poster and read articles about tickets and fine is very disrespectful and very unprofessional as organization you need to do something about it and take urgent action. When you have Mild learning disabilities and suffer from mental health issues by a depression and chronicle anxiety and panic attacks your communication can be affected and City Thameslink as organization did not understand's my needs very well. The organisation was very unprofessional towards me which was unacceptable.

I felt like invalid and would not touch City Thameslink at all.

Met a guy from staff he's too good at service

The worst train line I have ever encountered. Expensive, consistent delays and cancelled trains, with only (partial) refunds being accepted after more than 15 minutes delay. Because of this they basically allow delays on many commuter trains between 7-15 mins, and will quite often cancel trains due to short staff or essentially because they don’t want to backlog their delays (so they give you fewer options). It’s honestly a joke of a company

This is the worst railway company in the UK. They will do everything to avoid paying their delay repay. Owned by the colonial french, truly appalling people

Train completely overbooked and I was unable to move and was in increasing amounts of pain all journey. I tried to speak to someone and was asked “which staff member I spoke to about the issue” - I couldn’t speak to a staff member because it was impossible to move on the train. I’ve now been completely ghosted by the company dispute following up with five emails…

If I could give it a zero star, I would. All stations trains to St Albans are cancelled all the time and there are long delays every day. Incompetent management and rail regulator. I blame every single government since the John Major government who privatised the railways so badly. The regulator is worse than useless.

Shortage of train staff!!!! 30 minute wait because some idiot driver thought it is a nice day so why turn up for work! If this is not the case, then Thameslink Management are totally inept at organising there workforce. This happens all through summer. NEVER a shortage of train staff in winter though!!! Absolutley shocking service. Further to this, it happens to be a bank holiday. A co incidence?????

Worst train service in the UK.

Trains are dirty, poorly designed, no phone charging and crowded when they run.

Frequent delays and cancellations.

Tickets are over priced.

Why is the 3.07 train being cancelled every night? peole use this service for work.

Having used this line for over 35 years I can honestly say since Thameslink have been operating it has become the worst service in terms of delays and specifically cancellations. I would say I claim every week due to cancellations. I type this having had my morning train cancelled, another cancellation. Lack of train crew is cited as the key reason invariably which was never the case previously. I questioned how they might improve the service on several occasions with basically the same infrastructure, they don't seem to have a response as I guess they can't, so I wonder what is being improved if it isn't basic timetable service management. Additionally I can see no accountability for service levels, surely this needs to be reviewed, after 35 plus years I would anticipate a more effective service, or least one that operates the scheduled timetable service consistently.

Last two weeks I’ve had to adjust times going to and from work EVERY SINGLE DAY! today no trains going to my station again at rush hour. Same as twice last week. App is the absolute worst. I live 5 minutes from station so plan when to leave when train is 8 mins away. Get to station train is 20 mins away. Trains often say they are coming when they never left St Albans. There is a cancelled train once an hour going to and from work most days when there is a shortage of drivers. This has been going on for the 4 years I’ve used it for work

Update got out of work early today for once. Trains cancelled again shortage of crew like yesterday

Thameslink when there a no trains running they always find a way to get passengers on their way with a taxi i was traveling today and my train got canaceid due to a person being hit by a train they ware a great help

My god, what a journey,went from east Croydon to Brighton,train arrived 20.minutes late,that was no problem,but then tried and did make up time ,I had an aisle seat,and was almost thrown out the seat a few times, people falling all over the place,not sure if the driver or the track,but it was like being in a cattle truck,never again would I use Thameslink outside London,where they drive sensibly for a few stops,more than enough,

What on earth are you playing at Thameslink!!
I've never seen so many cancellations and delays - and several times these are only announced at the last minute!
You check online before going to the station - all looks Ok: then you get to Mill Hill Broadway station - cancelled etc.
Station staff say you have lots of drivers on holiday!
You are a disgrace and don't care about your customers - who pay your over inflated wages!!!

Seriously? Someone at the top of this organisation might choose to step down and recognise they're not up to the job. Please have a plan B when travelling on this line. Even the on board announcements trying to explain the constant delays are often unintelligible.

I used Thameslink regularly between Surrey and London for several weeks, and nearly every single journey was delayed — sometimes by a very significant margin.

Entire evenings (5 hours) of trains were cancelled entirely last minute, leaving me stranded and vulnerable waiting until midnight (when train should have been 7.30pm) in unmanned stations - very scary as a lone woman navigating late-night travel.

The lack of communication and reliability was disappointing, especially given the disproportionally high fares.

For a service that many rely on daily, it really needs to do better in terms of consistency and safety.

I am so happy I don't need to use the service any longer, now that I have returned to a location with functional rail services.

This is the shittiest train line ever. Not enough that trains dont run very iften and my station has been relegated to the unimportant category and hence made inaccessible (need several changes to many locations) but now trains are cancelled all the time and they are late on top of that. I should have just taken the overground. Ugh

Thameslink is using the August period as excuse for excessive cancellations due to ‘staff shortages’.
Other companies manage appropriate holiday staff plans so why can’t they?

Trains were cancelled for over 2.5 hours and delayed. Had to get a taxi to make my flight. Their customer service reps were useless. I left over 3.5 hours before my flight should have gotten to the airport 2.5 hours before because it's an hour journey but trains were delayed by 1.5 hours and had 5 cancellations they refused to pay for my taxi which I was forced to take utterly useless and rude.