Delayed......

Date: 29th September 2005
Journey Origin: Aldershot
Scheduled Dep. Time: 08:04
Journey Destination: Woking
Estimated Delay: 30 mins
Details of complaint: I arrived at Aldershot Train Station promptly at 07:50 ready for my train to work. I looked up at the board, and it stated the train was delayed. At about 08:00 I heard the train guard started telling people trying to get to London Waterloo to move across to platform 3, catch the train to Guildford and get the connecting train to London Waterloo. I use the trains daily to travel to work and from past experience knew i could catch the Guildford train and get a connection to Woking. Not everyone knew this and no announcements were made stating this. I went to ask the guard if this would be the best idea but he told me the train should be here in 5 minutes so to wait for it. 5 minutes later I looked up at the board and my my train has been cancelled. By this time the Guildford train had gone. I heard some people asking the guard again about what was happening and he just said he had been told the 08:34 train should be arriving on time, but they kept telling him just 5 more minutes. No announcements were made except to state our train had been delayed due to signal failure at Alton. Finally an announcement was made at about 08:32 stating there was a train approaching platform 1 but it was only a 4 COACH TRAIN, destination London Waterloo, in RUSH HOUR. Do they not have any longer trains to be put to use in situations like this? We were not kept fully informed at all therefore we did not know whether to just wait or to take a different route to our destination. We just want to be kept informed, not left in the dark. And the impression i got was that the South West Train Guard didnt know much more than we did.
I pay nearly £110 a month for my train ticket, a significant part of my apprenticeships salary. I expect a better service than this.