The excitement was underwhelming as Andrew Haines, the chief operating officer of First Great Western, addressed a public meeting in the Town Hall attended by angry commuters. The meeting was originally intended to allow rail passengers to question the man responsible for the shoddy service and high fares, but it instead turned into a series of excuses unchallenged by the chair for why they had to screw customers after overbidding for the franchise in the first place. When questioned by a member of the public about the level of fares compared to other lines into London he reiterated that it was great value for money, despite a return fare from Stevenage being £15 cheaper than its equivalent fare from Reading. There was also no apology for their attempt to overcharge season ticket holders by incorrectly calculating fare rises in January or for their attempt to fiddle the cancellation statistics. The FGW man was allowed unchallenged to include the £200m they had already promised in their franchise bid when he promised a £240m investment to improve services.

The beleagured train boss was spared his blushes when Reading Borough Council's head of transport leapt to his defence as the debate threatened to go pearshaped as she unprompted defended the failing franchise and told the audience that it mostly wasn't First Great Western's fault.

Reading residents got a first hand view of how scrutiny is working in the business as usual world of the Lab-Con pact as the chairman of the Corporate Community and External Affairs Scrutiny Panel, doffed his cap and tugged his forelock and asked for a round of applause for the man representing a company trousering £48.2m in profits on their rail division. It was however impossible to determine who was responsible for licking his shoes clean before he left.