On Sat, 10 Jan 2004 09:29:24 +0000, Malcolm Stewart wrote:

snip
InterCity used by my relatives when visiting me. Services to and from
the Fylde Coast & Manchester areas became so completely unreliable
(frequent 2-3 hour delays) that several years ago we moved to travelling
by car, and haven't regretted it.snip

I've lived in MK for just over two years, and relatively frequently travel
(mostly at the weekend) to and from the North West, both by train and car.
I can honestly say the (usually short) delays I have encountered when
travelling by rail are nothing to what the M6 and M1 cause on regular
occasions.

Things may improve with the M6 Toll, but seeing as I tend to get delayed
more around the Keele/Stafford area (no good parallelling A-roads there,
either) than in Birmingham, I don't hold out a lot of hope.

Neil