I don't see why people on GNER or fast FCC
services are of apparently greater value than those of us on
the local service.

Always the case - hertford loop is the alternative route for GNERs and
fast WAGN/FCC's and the local services will always take second fiddle.
There used to be a power limitation on that loop limiting the number of
electrics there too.

Following the potters bar crash they ran no local services on the
hertford loop at all - all were replaced by buses and the GNERs and fast
WAGNs ran that way instead. I recall at the time they said if they had
thinned the locals everything would have been more overcrowded and they
assumed faced with a bus that many would work from home or use the tube
instead.

I use FCC from potters bar and generally it's ok but anything goes
wrong, no-one takes control and helps the customers. A cancellation used
to bring an additional stop on a fast service but now you just wait for
the following one. FCC also will not accept tickets on Thameslink or the
Tube during the 6 week weekend closure of the WGC loop and the £80
proportion of my season I can wave goodbye too. The replacement bus
takes an hour to KX as against the usual 15 mins.

It's crappy treatment but they have a captive audience. It sucks but
it's life as a commuter.

D