Stewart Brodie wrote:
So we've had the removal of the refreshments services

Silly, as it wasn't costing First anything to have and seemed like a
good customer benefit!

removal of the onboard announcements from the lovely lady

Not sure we can blame them for this. Sure, they haven't been able to
re-record the 'West Anglia Great Northern' bit, but it seems the issue
is with drivers too lazy to set the system up (and, they're the same
drivers from before). The 317's now have screens, but they're yet to be
enabled to do anything more than tell the time (badly in many cases).

and now bans on actually travelling by train.

A silly one too, as you can get around it in a number of ways (well,
not so easily to Cambridge, but certainly other stations just outside
the Travelcard area).

I wonder what other improvements First have lined up?

A move to diesel stock to solve problems with stock? If they bid for
the Central Trains franchise, they would then continue north of
Peterborough with diesel too, which might be considered a good thing.
Shame, then, that's it all just rumour at the moment.

I notice that they've made a start on their number one priority: repainting
the trains or putting stickers on the side.

Actually, they've done one Thameslink train and one GN train.. the rest
all being stickered up (except 317's which First have forgotten about
completely).

Are they allowed to change the terms & conditions of tickets that have
already been issued? e.g. if I'd bought my Saver ticket 3 weeks ago (it
allows the return journey up to 1 month from the ticket date)

I'd guess not. I wouldn't worry though. They're not allowed to issue
penalty fares, so can only charge the difference. Just travel as normal
and you'll probably find the grippers won't have time to deal with all
the problems they're going to have. Fare evaders will get off scot free
meanwhile.

Jonathan