The Thameslink service remains appalling. Thousands of us are still forced to leave home hours early just to get to work on time and every day we are faced with ridiculous delays, cancellations and overcrowding.

It’s long overdue, but at the time of writing, and after numerous meetings with them, Govia have made a commitment that they will stabilise the timetable by Sunday 15 July.

I’ve met though with the Transport Secretary and if Govia fail again he has made clear he will strip them of the franchise. Their Chief Executive has already resigned and stripping the franchise would only be right given their appalling mishandling of the new timetable.

I am also pleased to say that, following the meetings I organised with Govia and the Government, there will now be compensation for everyone hit by the rail chaos. Season ticket holders will receive a month’s worth of compensation and plans are underway to help those who travel on a pay as you go basis.

However, to fix the underlying problems with the system, including the infrastructure run by Network Rail, the Transport Secretary has set up an independent inquiry into what went wrong. This is something I urged him to do at our meetings and I will be monitoring the outcome closely.

I know this is all scant consolation while, as I write, we continue to endure the misery of delays and cancellations in the heat, but it is a step in the right direction and those responsible are paying the price for their failures.