Complaint advice needed.

[PSH]

Last night at 17.00 I set off from my girlfriends house in Lincoln for my place in Birmingham, my train was due to set off at 18.00 getting me into Nottingham for 19.22 ready for the 20.08 which was to arrive in Birmingham at 21.27. There was a slight delay due to the driver attaching another train to the existing 2 carriages so at approx 18.20 we were on our way. Slowly.

We crawled for a few stops not breaking the 20mph barrier then at about the 3rd station we stopped for about 20 minutes and this was due to the breaks being stuck on and hampering our progress. After a while the driver and his assistant had finished buggering about and got ready to set off again, we were informed over the tannoy that the problem was now sorted and they are sorry for the delay. We set off again but the train seemed just as slow, I wondered if the other train which appeared to have no power being dragged by our old cattle transporter could have something to do with our lack of progress but we were again assured we had a brake problem and our safety was important.

We arrived at Newark Northgate after an hour this should only have taken us 20 minutes so I knew I could be in for a long night, we stopped here for quite a while the driver larked about with the station staff and after 20 minutes were instructed to move into the new train we had been towing since we had set off and once in there we waited another 10 minutes before they decided it might be a good idea to continue our journey.

It was now approaching 20.00 and I knew any chance of making the original connection had been lost so I called my girlfriend and asked her to look up the later trains from Nottingham to Birmingham and she told me there was a later train I stood a good chance of being able to catch but I would have to change at Derby. The new train we were on seemed to go along at normal speed (Why couldn't they have just used this train in the first place?) and I made it to Nottingham at approximately 20.40 where I was told the train I wanted was cancelled and I would have to go and wait outside the station for a bus at 21.41, another Hour!

I went outside to where I had been told I should wait and there was nothing around to indicate a temporary bus stop so I waited around, went in and out of the station and finally asked at the front desk where I should be waiting, I told the girl at the desk my situation and she said "well it is an hour away!" in the same manner as when you would when you start a sentence with 'duhh', so I waited in the station and there was a station announcement of a train to Derby and all Birmingham passengers should get this service so I did and made a change at Derby and got into Birmingham New Street at around 23.10. I would normally get the bus home from New Street but it was pretty late, I wasn't sure if they were still running and I just wanted to get home so I got a black cab which cost me an extra £15 I could have done without spending.

Summary for the tl;dr brigade: What should have been a 3½ hour train journey home last night ended up taking 5 hours making my total journey time 6½ hours and I'm pissed off.

Now, I'm notoriously shit at complaining and allow myself to be fobbed off far too easily even when I know it is going to happen but this really pissed me off, I have been given a feedback form for Central Trains but I'm not sure this would get taken seriously.

So, as far as I can see my option are:

A, Send back the feedback form to Central Trains.
B, Try to construct a letter of complaint to a higher power (National Rail?)
C, Make a phone call complaining but try to keep my cool and not forget all the specifics.
D, Get over it man.

Another thing, why are Central Trains the only train operator to cater for the journey between Birmingham and Lincoln? I have made the journey to and from Lincoln every week for just over 2 years and I seriously can't believe how poor their service is! I wouldn't normally travel with them on a Sunday because I know how bad they are during the week but last night I had no choice, just like I have no choice over what train operator I use.