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Lewes MP bombards Chris Grayling with Southern rail complaints

Maria Caulfield Letter and emails to Chris GraylingMaria Caulfield
Maria Caulfield regularly receives letters of complaint about Southern rail services

An MP is receiving so many complaints about the performance of Southern rail that she is sending them on to the transport secretary on a weekly basis.

Maria Caulfield, the Conservative MP for Lewes, said her constituents had told of "terrible experiences".

She said Chris Grayling would be able to see for himself "the misery that this is causing to local people".

Govia Thameslink, which runs Southern, said it was doing everything it could to improve and modernise the railway.

Maria Caulfield
Maria Caulfield has flagged up her constituents' complaints in the Commons

Mrs Caulfield said: "Despite raising these complaints in the House of Commons, I am frequently told by ministers that the official figures show Southern rail are performing well.

"I know residents' experiences are very different. Therefore I am sending each and every email to the Secretary of State to highlight the reality."

Strikes, staff shortages and other problems have caused delays and cancellations to services for more than two years.

New timetables were introduced in May, which saw some services withdrawn and further cancellations without any warning.

In June, the chief executive of Govia Thameslink, which also runs Thameslink and Great Northern, resigned.

Charles Horton said he recognised that passengers had been hugely frustrated, and it was "the right time to hand leadership of GTR to a new pair of hands".

PA Southern trainPA
Southern rail introduced a new timetable in May

Mrs Caulfield said constituents were "justified in their anger" and the situation was "beyond frustration".

In a statement, Govia Thameslink said Southern's punctuality and reliability had "recovered strongly since last autumn when services were affected by RMT industrial action and frequent infrastructure faults, some weather-related".

"This June, following the introduction of the new timetable, was Southern's best month for nearly four years, with almost nine in every ten trains running on time.

"We would like to assure everyone that we are doing everything we can to sustain improvements as we continue to work with Network Rail to modernise the railway," it said.