“Please find below a copy of a press release issued yesterday by my colleague, Nick Herbert MP (Member of Parliament for Arundel and South Downs), which sets out the united views of local Members of Parliament about the increasingly appalling rail service. 

“I also attach for your information a letter sent by Charles Horton, Chief Executive Officer of Govia Thameslink Railway, to all Members of Parliament whose constituents have been affected.

“This is a detailed letter which explains all the circumstances and I hope you will find it useful.”

| Download letter from Chief Executive Officer of Govia Thameslink Railway

Nick Herbert: Time to call out unions for causing problems on Southern rail service 

Nick Herbert met the Transport Secretary,  the Rail Minister and the Chief Executive of GTR last week to discuss the rail service, and he is leading an MPs' delegation to meet the Transport Secretary again today (Wednesday).

Mr Herbert has been working closely with other Sussex MPs including Sir Nicholas Soames and Jeremy Quin to raise the concerns of passengers.  Constituents have been contacting their MPs to express their fury at serious delays and train cancellations affecting the service in recent weeks.

Nick Herbert said: "The RMT strike next week and ongoing levels of staff 'sickness' are disruptive and totally unjustified.

"This industrial action has nothing to do with safety, no jobs will be lost and pay will not be cut.  There will still be staff on most trains in addition to the drivers, it's just that they won't be responsible for opening the doors, which is already the case on many Southern trains anyway.

"Some problems over the past year have been out of Southern's control, such as infrastructure issues including the London Bridge upgrade, while others have been their fault, such as the failure to recruit enough drivers which they are slowly putting right.  I'm the first to say that Southern should be held to account for their failures.

"But let's be clear: the current major disruption to services which is infuriating my constituents is principally the fault of the unions, and it is they who should be called out.  They are massively inconveniencing the public while Southern takes the blame, but it is the RMT's strikes and the mysterious levels of staff sickness which are the real cause of problems now.

"I have been fierce in my criticism of GTR/Southern, and still believe that if they continue to fail to deliver the improvements they promised a year ago then they should be stripped of their franchise.  But the current problems are mostly being caused by the unions, and it's time to say so.  They should put passengers first, call off the strike, stop their cynical sickness claims and return to the negotiating table."