Richard Harrington has condemned London Midland’s poor attitude towards customer satisfaction, in light of the recent Sunday cancellations, and results from a commuter survey.

Services from Watford Junction and Bushey were cancelled entirely on September 6th due to staff shortages at London Midland, after it emerged that a deal over Sunday pay had expired. Many commuters travelling from Watford Junction were left with no alternative route into Central London, due to the closure of Watford Underground station.

The fiasco cannot be of any surprise to Watford’s frustrated commuters, who have already voiced their displeasure with the state of rail travel in a commuter survey conducted by the Watford Conservatives. The survey, of over 150 respondents, found that nearly 80% of commuters travelling from Watford Junction did not think that the service represented good value for money, whilst over half of respondents travelling from Bushey were “dissatisfied” with the service frequency. In addition, 60% of respondents travelling from Bushey stated that they either “rarely” or were “never” able to get a seat on a train.

Mr. Harrington said:

“To see this standard of service in a developed economy is disgraceful. Repeated apologies made by London Midland are being met with further inaction and ineptitude, as demonstrated by the Sunday cancellations.

“Watford’s commuters are already on the receiving end of a raw deal as shown by the lack of weekend services from Watford Underground station, and poor services to Bushey. They are now effectively being frozen entirely by the actions of London Midland, despite the large number of complaints about high ticket prices.

“Substantial improvements need to be made, so that Watford’s commuters finally get a cheaper, frequent, punctual, and comfortable rail services that they deserve.”