A travel watchdog is warning that passengers will be “confused, angry and worse off” when rail fares increase next year.

It was announced today that rail fares will increase by 3.2 per cent from January next year.

The decision to increase fares has caused controversy following severe disruptions and delays on London rail services this year.

Arthur Leathley, the chairman of TravelWatch, said: “At a time of poor performance, this is an insult to long-suffering travellers who are not getting what they pay for.”

The disruptions and severe delay began when Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) introduced a new timetable in May which affected Thameslink and Great Northern services.

Since May GTR introduced two more new timetables to combat these disruptions but these new timetables failed to solve the sever delays too passengers.

Now London TravelWatch is warning that this fare increase could see passengers travelling into London pay huge differences in fares depending on where they are travelling from.

A weekly season ticket from Hemel Hempstead in Hertfordshire into the capital, which is 21 miles from London costs £92.20 but the same ticket for commuters travelling in from Oxted is Surrey which is 20 miles from London costs £57.10 – a £35 difference

TravelWatch thinks these discrepancies between fares will only get worse with a fare hike.

Mr Leathley added: “Passengers’ pockets are not as deep as the rail industry thinks. Government and the industry must simplify fares urgently and have fares that reflect the reality of performance.”

Labour’s London Assembly spokesperson, Florence Eshalomi also spoke out about the fare increase.

She said: “This rise adds insult to injury to beleaguered commuters who have suffered the chaos of timetable changes and continuous delays and cancellations.

“As more Londoners are left to struggle with the burgeoning costs of living, it is unjustifiable that they should be expected to pay more when a number of services require drastic and urgent improvement.”

Ms Eshalomi also called on more rail services to be devolved to Transport for London (TfL).

London Assembly member for Havering and Redbridge, Keith Prince said it was “understandable” that people are angry about the fares.

But he added: “In principle I would support rail devolution where possible so that control of London commuter rail switched from the Department for Transport to Transport for London.

“Unfortunately, that is unlikely to happen whilst London has a Mayor who is running London’s transport so badly.”