ANGRY commuters voiced their concerns abut a train service which has been rated as one of the worst in the country.

Hertsmere MP Oliver Dowden held a meeting at Hertsmere Borough Council’s offices, in Borehamwood, to discuss the Thameslink line.

The route, which goes through Hendon, Mill Hill Broadway, Borehamwood and Radlett has been under scrutiny recently due to constant delays and cancelled trains.

When asked why Thameslink keep failing to meet their targets set by the DfT, Stuart Cheshire, of Thameslink, referred back to December 2014 when London Bridge went under development.

He said: “There is nothing we can do about London Bridge. It takes up to four times longer now than previously.

“There will be good improvements and reliability to our service over the next two and a half years.

“We are penalised for any train that is running late.”

The Thameslink staff also revealed that there will be ‘visible staff’ at each station who can sell tickets at any time of the day.

One commuter also asked why train drivers do not give announcements when arriving at a station.

Mr Cheshire said: “Our drivers only give announcements when they think it is safe. We are working hard to change this.”

In the meeting it was revealed that it takes around 14 months to fully train a new driver and in January 2016 Thameslink had 10 to 15 newly qualified drivers.

Other issues were raised including the lack of space on the four carriage trains to which Thameslink said by 2018 there will only be eight and 12 carriage trains.

Thameslink also revealed it does not receive any money from ticket fares, and instead is forced to rely on money from car parking, but it does get penalised and fined if a service is running late.

All ticket fares go to the Department for Transport (DfT) who provide performance reviews for each company.

Mr Dowden, who was chairing the meeting, said he would like to hold another meeting in three to six months to see what promises had been kept or broken.

At the end of the meeting Mr Dowden asked Mr Cheshire to give an estimate of where they hope to be in 12 months’ time.

Mr Cheshire said: “In 12 months there will be little difference to the service that is available now.

“By 2018, there will be better infrastructure, new trains and a better service.”

A National Rail Passenger survey showed how customer dissatisfaction with the line, which runs from Bedford to Brighton, fell by two per cent.