Southern Rail may be refunding their customers with a month's worth of their travel (thanks to the Department for Transport) - but is this enough? Passengers are saying no...
Some commuters have even set up a campaign group to take action against the rail company. The Association of British Commuters was set up by a group of rail users fed up with the service.
We spoke to co-founder Emily Yates who said: 'it's very minor compensation where radical action is needed, we're facing a complete shutdown of the service. I'm calling it the rail scandal of a generation. An entire area of the South is affected. Southern Rail collapsed six months ago and the government should have taken action then. It's a severe unprecidented case of failure and the franchise is no longer legitimate, the government should remove it.'
Here's what the commuters had to say...
'As someone who cycles more often than takes the train,' says Simon 34 from Barnes, 'I don't think it's fair that only season tickets holders will get compensation. As when the train is delayed (i.e. always) I'm just as disrupted as everyone else. For season ticket holders I think it’s pretty good. But they shouldn’t be allowed to put prices up with other train companies in January. To be honest they shouldn’t be allowed to have a franchise at all, their service is terrible – but then everyone knows that!'
Amy, 24 from Brockley feels the same. She said: 'I'm not a season ticket holder. It seems to be a bit too much on their terms that they get to determine who is worth a refund.'
'I use Southern and suffer the disruption,' says Joe, 27, from South London, 'but I'm in an Oyster area so don't have a season ticket per-se, but a monthly Oyster. I would feel a bit cheated if others got compensation and I didn't.'
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'It's a nice gesture to those who live further out of London, as they are hit a lot harder in the pocket than people like myself.' Says Ollie, 31 from Beckenham, Kent, 'but overall when they've just announced the prices are going up again, it's empty words as the service continues to decline. Every Southern train I get is delayed. Every single one. But no matter what I do, I am never compensated, they always find a way not to pay out.'
Matt, 39, Brighton was left stranded with his young daughter after a flurry of cancellations. He said: ''They should compensate everyone who has suffered on those trains, irrespective of whether they're season ticket holders or not. I have spent thousands of pounds over the last three years, and I can count on one hand, okay maybe two, when the service has been reliable. I was stuck at Victoria for hours yesterday afternoon with my three-year-old daughter. The advice from station staff? 'Keep an eye on the departure boards. There might be one going that way soon.''
'It's absolutely not enough,' says Rona, 50 from East Sussex 'not least because I'm not a monthly season ticket holder (as I can't afford to pay out all of that money in one big lump) and will get nothing! There is a lot of lipservice paid to positive changes but they don't happen, trains are still cancelled every day. Passengers are the pawns in the middle - and I am sick of being used like this, when I'm paying £3.5k a year to get to my place of work!'
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We approached Southern who said that as the Department for Transport (DfT) is funding the compensation they cannot offer any more to their passengers.
The DfT told Good Housekeeping that they have taken steps to improve customer service with Southern, including giving travellers the right to compensation if their train is more than 15 minutes late. They have invested £20M in Network Rail to get rid of bottle necks that slow down trains and have a project board to drive customer experience.
But it sounds like it may be too little, too late for irate customers.
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