“Fares have gone up by 90% in a decade – twice the rate of inflation. This has given Kent commuters some of the most expensive fares in the UK, thanks to a fare formula which discriminates uniquely against us.”

To: The Editor, Sevenoaks Chronicle:

I thought the letter from Richard Smethurst (‘We’re lucky for short commute’ letter 25th July) was an amusing joke until I noticed the number of factual errors in it. I hope you’ll allow me to put the record straight. 

When Richard started commuting in the 1980s the joumey time to London was indeed ’20-odd minutes’ (29 actually). You’re now lucky to get there in less than 33, as the rail companies have padded out their timetables to avoid penalties for poor time keeping.

I only wish that fares had increased “in line with other living expenses”. In fact fares have gone up by 90% in a decade – twice the rate of inflation. This has given Kent commuters some of the most expensive fares in the UK, thanks to a fare formula which discriminates uniquely against us. If Richard has seen a 90% wage rise since 2003 I can only congratulate him!

As for our rail service being ‘trouble free’, I can only cite the surveys by Which and others, where travellers rate South Eastern Railways close to bottom of the national league on both quality and value for money.

Richard may be happy with slow, expensive, poor value service, Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association are not. We think local people deserve better.

Come to the SRTA annual meeting in October and help us make it happen, or look us up on www.srta.org.uk

Your sincerely

Tony Clayton, Chair Sevenoaks Rail Travellers Association

P.S. When the rail overcrowding story broke on Wednesday I was called by Radio Kent to do an interview on the train. I told them it was holiday time and not to bother as the trains would not be full. How wrong can you be! On Thursday morning the 6.49 had around 200 Sevenoaks commuters standing all the way to London. I’ll try it again next week.