Southern rail train makes impromptu stop after passenger asks it to on Twitter

A true expression of people power

After a passenger complained via twitter Southern Rail added an extra stop to compensate for a cancelled service (Chris Ison/ PA)

A train company made an unplanned stop after a passenger asked it to on Twitter.

Photographer Paul Clarke tweeted Southern rail trains asking if the 22.32 service from Victoria to Redhill would stop at Merstham, “given all the London-MHM cancellations tonight? Please?”

After first tweeting at 10.19pm, Mr Clarke and other passengers were not informed why there were so many cancellations. He was initially told an additional stop could not be arranged, by Amy a Southern Rail representative on twitter.

Amy said the next service to Merstham would leave London Victoria at 23.40, more than an hour after the Redhill service was due to leave, which would have gotten him home past midnight after arriving at Victoria at 10.15pm.

Southern Rail initially said it would not stop at Merstham despite severe cancellations (Twitter)

However Mr Clarke knew the Redhill train would run through his requried station stop, and replied saying: “It goes through the station! This is pathetic.

“The guard could request the stop from 3 bridges control, as you know.”

Shortly after, Amy replied to confirm Southern rail had made arrangements for the 10.32 Redhill train to stop as Merstham as asked, and apologised for “previous cancelations”, to which Mr Clarke tweeted “awesome, thank you thank you”. He even managed to make it home quicker than if his usual train had been running.

Despite the situation, he managed to end the twitter conversation with a little humour, writing “It’s been a rough night for MHM people".

Speaking to the Independent, Mr Clarke said: "It should not be up to passengers to suggest ways to improve situations like this. If they were doing their job properly they'd have spotted they were about to run a train right through a station that was facing two hours without service.

"I won't be claiming for the delayed service as they got me home quickly, even if the circumstances were a bit unusual," he added, depsite paying for a yearly season ticket.

Southern Railway covers 156 stations in the country, carrying 447,000 passengers a daily with London Victoria being the busiest.

According to the guidelines on Southern rail's website, if a train arrives at its destination under five minutes late, it is still considered to be “on time”. It is only if the train arrives later than five minutes or does not run for the whole journey are they counted as being late.

Commuters are set to face major disruptions on Wednesday as Southern rail staff will walk out for 24-hours in the latest in a row over working conditions.

Passengers are able to claim compensation via the Delay Repay scheme if the train is late by 30 minutes or more.