Southern rail apology after football fans left 'stranded'

Ryan McAndrew said the queue after the Brighton game was not unusual - except everyone was still in the same position an hour later

Rail operator Southern has apologised after crowds of football fans were left "stranded" when trains were cancelled at short notice after a match.

Chief executive of Brighton & Hove Albion football club Paul Barber said the disruption was "unacceptable" and he wanted a full explanation.

The Seagulls had played Aston Villa in front of a capacity crowd at Falmer's Amex stadium on Friday.

Southern said it could not crew services due to short-notice sickness.

'Chaos'

Fans took to Twitter to report journeys of more than two hours from Falmer to Newhaven and Lewes.

One man posted he had to "sleep rough", and another tweeted: "Hi @SouthernRailUK thanks for making me walk from falmer to lewes I needed a nice walk."

Ryan McAndrew said long queues at Falmer station were normal after a match, but everyone remained stationary for about an hour.

The football club said the rail operator made several late and unannounced cancellations just before the end of the match "creating chaos".

Mr Barber said: "It's totally unacceptable from Southern rail to leave passengers stranded in this way and we will be demanding a full explanation from them as to why they so badly let down supporters of both clubs."

He thanked both Brighton fans and Aston Villa supporters for their "patience and understanding in frustrating circumstances".

A Southern spokesman said: "We apologise to Seagull fans who were considerably inconvenienced last night while waiting for trains home after the match from Falmer station.

'Short notice sickness'

"Unfortunately, we were unable to provide our usual additional service for home games due to a temporary shortage of train crew.

"We worked through the evening to try to provide cover for these trains, but we were unable to on this occasion."

Brighton commuters have staged protests over continued disruption on Southern

The company said Friday's train shortage happened after a short-notice sickness and "a reluctance to work rest days and overtime" by crews, along with some trains and crew being out of place after earlier incidents.

It said replacement buses were used to help alleviate crowding at Falmer station and Southern tickets were accepted on local bus routes.

The company has been hit by months of strikes in a dispute over the roles of guards on trains, and had to bring in a reduced timetable earlier this year blaming problems with high levels of sickness and crew shortages.