New figures show Southeastern has the lowest passenger satisfaction rate in the country - even before the recent disruption caused by London Bridge work.

According to a National Rail Passenger Survey carried out on 27,000 passengers across the rail network from September to November last year, Southeastern was bottom of the pile with just 74 per cent of people satisfied - an 11 per cent drop compared to the previous year

The company - which recently had its franchise renewed to general astonishment - ranked lower than both Govia Thameslink and Southern, which both had a 77 per cent rating.

And the figures also show a gradual rise in the number of delays and cancellations on Southeastern services over the past 12 months. And customers highlighted a lack of sufficient room to sit or stand on the company's trains and dissatisfaction with staff availability the way the company deals with delays.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of the independent watchdog Passenger Focus, said: "Rail passengers’ satisfaction is driven by getting trains on time. Many are being let down - fare increases, billions in government investment and promises of improvement don’t seem to be delivering change on the ground. The high profile disruption after Christmas and at London Bridge will only have added to the gloom."

Southeastern has partly blamed the figures on a "difficult autumn period" where journeys were affected by a broken crossing at Lewisham and signalling problems.

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Figures show plunging satisfaction (left) and a rise in cancellations and delays (right)

Managing director David Statham said: "These disappointing scores show just how important a reliable and punctual service is to passengers. We’re committed to improving performance through a robust new timetable, which has seen punctuality improve over the last two to three weeks; and a programme of investment in our trains. 

"We’re also working together with Network Rail to identify the areas for their multi-million pound investment scheme to target to deliver the greatest benefit to passengers.

"We recognise that we have a lot more work to do to ensure that our passengers are more satisfied with the service that we provide. My senior team and I have been out and about around our network seeing first-hand how our service operates and listening to passengers' concerns.

"Over the next three years we're investing more than £70m in the things that our passengers tell us are important to them. This investment will enable us to provide better information to our passengers, improve the interior and cleanliness of our trains, refresh the look of our stations and provide extra staff to deliver more face-to-face customer service. 

"Passengers will start to see the results of this investment over the next couple of months and we hope that this will be reflected in the results of the next passenger survey, which is already under way."