Commuters have signed an online petition for Southeastern to be removed of its rail franchise.

The petition, started by Oliver Passey on January 3, has received over 10,000 signatures so far.

Southeastern was slammed by the public after the company’s yearly accounts revealed a £20million profit in 2015.

The petition will need 100,000 signatures before June 3 this year to be considered for debate in Parliament.

The train operator sent some passengers into orbit when it blamed service delays on “strong sunlight” in Lewisham last week.

Responding to the fast-growing petition, Southeastern remained adamant on bringing about improvements.

In a statement, managing director David Statham said: “We understand it has been a difficult few weeks for passengers due to a series of problems, many of which have been caused by faults with the infrastructure we use.

“A number of these were weather related, such as the landslide at Barnehurst.

“Signalling and track circuit failures have also caused delays during peak time travel. “All of these have caused frustration for passengers and we would like to reassure them Network Rail works hard to solve infrastructure problems when they happen.

“Undoubtedly, these issues have helped prompt passengers to start a petition.”

Click here to sign the petition.