A consumer survey asked commuters which train company's service they were least satisfied and to everyone's great surprise the answer was Southern Rail.

The research, published by consumer group Which?, found that only 28 per cent of travellers on Southern's trains were satisfied with its performance.

The shocking news is less of a revelation when you realise this is the third year in a row the train company has received this prestigious honour in the annual survey.

The operator scored just one star out of five for value for money, reliability and punctuality, and two stars for all other categories, with more than a third (37 per cent) of Southern commuters saying the service has got worse in the past 12 months.

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Passengers on SouthEastern and Thameslink are not overly satisfied with their train company either, although are kept from last place thanks to those trailblazers at Southern.

Only 39 per cent of people travelling on SouthEastern and Thameslink & Great Northern services said they were satisfied with their performance, placing them in joint second-last place.

The National Audit Office said last week that the Department for Transport made decisions in setting up the Thameslink, Southern and Great Northern franchise which “have negatively impacted on passengers”.

A total of 2,865 UK commuters were polled in October and November.

Alex Hayman, managing director of public markets for Which?, said: “Fares are going up but frustrated and long suffering passengers affected by seemingly never ending delays, cancellations and dirty trains don’t feel that their services are getting any better.

“The problems don’t stop there. People are also finding it difficult to claim compensation when things go wrong. Automatic compensation must be introduced across the industry so that people can get the money they are owed.”

In other news, researchers have found a strong correlation between the state of being wet and the presence of water.