COMMUTERS who found their trains cancelled due to the snow last week now face the prospect of strike action from Southeastern staff.

The RMT union has announced that staff based at Charing Cross and Victoria will be balloted over industrial action in the coming weeks.

The dispute centres around changes implemented on Sunday which saw Southeastern cut the post of team leader for each platform. The union says this change compromises safety.

RMT general secretary Bob Crow said: "Southeastern have got the nerve to jack up fares by 13 per cent while hacking back on platform operations that will delay and disrupt the dispatch process while putting their staff in the firing line as and when things go wrong."

A spokesman for Southeastern said the changes had already been successfully implemented at London Bridge and Cannon Street stations.

He said: “The changes have worked well and have not compromised the safe operation of trains.”