A commuter from Preston Park has been having to leave his house at 7:30pm on FRIDAY in order to make his 8pm start on Cannon Street in London.
Strikes, cancelled trains and delays have meant that for the last three weeks Paul Cook of Varndean Road has faced a 60 hour commute and his weekends have been cut from 2 days to just 2 hours.
Paul who stays at his mates Gary’s London flat during the week said he is getting to the end of tether with rail providers. ‘It’s an absolute bloody joke it used to take me an hour an a half to get to work now it takes me two pissing days. I get in at 5pm on Friday and have a bite to each, I watch the end of The One Show with my wife and say hi to the kids then I’m back out the door on the way to work’
Paul who has two young children explained his mammoth journey ‘I get the 7:30pm from Preston Park which takes me to Barnham, I then change and go to Winchester. I usually get a couple of hours kip in the station at Winchester before getting the first train on Saturday headed towards Southampton. At Southampton I then head to Hove where there is a half hour gap between trains so I grab a sandwich from the little café. From Hove I head on to Pevensey and Westham where I change and then head to Dartford. I grab some dinner in Dartford and then get my head down outside the station. On Sunday I then head to East Grinstead on to Three Bridges and then Guilford where I spend Sunday evening. On Monday its Guildford to Horsham to Gatwick and then on to London Bridge it’s a hell of a trek!’
Disgruntled commutor
Paul a logistics manager said that despite being on time for work his boss is still not to happy at the situation. ‘My boss it starting to get annoyed at my appearance. After 3 nights sleeping rough and 60 hours on the train I can end up looking quite dishevelled and smell a bit I have already had a verbal warning but I don’t not what else to do.My wife is also starting to give me hassle. I have put on a stone after living on Prete A Manger and West Cornish pasties for nearly a month. It’s costing me a fortune as well but I need to work to pay for it all so it is a catch 22. Hopefully they sort this mess as soon as possible’.
Rail bosses declined to comment yesterday but did point out that there is a train on Monday morning that takes 1 hour ten minutes that gets Paul in 10 minutes after his schedule start time. Paul responded by saying ‘That is not good enough. I can’t risk being late, I might get sacked and I have a young family to support’.
The Brighton Bulletin 