Disabled man’s two-hour journey from Hastings to Bexhill

Robert Tweedle, who uses a mobility scooter, said a member of staff on the platform at Hastings station told him the train he was due to catch stopped in Bexhill.

He said: “They got the ramp all ready for to get me on board. The train arrived and it was a very long one. I got on but the train did not stop until we got to Eastbourne.

“At Eastbourne the chap on the platform said I needed to get another train back to Hastings, which would stop in Bexhill, so I went over the platform. The train was already there. It appeared to be like a Virgin train which I thought was a bit odd. A chap said this was the Bexhill train. I asked if he was sure and he said he was sure it was the right train when I was half way up the ramp.

“But the train was on the way to Gatwick Airport and the guards said they would let me off when we got to Polegate to get a train back to Bexhill.”

When he arrived in Polegate, Mr Tweedle said he was told to go across the level crossing to the platform on the other side of the station.

Staff helped him board the next train to Bexhill.

Mr Tweedle, who had spent that day in Hastings on August 3, said: “I left Hastings at around 6pm and didn’t get back home in Bexhill until 8pm. It was pretty stressful for me.”

Mr Tweedle, who had a stroke in 2013, had a similar experience on the trains in August last year when the Observer reported on how his journey from Bexhill to Hastings took three hours to complete.

David Coates, head of customer service improvement at Southern, said: “I was very sorry to learn of Mr Tweedle’s long and difficult journey and can imagine how frustrated he must have been. One of our senior team will be contacting him to offer our personal apologies and to learn exactly what went wrong at Eastbourne. In this way we can learn from what happened and improve our customer service.”

A message from the Editor, Gary Shipton:

In order for us to continue to provide high quality and trusted local news, I am asking you to please purchase a copy of our newspapers.

With the coronavirus lockdown having a major impact on many of our local valued advertisers - and consequently the advertising that we receive - we are more reliant than ever on you helping us to provide you with news and information by buying a copy of our newspapers.

Our journalists are highly trained and our content is independently regulated by IPSO to some of the most rigorous standards in the world. But being your eyes and ears comes at a price. So we need your support more than ever to buy our newspapers during this crisis.

Stay safe, and best wishes.