Southern Anmeldelser 

Appalling!!!
Purchased a two tickets for the 13.09 Gatwick to Bognor, having come off a flight and getting through i was 45 minutes early. I got to the gate and my tickets wouldn't work. Turns out you can't get onto the station until 10 minutes before your train?? So your stood waiting in the airport. Absolute b@(locks!! Company policy. The woman on the gate took me from calm to nutter in 30 seconds. Unbelievable s£it attitude and customer service. Called a supervisor then someone else then security 😆. Get a another ticket and you can go through, then you can get a refund on your original ticket. What a joke. Moral of the story, you'll either book your ticket too early and miss your allocated train and have to buy another ticket or you'll be waiting on the airport concourse arguing with idiots. They really thought this through for passengers coming off flights haven't they. Like everthing else they do really.

Go to RecentTrainTimes.com to see ALL late trains and make sure just how late your train was.

Go to Southern Railway's Delay Repay page to get your money back.

Get everything you're entitled to.

Disgraceful delay repay system, they ask for every ticket but can only submit one photo so if you have a split save eticket how Re you meant to provide pictures of 4-6 etickets in one photo?

The whole system seems designed to frustrate and put people off claiming, which I presume is frequent with their high fares and appealing running if trains.

Unhelpful emails received ages later but you have a short time frame to claim within. If they know a train was cancelled, and they know I had a ticket on it, why is this such a nonsensical task?

Nothing about the service provided is remotely acceptable. Filthy trains, rude staff who couldn't care less, short trains running that they know won't meet demand and travellers treated like dirt. Constant fare dodging that nothing is done about adds salt to the wound, along with an ability to adhere to a timetable. I am genuinely embarrassed for the British when foreign guests attempt to board at Gatwick Airport

Total disaster! My train was delayed by 2 hours, and they even declined my compensation.
Never travel Southern, find alternative routes.

Here on holiday from cumbria, travelled hollingbourne to martin mill, train was 12 minutes late so missed the connection for a bus that only runes every 2 hours. Ended up walking for an hour to st Margaret's beach.
Walked back from the beach, got back to martin mill as the train was pulling in, asked the train guard "was this the train to dover" only for him to reply "to late and closed the doors" the train stood in the station for less than 1 minute

For about 2 years now this company has been making fun of travelers. Delays, cancellations.. they don't have the common sense to supplement the affected areas with buses or minibuses, I just find charges, every weekend, for more than 2 years. I was "forced" to use the taxi to get to work on time, so that I wouldn't lose my job, even though the trip was paid for. That money goes into the pocket of Southern corruption. Shame..if you know what that is Shame..that you have no Respect for travelers anyway.

Don't waste your money on 1st class. The tables and seats are exactly the same as those found in 2nd class. It appears that nobody checks whether passengers have a 1st class ticket. So, anybody uses them. It's a bit tough if you have been misled into buying a 1st class ticket.

Delays 24/7, my train also tends to stop mid journey don’t know what that’s all about. West Norwood easily has some of the most appalling service I’ve ever experienced since they love delaying trains to West Norwood.

Don’t even get me started on the fact I have to sever a finger everytime I want to buy a ticket since all these lot like to do is have train ticket prices more expensive than car insurance and delay/cancel trains because a intense gust of wind somehow moved the train 0.5 inches to the right.

Also I’ve seen better quality of trains in the slums of Bosnia. I also like to be awarded by being 1.3 years late to my destination since every delay doesn’t help anyone who travels outside of London. In short…they’re a shit service and more unreliable than a broken clock.

Avoid the app by any mean. I think it is a complete robbery. The train are so dirty! I have made a mistake with a ticket on my app, basically I have chosen the wrong dates but when I asked for a refund the amount was ridiculous compare to the price I have paid. It is a scam! Taking high fees for a simple refund is a robbery. Don't trust them! I was not knowing that's why it felt like a scam!

Awful company, they deliberately make it super hard to make a claim for a late train. It’s all a scam they have no contact service absolutely terrible

I was due to take a train from Canterbury West station on Monday 25th May at 10:23 to go to St Pancras. The train was held in a siding for over half an hour before entering Canterbury W and so the train was delayed about 40 minutes. The ticket was £126.30 for a return and the staff on the platform encouraged us to claim compensation. Having gone through the online rigmarole to get compensation, I had a response to say that this train was not delayed and therefore I couldn't claim. Hilarious! There were probably about 100 other people on the platform and a load of staff who would verify this train was late...but the computer says no! Seriously rubbish.

Poor service, constant delays. I just got stopped because I use the Network Railcard before 10.00am and had to pay the ticket again. Not clean enough, bathrooms are also not very clean. Also, the delay reclaim in an absolute joke. I had a delay of 2 hours once and got a refund of 2 pounds. So that's why I don't even bother requesting anymore. It's ridiculous really. You can do better. I would give 0 stars if I could.

Booked ticket from Bexhill to Wimbledon on 26/5/2026 leaving at 9.36am arriving at 12.40pm. Train delayed signalling and never left until after 10 for Eastbourne. Total confusion, rail staff changing information countless times, journey interrupted and continued, cows on the track, nutter running in the track, train stationary for over 30 minutes near Hayward’s Heath with no power, aircon or toilets in 30 degrees heat. Conductor eventually opened windows, train discontinued at Hayward’s Heath, and caught the train to Victoria which was following this ghastly train. Arrived at Clapham at 1.30 pm and Wimbledon at 2.00pm. Tried to claim compensation, website not accepting my e ticket. Whatever you do, avoid this train service, people missed flights and the utter confusion and lack of information was appalling. Disgusting train service.

They desperately need your £5 cancellation fee. Joke company

THE £5 SCAM FROM SOUTHERN
So, after looking for train tickets to Gatwick and return to enjoy my holiday, I fell into the Southern Railway trap.
I found my tickets on National Rail Enquires and was transferred to Southern Railway for the tickets.
There was no obvious warning to check my tickets and not an available page to do so.....
The tickets had changed to one date for travel and return although on the National Rail app I had selected 6 days for outbound and inbound.
Upon receiving the tickets I contacted Southern within 5 minutes to advise them of the error, they didn't not help at all but advised me to pay a £5 cancellation fee ... This must happen often and even though I pointed this out to them they were of NO help.
A SCAM FOR SURE. The following is the email I received from them after I lodged a complaint:

Thank you for getting in touch.



I appreciate the frustration caused by this situation and understand why you are unhappy, particularly after spending time trying to resolve the issue.



While I understand your point that the journey details were initially entered through the National Rail Enquiries website, customers are still responsible for checking the tickets and journey details shown within the basket before completing the purchase. Unfortunately, if the incorrect ticket is selected or remains within the basket at the point of payment, we are unable to accept responsibility for the booking error.



As advised previously, the ticket can either be refunded through the app or amended at a ticket office, however both options are subject to the applicable £5 administration fee in line with the National Rail Conditions of Travel.



I appreciate this is not the outcome you were hoping for and I am sorry for the inconvenience caused.



Kind Regards
Joshua
Customer Relations Advisor

Cancellation every time

We were catching the 9.30 train from southampton to Bognor Regis on Sunday 10th May..The onboard supervisor Neil was amazing, he put our 3 heavy suitcases on the train and showed us to a seat.At our change at Barnham he came back and put our cases on the platform. He was such a nice friendly person. A great asset to southern rail.He made our day.Thank you Neil.

Awful, they are not honest nor trustworthy.

If I could give this company zero stars, that would still be too many.

How on earth can train prices be so extortionately high but with a service that is worse than third world countries. They can't keep trains on time, they cancel every third one and when they drop you right in it by cancelling the last 5 trains in a row to your destination, they make absolutely no effort to get you home safely. They leave it to you to pay for your own taxis and then claim ,(which of course they won't pay out on) your money back.
Absolutely despicable