A COMMUTER watchdog has waded into the row over train times and service on the east Kent line.

Tunde Olatunji, the passenger link manager of Passenger Focus, has written a hard-hitting letter to transport minister Chris Mole and Southeastern Trains demanding answers.

His intervention follows a stormy debate in the House of Commons on Wednesday between Herne Bay MP Roger Gale and the minister.

Mr Gale told the minister: "I have 1,500 reasons for raising the matter of the rail service between east Kent and central London.

"That figure is the number of men and women who pay very large sums to commute daily from Kent to London.

"They have become so angered by the performance of Southeastern Trains, and by the failure of the Ministers in the Department for Transport, to properly understand and represent their interests, that they have sent a petition to the Prime Minister calling for the restoration of the December timetable."

The petition also calls for taking another look at the High Speed 1 service to St Pancras with the 140mph Javelin train.

After the debate, commuter Tony Petts claims he was snubbed by the transport minister.

Mr Petts, of Manor Road, Whitstable, says he was so angry the minister read out a prepared statement instead of answering individual questions that he tried to tackle Mr Mole afterwards.

He said: "The minister read from a prepared statement that didn't even touch on the daily problems we suffer, let alone answer them.

"I don't think that was acceptable.

"At the end of the debate I asked him for a moment to discuss the figures but he abruptly said 'No' and stormed off.

"A polite 'I am rather busy' would have been more appropriate."

Mr Petts, who travels to Cannon Street, has been keeping his own records of train punctuality and has now sent them direct to the minister.

He said: "The minister quoted figures of 93 per cent punctuality for 2009 falling to 91 per cent because of the snow in 2010.

"But these are regional figures. On my line, only half the trains (196 out of 386) arrived within five minutes in 2009 and of those only 32 (eight per cent) were actually on time.

"This year only 9.75 per cent of trains have arrived within five minutes and only two were exactly on time.

"Instead of hiding behind a smokescreen, he should identify the true figures for the north Kent coast line to Thanet. I pay my season ticket of £3,600 a year to run within the Passengers Charter for my line only."

This week passenger watchdog Mr Olatunji wrote to the minister.

He told the Times: "If consumers complain about a service which affects them, it is no use addressing their concerns by talking about overall performance figures which don't affect them.

"I have asked Southeastern to provide a route by route performance report so we can understand what is really happening.

"Then we can address the legitimate concerns of persistent delays and the real belief that the new timetable is not working for many established customers."

He added: "If the overlay of the high speed services is interrupting any of these, then clearly it must be reviewed."

He believes the controversial time-table introduced in December could be changed either in May or December.

He added: "Where changes cannot be made within these rail industry time-slots we will expect Department for Transport intervention, especially if they relate to the franchise specification."

He said: "No one is disregarding the long-term importance of high speed services to Kent but the priority must be on providing a service that meets the majority needs of today's passengers.

"Today's passengers are paying a much higher fare than anywhere else in the country. The current deterioration in performance, allied to the timetable changes, is leading to a groundswell of discontentment.

"This transparent poor performance must be dealt with, as well as the timetable issues, sooner rather than later."