COMMUTERS who pay thousands of pounds to travel into London are up in arms over crowding caused by reduced services.

Greater Anglia’s Southend Victoria to Liverpool Street services has seen trains slashed from 10 carriages to just five this week, with little explanation from the firm.

Pictures of crowded carriages have been plastered all over social media as angry customers demanded a return to normal service.

However, Greater Anglia’s customer service team told says they “aren’t aware of a date” for a return to full service.

Scott Inness, a 44-year-old IT technician, says he is fed up with paying thousands for a “sub-standard service”.

“It’s beyond belief how bad it has been recently,” he said. “The tickets are so exorbitantly expensive so you would expect the service to be half decent but instead we a packed into these carriages with barely any space.

“To top it off, every few stops the tannoy will go off asking people to social distance, but yet they haven’t provided anywhere near enough carriages for us to do so.”

An annual season ticket from Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street costs £4,428.

“At this rate it would probably be better value for money to get a black cap to and from work,” Mr Innes quipped.

Mark Donovan, 44, says overcrowding caused by the reduction in carriages has been exacerbated by regular cancellations, leaving two trains worth of commuters to pack themselves into a single train.

Mr Donovan, who usually catches the 4.33pm train home, says it is often cancelled multiple times a week, causing a scrum to get onto the following service.

He said: “It seems to happen at least two or three times a week by my estimation. The next train is then absolutely filled to the brim each evening and by the time it gets to Stratford, nobody else can get on.”

At the start of January, 17 Greater Anglia Southend Victoria to London Liverpool Street services were cancelled over the three-day period, as Covid swept through the work force.

A Greater Anglia spokesman said: “A number of our trains were damaged during the recent storms. We are working to repair them as soon as possible, but in the meantime, some trains may run with fewer carriages.

“We would like to reassure customers that it is safe to travel on our trains even when they’re busy. We are continuing with enhanced cleaning and sanitisation especially of high touch areas such as push buttons, grab handles and arm rests. Our trains have good ventilation, either aircon which distributed fresh air every six to nine minutes or opening windows. They all have doors which open at stations.

“Customers are advised to use the whole length of the train and platform, wear a face covering if they can and to wash or sanitise their hands regularly.”