WE trust that Chiltern Railways, the main provider of rail transport in South Bucks, will be feeling utterly embarrassed after new performance details were published.

Figures out this week show that only 86.4 per cent of its trains are running on time, which means 13.6 per cent run late.

Think of the number of people affected every time a train is late, and reflect upon the fact that these are the people who pay more than £2,000 a year to travel by rail to London from this area.

Chiltern Railways has responded by cutting down the number of peak-time trains. Hardly a policy to help the hard-pressed traveller.

Meanwhile, the Government and local authorities continue to penalise motorists with high parking charges, heavy road tax and ever-increasing petrol prices. The aim is to get people out of cars and onto public transport.

Doesn't it prove how unfair this is when the alternative forms of transport, such as Chiltern Railways, have proved so unreliable?

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