NEARLY half of all complaints about South West Trains in the past year were about late services and crammed carriages, it has been revealed.

Figures from the Office of Rail and Road showed these issues topped the 2015/16 list of passenger complaints to the operator of the Alton to Waterloo railway line.

That was despite the share of complaints for reliability falling 13 per cent on the previous year to 41 per cent. Complaints about space in carriages rose to 7.5 per cent.

But there was almost no change in the total number of complaints.

Responding, rail franchise bosses pointed out it operates one of the busiest railways in Europe and provides half a million journeys every day, bringing more than 100,000 passengers into London Waterloo every morning.

The spokesman added: “The most recent national rail passenger survey shows 81 per cent of passengers are satisfied with South West Trains services, which is higher than neighbouring lines serving London and the South East. The average performance and punctuality of our services is also higher.

“However, we know some of our trains, particularly those during the busiest times of the day, are still extremely busy. We are investing and working hard to provide more space for more passengers and recently completed the £65m introduction of 108 additional and refurbished carriages, providing longer trains for many of our busiest services.

“We are now working with Network Rail and the Department for Transport to invest a further £800m to make further improvements and by 2019 we will be providing an extra 30 per cent space for our passengers during the busiest times of the day.”