I am a regular weekday commuter between Brighton and London who raised a half-hearted cheer when Connex was given its marching orders and Govia was awarded the franchise.

Regrettably, expectations the services would improve have been short lived. I have been suffering of late, along with thousands of other commuters.

We have endured cancelled services, short trains through lack of rolling stock, over-crowding, doors that fail to open, air conditioning that seems to be permanently on the blink, late departures and arrivals and, of course, the usual lack of explanations.

Until last week, that is.

Last Friday, some commuters actually received an apology from South Central in the form of a handout.

This only served to demonstrate the company's poor foresight in not anticipating that new maintenance depots would be a good idea before introducing new rolling stock (which stood, tantalisingly, in sidings for months before being brought into service).

Commuters who are regularly forced to stand or sit on floors will not take comfort that we may only have to put up with this until September when you "hope" the depot problems be sorted out.

One day, like the exquisite torture invented by the CIA, which broke the spirit of General Noriega by playing non-stop Elvis hits, South Central decided to feed hapless commuters Celine Dion's Titanic album through the public address system of the 07.17.

Cancellations, late running, over-crowding and over-heating can be endured but Celine Dion is a move too far.

If I didn't know better, it would seem you are trying to reduce the crowding by driving people back on to the roads in sheer desperation in order to avoid the warblings of Miss Dion.

What next? Repeat plays of Jemini's nul-point entry to the Eurovision Song contest?

If South Central is unable to manage its services better, the least we can expect is a hefty reduction on the cost of season tickets instead of the promised increases.

-Geoffrey Bowden, Kemp Town, Brighton