South Central Trains has been accused in the House of Lords of running dirty and overcrowded trains between Sussex and London.

Lord Renton of Mount Harry, Offham, near Lewes, was left unimpressed by his journey to Victoria station earlier this week.

The peer, who was MP for Mid Sussex between 1979 and 1997, said the first problem was when his train on Tuesday morning turned up 15 minutes late.

When it did arrive there were no seats and it was in need of a good clean, the former Tory chief whip told his colleagues in the Upper House.

He questioned Lord McIntosh of Haringey, the Government's spokesman in the Lords.

Lord Renton asked: "Is the minister aware - and I do not blame him if he is not - that my train from Sussex to Victoria this morning was, as always, a quarter of an hour late?

"Every carriage was crowded, dirty and old. When are we going to hear from the Government about that?

"When are we going to see those improvements in trains and the tube that we have been promised for so long?"

Lord McIntosh said he was sorry to hear Lord Renton had endured "such an unhappy train journey".

Lord Renton - who describes his hobbies as "mucking about in boats, arguing about opera and touring France on a bicycle" - spoke out in favour of congestion charging.

He congratulated London Mayor Ken Livingstone on the successful introduction of the scheme in central London.

But he said people would only be persuaded to use public transport if it was improved.

Lord Renton served as a minister in the Home Office and Foreign Office in a distinguished Parliamentary career.

South Central, which operates most train services in Sussex, has ordered 736 new carriages to replace its 40-year-old slam-door trains But at the start of this year it emerged a large number of the trains could remain out of action until 2006 because of a power shortage.

The new carriages feature air conditioning, sliding doors and computerised controls.

But they are heavier and consume more power than the electricity supply can provide.