After suffering yet another week of appalling journeys (trains late and overcrowded) back to Preston Park from Redhill, I was interested to read the article from the head of Govia, the company which runs Thameslink and the recent report on how poor the Connex service is (Argus, August 8).

Connex is so committed to the Brighton line it axed London to Brighton stopping services in its summer timetable. You would have thought Thameslink would have taken advantage of this to improve its services but it continues to run four seriously overcrowded carriage trains at peak times because it doesn't have the rolling stock.

So who should get the southern line franchise ? A rock and a hard place come to mind.

Dick Langford, Inwood Crescent, Brighton

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What do we get from Brighton and Hove Council? It has reduced bus subsidies, causing some routes to be cut, and closed a popular little market in front of the West Pier. Our esteemed councillors, however, have decided to give themselves even more money for doing what seems to be very little.

In the meantime, we still seem to be stuck with more than our fair share of drunks on the streets and the amount of street traders around the town without licences is booming. Beggars, drunks, addicts and fat cats seems to symbolise modern day Brighton and Hove.

-Name and address supplied