Commuters living in Hassocks say they may be forced from the village if services at its rail station deteriorate.

One resident said it was in danger of becoming a "dead village".

A survey indicated 15 per cent would consider moving out of Hassocks and more than 80 per cent would drive to a different station.

It was carried out by Hassocks Amenity Association (HAA), which fears services at the station may be downgraded.

The association has been lobbying Govia, operator of South Central and Thameslink services, for more stopping trains and a rebuild of the station.

Services calling at Hassocks have been disrupted since before Christmas. Govia blames a shortage of maintenance staff and bad weather.

Fears over the future of services at the station prompted HAA volunteers to carry out the survey.

They discovered many of the 108 commuters who filled in questionnaires were unhappy about a lack of warm shelters and shortage of parking spaces.

HAA spokeswoman Gina Field said: "The downland villages are really in danger of dying. Hassocks was built around the station and I think there is a real danger of Hassocks becoming a dead village.

"A high proportion of people said they would go to Haywards Heath if services were cut further."

Govia spokesman Martin Walter said the timetable had been altered but the company was trying to return to normal.

He said: "The services have never declined and there is no intention for them to decline.

"We all had a bad period before Christmas due to weather and the like and we also had problems on South Central with a shortage of maintenance staff.

"We are starting to get some services back into place.

"We have got the maintenance staff back up to capacity and we want to restore the timetable by May this year."

Mr Walter said all stations run by Govia would get an upgrade, although he could not say when this would happen.