Britain's bosses have named the biggest rail company in Sussex as the worst in the country.

Members of the Institute of Directors (IoD) placed Connex at the bottom of a list of 18 train operators.

Only seven per cent of members rated the company as good or very good; 18 per cent said Connex was neither good nor bad; and an overwhelming 75 per cent said Connex was poor or very poor.

The top-ranked operator was Great North Eastern Railway with 82 per cent rating its services at good or very good.

Brighton businessman Michael Evans, chairman of the Sussex branch of the IoD, said: "Those of us who use the rail system in the county won't be surprised that Connex gets a low rating. But the fact that our train operator is the worst of a mediocre bunch really is a sad indictment.

"How can we expect businesses and the public to use the train services when they perform so badly?"

Sussex business leaders also believe the new Strategic Rail Authority (SRA) will have little or no effect in solving the problems on the county's railways.

The survey reveals that even before last year's Hatfield crash, the railway system was badly failing the needs of business and industry.

Mr Evans said: "The creation of yet another quango, in the form of the SRA, will generate little optimism among our members and, I suspect, the public at large.

"The business community is sceptical that real improvement will come about on the rail network as a result of the creation of the SRA."

The findings of the survey, conducted before the Hatfield disaster, revealed company bosses thought passengers, tax-payers and businesses were getting an exceptionally rough deal from the rail network.

Specifically, the survey found that although 73 per cent of IoD members were in favour of the Government working with the railway industry to bring about improvements, directors were lukewarm about the prospects for the new SRA, which started work at the beginning of this month.

Only 13 per cent said they thought the authority would make big improvements, compared with 44 per cent who thought it would have little effect. Even before Hatfield, 36 per cent of directors thought rail services met their business needs poorly or very poorly.

Mr Evans said: "In the weeks after Hatfield, the IoD asked a group of members for the cost estimates as a result of the delays and disruption on the rail network. The average cost to affected businesses ran into tens of thousands of pounds. This situation simply cannot continue."

Before the near-chaos that started with the crash at Hatfield, almost three- quarters of IoD members thought passengers and taxpayers were not getting a fair deal on Britain's railways.

Four out of five members said the issue of overcrowding on trains should be on the Government's agenda as a health and safety issue.

Trains have been subject to cancellation or reduced timetables since Hatfield, a situation worsened by landslips and flooding on the Brighton to London line.