A university lecturer has threatened to take Connex to court over its compensation deal for delayed Sussex rail passengers.

Dr Paul Dawson, of Centurion Road, Brighton, said the company had been "disingenuous" about its offer.

He said: "I think their behaviour has been disgusting, but hardly surprising considering they have lost the franchise.

"The wording of the compensation conditions is misleading and I am tempted to go the small claims court about it."

Dr Dawson, 49, regularly buys an £862 first-class season ticket covering ten weeks of travel to his job at City University in London.

He is one of thousands of Connex passengers who have claimed a cash refund worth 15 days' travel following disruptions to services in October and November.

Passengers were delayed by speed limits imposed after the Hatfield rail crash and by bad weather.

Connex has offered passengers a seven per cent discount when renewing monthly and season tickets as compensation.

But Dr Dawson claims the deal was unfair because a five per cent discount had been in place for more than a year since Connex repeatedly failed to reach punctuality targets.

He said: "This isn't anything extra at all apart from a tiny discount on top."

A Connex spokesman said the additional two per cent discount recognised disruptions to services since October.

He said: "We are not giving something to the passengers which they already have. It may well have been we would have reached punctuality targets and lifted the five per cent discount if Hatfield and severe weather had not happened."