Staff cut at busy commuter stations

One of London's biggest commuter train companies is to slash the number of station staff.

South East Trains will withdraw staff, except in the morning rush hour, leaving tens of thousands of commuters coming home to deserted stations.

This comes despite rising fears of crime among passengers and mounting concern at levels of vandalism at stations in London and the South-East.

Today unions warned of strike action to prevent the plan going ahead, saying it would put passengers and train staff at risk.

Confidential documents seen by the Evening Standard reveal the cuts are being made purely to save cash.

Bob Crow, leader of the RMT, largest of the rail unions, said it would mean a "worse service for the travelling public but also less security, resulting in more vandalism and assaults on passengers and our members."

Manuel Cortes, assistant general secretary of the Transport and Salaried Staffs Association, said: " Passengers hate nothing more than getting off a train at a deserted station."

British Transport Police says the South-East rail network has one of the highest level of assaults in the UK - with three times the number of incidents compared with other regions.