A union has named and shamed the worst offending companies for train cancellations  - with Southeastern finishing second worst in the entire country.

Figures released from the TSSA transport union show people in south London are the worst hit, with 22,443 trains cancelled in 2013/14 by Southeastern.

They were only beaten into second place by Southern - who had a staggering 34,701 services cancelled over the same period.

Union leader Manuel Cortes said: "These figures show that the private rail firms are failing to deliver for passengers when it really matters, particularly for those in the south east who pay the highest fares to get to work.
 
"Late trains are bad enough but cancellations on this scale are simply unacceptable, they are a real slap in the face for passengers.
 
"Two weeks ago we published a real time arrival table which showed that three firms were only getting one in two of their trains to run on time and another six were regularly running 40 per cent of their services late.
 
"That is simply not good enough, especially when you think that we are paying the highest fares in Europe for a second class service."

The news follows the announcement earlier this month that Southeastern - voted Britain's worst train company twice in the last eight months - has had its franchise extended until June 2018.

That announcement was met with bemusement by long-suffering commuters with Mick Cash, acting general secretary of rail union the RMT, branding it "a reward for total and abject failure".

A spokesman for Southeastern said: “We acknowledge that punctuality and performance has slipped this year from the record levels that we saw in 2012-13 and we are working with Network Rail to address this.

"During the first few months of the year we saw more than 124 incidents on our network as a result of weather-related infrastructure failures, due to the most prolonged spell of rainfall in 250 years. Unfortunately this has been followed by a series of signalling and other issues, including some recent incidents at London Bridge that knock-on to services across our network.

"Earlier this summer we referred Network Rail, which is responsible for maintaining tracks and signalling, to the Office of Rail Regulation to seek urgent action to improve reliability. We’ve been working closely with them since to put in place actions to improve our joint performance levels and provide a more punctual service for our passengers.

"Over the next five years Network Rail will be investing billions in replacing infrastructure and improving the railway. We are working with them to identify where this investment can be targeted to best serve passengers.”