A South Essex council is to demand an urgent meeting with c2c rail chiefs to discuss the "woeful" service between Shoebury and London.

Thurrock Council has backed a call from councillor John Kent for "senior management of c2c to meet members and officers, and representatives of local rail users".

The aim of the meeting, said Mr Kent, will be to find out when the company "thinks it will be able to run a decent rail service".

He said c2c was supposed to mean coast to city, instead, to commuters like himself, "it means close to collapse and careering to chaos".

Mr Kent said: "The service has never been good. The rolling stock is old, in poor condition, dirty, overcrowded and unreliable.

"In June 1997 they announced 44 brand new state-of-the-art Electrostar trains would be in service by November 1999. This of course never happened."

Problems with the dozen new trains meant they were taken out of service, leading to "old rolling stock being taken out of mothballs".

He said: "Nine peak time morning trains have been halved in length and seven evening peak trains have been cut in length."

Councillor Tim McMahon said that the c2c management had been "inadequate before privatisation and useless since".

He said: "When the rail regulator has removed the franchise from some operators, it is unbelievable that nothing has been done to counter the woeful performance of c2c."

Labour MP Angela Smith was so frustrated by c2c services she summoned the firm's bosses to a meeting at the House of Commons.

Director and general manager Andrew Chivers went along to explain the company's appalling track record.

Mrs Smith said: "I felt the only way to get answers was to get the top man to Parliament to answer a catalogue of complaints against the firm.

"I have been given a cast iron guarantee that extra carriages will be put on every train to cope with overcrowding by tomorrow."

Mrs Smith, MP for Basildon, vowed to keep up keep the pressure until the service improves and the complaints stop filling her mail bag. She said: "I have told Mr Chivers I want a progress report every two weeks.

"If I am not satisfied I will personally approach John Prescott, the deputy prime minister, and make a formal request for him to intervene and take action."

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