A web developer claims he was forced to quit a job because unreliable trains made his commute a misery.

Charlie Jennings, 22, who lives off Lakes Road, Braintree, took a job in east Croydon and paid £495.80 a month for train travel.

He used to take the 6.40am from Braintree to Liverpool Street but said services were regularly delayed, so six months after joining his company he handed his notice at the end of last month.

Mr Jennings said: “I loved my job, I really did.

“But in six months I would say I was late 30 to 40 per cent of the time.”

His decision came after it took him three-and-a-half hours to get home one hot Friday evening.

“I have a thermometer on my watch and it read 30C - it was horrendous and it pushed me to quit," he said.

He used Abellio’s Delay Repay system to claim back money from delayed trains but could only claim for the delayed service, not the whole onward journey.

Abellio Greater Anglia blamed engineering overruns, infrastructure problems, train failures, deaths on the line and adverse weather for a “challenging” summer.

A spokesman said: “Performance on our mainline services has improved in recent weeks, however we recognise that together with our colleagues at Network Rail we still have much work to do.”

Chris Siddall, deputy leader of Braintree Council, said plans to double the number of trains with an additional track would be the biggest improvement for commuters.

He said: “We are pushing to get the Braintree loop but it can’t happen until High Speed 2 is finished because of congestion further down the line.

“Not only would that improve the service but it would reduce the number of cars going to Marks Tey, Witham and Kelvedon. It’s a key priority along with improving the A120.”