ALBION chief executive Paul Barber has said he is astonished it took Friday's travel chaos for train bosses to contact him for the first time.

In the reply to an email from Southern's passenger services director Angie Doll, he slammed their poor service as "embarrassing" and said it was damaging the club and the city.

Supporters were left at Falmer Station until 11.30pm after Friday night's game after the last minute cancellation of trains.

Mr Barber told The Argus yesterday that it was lucky nobody was seriously hurt and called for action.

He criticised Southern's "arrogance" stating that he had received "zero communication" from the rail company.

But since then he has received an emailed apology from Ms Doll.

In a response to her, he said: "I do consider it to be a basic courtesy and a responsibility for the senior management of any organisation to contact a major customer when the short-term or ongoing supply of a critical service to them is interrupted, limited or, in the case of Friday evening, non existent.

"So, quite frankly, given the issues we have faced over such a long period, I am absolutely astonished that this is the first time you have contacted me directly.

"I am even more astounded that your chief executive still hasn’t once bothered to call, email, or write to me – or to any of my colleagues - despite many, many months of poor service culminating in Friday evening’s shocking events."

He continued, welcoming the train company's promise of a review into the chaos on Friday evening and said he looked forward to seeing the outcome.

He added: "It also worries me greatly that your organisation only now seems to have grasped quite how serious Friday evening's events actually were - and indeed could have been.

"What happened not only massively inconvenienced and caused great stress for many thousands of our fans, and those of Aston Villa, more importantly, it also seriously endangered their safety. The safety of our supporters - many of whom attended Friday’s match with children, elderly or infirm relatives and friends - is paramount to us and it is this issue that concerns me most of all."

He told Ms Doll the club had suffered directly as a result of Southern and called on the company to sort out its industrial relations.

He added: "Finally, as a general point, I do not accept that making entirely innocent fare-paying customers - many of whom have little or no other choice as to how they get to and from work or, in our case, to and from football matches - the victims of a long-running dispute is justifiable in any circumstances.

"It’s 1970s industrial relations and it's as embarrassing to witness, as it is disruptive and damaging to people’s lives."