SUSSEX rail services were the least punctual over the last year with nearly two in every ten services registered as late by train bosses.

The finding comes as punctuality on Britain's railways fell to its worst level in almost a decade, according to official figures.

Nationally, more than one in every ten trains (10.9 per cent) failed to arrive at its destination on time in the 12 months to the end of March.

This is the worst performance since 2006-07, the Office of Rail and Road (ORR) regulator said.

Trains only fail the industry's punctuality measure if they are at 10 minutes late for long-distance services and five minutes late for commuter trains.

Govia Thameslink Railway (GTR) - which is responsible for Thameslink, Southern and Gatwick Express services - had the worst punctuality over the past year with just 81.5 per cent of trains on time.

Second worst was Virgin Trains East Coast (85.2 per cent) and the Caledonian Sleeper (86 per cent).

Separate figures show that 3.1 per cent of trains were cancelled or at least 30 minutes late nationally over the same period - the highest level since 2004-05.

Labour's shadow transport secretary Lilian Greenwood said: "It's clear that punctuality on the rail network is in free fall under the Tories.

"Passengers are paying ever higher prices to travel on increasingly unreliable and overcrowded carriages. Ministers must stop making excuses and act."

Punctuality in London and the South East was particularly bad.

The ORR said delays in this region were due to track faults such as broken rails which had increased by 37 per cent, while disruption as a result of issues with train crews rose by 24 per cent.

Delays caused by severe weather events tripled, the regulator added.

A spokesman for the Rail Delivery Group, representing train operators and Network Rail, said: "While almost nine out ten passenger trains still arrive within five or ten minutes of their scheduled arrival time, a measure defined by Government, too often customers' journeys are delayed.

"Our challenge is that the railway is used more intensively than almost any other in Europe, and the number of trains run has risen by 28 per cent in 17 years, while the size of the network has hardly changed."