TWO protests in two days are to be staged over the state of train sevices.

Today at 6.30pm Brighton station will play host to a demonstration by commuters, organised over the last twenty-fours hours on social media.

And tomorrow unions will protest in London outside the headquarters of the French company who part-own franchise-holder Govia Thameslink Railways.

Meanwhile Govia and the Rail Maritime and Transport union met yesterday in an attempt to bring their long-running dispute over changes to the role of conductors to an end.

Kat Pope, 53, from Brighton, is behind the gathering on the concourse at Brighton at rush hour today. She said she decided to organise direct action after exchanging tales of frustration on social media.

She told The Argus: “I was on Twitter the other day day retweeting things, and I thought ‘this is daft, I’m quite old but I remember protesting things back in the day.’

“People should be protesting. This is really about getting fed up and not knowing what else to do. The minister has gone to ground and we’re not being told anything.

“The thing about social media is everyone talks about it but nobody does anything."

She added: “In this day and age how can the Government have let things get so bad that people can’t rely on getting anywhere in the south any more?”

Meanwhile unions are gearing up for a day of protest tomorrow in London, on Euston Road outside the offices of French co-owners of Govia Thameslink Railways, Keolis.

Organisers said it was “part of the campaign to defend jobs, services and safety on the failing franchise.”

Today representatives of the union and GTR met at the offices of conciliation service ACAS in London, picking up where talks left off on June 6.

Tensions across the negotiating table are unlikely to have been improved by a statement released over the weekend by the RMT.

The union claimed that bosses of Southern's co-owners part-the Go-Ahead Group, with the franchise run by Govia Thameslink Railway, have been paying themselves and shareholders "huge sums and bonuses."

Part of the bonuses were to reflect achievements including the "successful mobilisation" of the GTR franchise, said the RMT.

General Secretary Mick Cash said: "It is truly shocking that part of the bonuses paid by the British passenger to the bosses of GTR is down to their "successful mobilisation" of the current franchise.

"Commuters paying up to £5,000 a year for this failing service will be rightly furious. These bonuses are truly money for old rope."