An unsympathetic train boss has told commuters to move to Brighton if they want a seat on the train.

Keith Ludeman, the chief executive of the Go-Ahead Group that runs the Southern Railway route from Brighton to Victoria, showed scant sympathy for passengers unable to get a seat.

"It is not unreasonable to expect some one to stand, this is a mass transit system,” Mr Ludeman told a national newspaper.

“If you're coming up from the coast you might expect to get a seat, but your chances are reduced closer to London.”

Lewes MP Norman Baker, who is also the Liberal Democrats' transport spokesman said: “That is disgraceful.

"It is a sign that train companies increasingly see passengers as simply revenue fodder, with no concern for their comfort or safety.

“It is the sort of arrogant attitude that has to be expelled from the railway industry."

Anthony Smith, the chief executive of consumer watchdog, Passenger Focus, said: "Getting a seat is a daily struggle for some passengers as overcrowding on the railways continues to be a big problem.

“Train companies' franchise agreements state that services need to be planned so that passengers ought not to stand for more than 20 minutes.

“If the train is overcrowded, as so many are, then you cannot stand up in comfort.

But Phil Graves, the vice president of Brighton and Hove estate agents association, supported the rail boss's comments.

"It is a bit like a pop concert,” he said.

“If you want a seat you have to get in early.

"Brighton is at the end of the line so you can get a seat, but by the time the train gets half way up the line to London, it will have filled up."

One commuter, who did not want to be named, said that even living on the coast was no guarantee of a seat.

He said: "I have seen the train full even when it leaves Hove.

"It's bad coming back from Victoria because they have cut the number of coaches from 12 to eight."