Commuters are blaming outdated trains for their nightmare journeys.

A series of malfunctions have resulted in delays of up to an hour on the daily trip from Sussex to London.

After receiving a series of complaints, The Argus is relaunching its Save Our Service campaign to demand improvements for commuters.

The problems, forcing hundreds to switch trains, stem from the 20-year-old class 442 trains being unable to close their doors.

Bevin Aston, 36, of Franklin Street, Brighton, said: “When I am paying more than £3,300 a year for a service this just isn’t good enough. There have been a series of breakdowns recently – especially on the Gatwick Express trains where they are using very old stock.”

On Monday a number of services were cancelled following a door malfunction.

Those on two trains, including the 7.44am Gatwick Express, had to change at Haywards Heath.

The latest setback follows at least four similar disruptions in the past month.

Shelley Atlas, of Brighton Line Commuters, said: “People do not mind waiting for delays when there are good reasons but continuing problems with the same issue is not acceptable.

“There have been problems before with the doors but clearly they have to look at the problem again.”

A spokesman for Southern Railway said: “We would like to apologise for the inconvenience this has caused our passengers.

"We have been working on the problem and since these two incidents on Monday, we have not had a reoccurrence.

"The class 442 trains were introduced to provide the extended Gatwick Express services.

"Although we experienced teething problems with doors and heating, we focused all our efforts in addressing these and don’t anticipate further problems.”

● Are you unhappy with the current morning train service? For more about Brighton Line Commuters, go to www.brightonlinecommuters.co.uk. To add your name to The Argus Save Our Service campaign, visit www.theargus.co.uk/saveourservice or use the hashtag #bricom on Twitter or join our Facebook group.