Brighton commuter misery is set to escalate in coming weeks as First Capital Connect drivers ballot for strikes over pay.

Many drivers are already working to rule by refusing overtime, leading to hundreds of cancellations on the Brighton to Bedford line - with half its services likely to be affected on Thursday and Friday.

This caused massive disruption on Sunday and only today, FCC announced it expected to cancel 50 services on the route.

This lunchtime, Aslef announced its members will vote in the next few weeks on whether to launch a campaign of industrial action over a two-year pay offer, which includes no increase over the next year.

The ballot will close on December 9 and the union will have to give seven days notice of any strike, threatening action just two weeks before Christmas if there is a yes vote.

The company said it had made a fair pay offer to union representatives of 0% over the next year and at least 3% in year two.

Keith Norman, general secretary of Aslef, said: "We regret that matters have come to this, particularly at a company where profit levels have bucked the trend of the recession."

Bob Crow, general secretary of the Rail Maritime and Transport union whose members are working to rule, said: "This is not about industrial action. Staff cannot be press ganged into working overtime on their rest days against their wishes and against their contractual rights.

"The delivery of a properly staffed and resourced service is down to First Capital Connect and the public have a right to know why they are cutting corners on staffing, which has left them unable to deliver a service, when they get a £120 million annual bung in subsidies from the taxpayer."

Some of the trains that did run between Bedford and Brighton, especially those into London, were packed with commuters this morning.

There were reports of desperate passengers banging on train windows at stations urging people to cram further inside so they could get on.

Mike Griggs, who has been commuting from Brighton to Farringdon for more than two years, is furious at the delays to his journey.

He said: "The journey was starting to be alleviated slightly by the introduction of the 'new' trains on my chosen lines (which coincidentally look exactly like the Southern ones that have been running for years).

"But now I play a daily lottery of will my nice train be cancelled, will I instead have to get on the overcrowded toy-town rust-buckets made of wet polystyrene and chewing gum.

"How dare I think I could use my three hour a day commute for anything productive?

"I don't care what the dispute is about and which side is right, I pay for a service and the service isn't happening.

"I now have a nervous twitch caused by me constantly having to go to the FCC website's Delay Repay page to claim some small meagre percentage of my hundreds spent per month on this 'service' back."

Liberal Democrat transport spokesman and Lewes MP Norman Baker said: "This is the second time in a few days First Capital Connect has allowed this farcical situation to happen.

"The Department for Transport, train operators and unions have a duty to guarantee there are always enough staff to run full services.

"This disruption will cause misery for many commuters who are already hit by huge increases in fares and then have the pleasure of being crammed into overcrowded carriages."

A spokesman apologised to customers for the disruption.

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