Train operator Connex was so swamped with complaints from outraged commuters it started replying with form letters.

At the peak of its troubles, the company received almost 2,000 letters a month moaning about delays, cancellations and travel conditions.

Figures published yesterday show complaints almost doubled in the year ending March 2001 from the previous year for both the South Central and South Eastern services.

On the South East London to Brighton service, the number of formal complaints soared from 19 per 100,000 passenger journeys to 36. On South Central it went up from 20 to 36.

Managing director Olivier Brousse, responding to the latest figures, told a conference in London his firm had "failed to get the basics right".

He said: "We were so swamped with complaints we had to send back standard letters - fuelling the outrage even more.

"We did not manage to communicate with our passengers, we did not understand early enough that their attitude was closer to outrage than complaint and that it required a different approach.

"We failed to understand that people are more forgiving of circumstances if they are kept informed of not only what is causing the delay or cancellation but, more importantly, what is being done to rectify the position and when normal service will resume."

Mr Brousse said Connex now had a new management team and a new culture was emerging.

But he warned: "It is too early to say we have turned the corner. As any Connex passenger will tell you, we still have a long way to go."

The figures show complaints from passengers on the Gatwick Express rose from 24 per 100,000 passengers to 36, on South West trains the figure rose from 34 to 35 and on Thameslink it went up from 33 to 40.