I would like to express my heartfelt gratitude to everyone involved in my train journey from work in London back to Brighton on Saturday night (November 13/14).

First of all, thanks to whoever was responsible for the delays affecting the 11.02 pm service from London Victoria to Gatwick that caused me to miss the hourly National Express coach from the airport to Pool Valley.

I had planned to use the coach to avoid the rail replacement bus service from Three Bridges (apparently needed because all the rails between Brighton and the Surrey border have not yet been replaced, despite many years of weekend engineering works). I would have arrived in Brighton at 12.30am.

So, Plan B; stay on the train to Three Bridges, arriving at about midnight.

Another big thank you is due to the foresight of the officials responsible for the replacement service, which did not leave for another 15 minutes. Providing two buses, one to carry passengers directly to Brighton and one to service the intermediate stations (Balcombe, Haywayds Heath, Wivelsfield, Burgess Hill, Hassocks and Preston Park), would have resulted in the majority of Brighton-bound passengers missing the fascinating 90-minute drive through the country lanes of Sussex on an overcrowded doubledecker which finally arrived at Brighton Station at 1.45am.

Finally, much appreciation is due to the party of drunken Albion fans whose amusingly witty songs and colourful language entertained everyone on board throughout the journey.

Jim Hatley,

-Brighton