BRIGHTON and Hove Albion hope to succeed where government officials and trained mediators have failed and find a solution to Sussex’s rail crisis.

The club have written to union RMT and train operator Govia Thameslink Railway as well as transport secretary Chris Grayling in a bid to end the ongoing feud that has brought the county’s rail services to a standstill.

Albion director Martin Perry has written to all parties after Seagulls fans were left stranded at Falmer station on Friday night for up to two hours because of a lack of trains.

Mr Perry said the current level of service was “unforgiveable” considering that around a third of fans travel to the club’s stadium by train.

RMT’s Mick Cash said the union would take up the offer of talks but said it was “ludicrous” that it required the intervention of a football club to end the months of disputes and strikes.

Albion officials were informed with ten minutes to go of Friday’s match with Aston Villa that there would be no trains to take fans home.

Although emergency buses were scrambled, many fans were left waiting in the cold for up to two hours.

The transport failure sparked a furious response from club chief executive Paul Barber and the club have now made a move in a bid to stop a repeat performance.

Director Martin Perry said the last-minute cancellation endangered the safety of supporters attending the match with children, elderly or infirm friends and family and forced some fans to take the risky alternative of walking home along the A27.

Some Villa fans were even forced to sleep rough in Brighton Station car park having missed their last connection home.

Writing to transport secretary Chris Grayling, Mr Perry said the Albion board were “astounded at the total lack of interest” shown by the government following the “appalling events” of last week.

The club now want all parties to meet at the Amex in a bid to end the dispute.

RMT general secretary Mick Cash said: “RMT is prepared to take up the offer of talks between ourselves, Southern Rail and Chris Grayling as suggested by Brighton and Hove Albion FC.

“The union has been calling for just such a meeting for months and its frankly ludicrous that it has taken the intervention of the football club, and the shocking events on Friday night at the Amex Stadium, to force the pace on this.

“The football club are right, the responsibility for sorting the total chaos on Southern rests with the Transport Secretary himself.

“RMT now hopes that both Mr Grayling and Southern Rail will see sense and get around the table as soon as possible.”

A Southern spokesman said: “We’ve met face to face with the RMT leadership countless times, including many times at Acas, to try and agree a way forward.

“Nothing will be solved until the RMT agrees to let go of the past and help deliver a better service for our passengers.

“Until that happens more meetings are pointless and we are pressing ahead with our plans.”

I’M ASTOUNDED AT YOUR LACK OF INTEREST

Edited extracts from Martin Perry’s letter to Transport Secretary Chris Grayling:

Our supporters and those of visiting clubs have suffered for many months culminating in Friday’s shocking events.

Although until now we have not taken sides in the dispute by the RMT with Southern Trains or commented on the failure by your department to intervene in this dispute we have stated publicly that the cost to us in additional costs and lost revenue runs to hundreds of thousands of pounds.

And that is the effect on just one business in the area served by your train operator.

The cumulative effect on businesses in the South caused by loss of business, the failure of staff to be able to get to work and the damage to the local economy will be enormous.

This catastrophic catalogue of failures [on Friday night] caused great stress for many thousands of our fans and those of Aston Villa.

More importantly it endangered their safety many of whom attended the match with children, elderly or infirm relatives and friends.

We have reports of supporters who were forced to walk home, some of them walking along the A27 which is a main dual carriageway with no footpath.

Some Aston Villa supporters who were very delayed in getting to Brighton missed their connections, some of which had been cancelled, slept “rough” in Brighton Station car park and we have also had reports of children crying with tiredness and cold.

If it wasn’t for the swift action of our staff, the patient reaction of both Brighton and Aston Villa supporters, and the co-operation of the local bus company, the outcome could have been even worse.

Given these appalling events on Friday, I and my board are astounded at the total lack of interest that you [Chris Grayling], your Rail Minister [Paul Maynard] and your Government are paying to this long-running dispute.

I regret having to write to you in these terms but your rail passengers have suffered enough.

They are at risk as a result of this dispute and your urgent intervention is required.

We are writing to Southern Trains and the RMT along with yourselves and invite you all to a meeting which we will facilitate at the Amex to see if we can help find ways in which you can move forward to end this dispute, end the suffering of rail passengers and stop the damage to the economy in the South.