PULBOROUGH Railway Station is looking not just a rather sad and dilapidated place since the departure of the taxi firm and its café but is now increasingly a target for vandalism and a haunt for undesirables.

And there is less passenger footfall as passengers are put off and denied the convenience of onsite taxis and café.

Southern Rail has driven out the taxi firm and its café with a very high rent. The taxi firm is now on an industrial estate and passenger have to phone for the taxis whereas before they were at the station and one could have a coffee and piece of homemade cake.

Given that it was the perfect symbiosis, the win-win situation would have been for Southern to have given the taxi firm a rent-free agreement in return for more investment in both taxis and cafe.

And that would have made perfect sense particularly as taxi/café staff helped passengers with train enquires as often Southern station staff were not there. So in many a way they were doing the job of Southern as well.

A rent-free agreement should be offered by Southern to the taxi firm and its café in return for more investment in what it did best. And into the bargain one would get a really thriving railway station and the fun would be put into rail travel.

John Barstow, The Fleet, Fittleworth, Pulborough