A PETITION asking the government to remove the rail franchise from Govia Thameslink Railway has passed 10,000 signatures, meaning it will get a response from the government.

More than 14,000 have now added their name to the plea, titled: “Govia Thameslink Railway should have its contract immediately removed.”

Thousands of passengers have been inconvenienced since a new timetable was introduced on May 20. Trains have been cancelled with Govia staff briefing journalists the company has said privately cancellations are down to a shortage of trained drivers.

The petition states: “The Secretary of State should intervene immediately over GTR’s failure to implement its new timetable leaving commuters stranded and mass cancellations of services despite having a year to plan for the changes.

“Govia Thameslink has consistently had the worst performance figures of any train operating company in England. It has failed to improve services and now totally failed to deliver on its own new timetable leading to total chaos. It is contributing to lost man hours, harming the economy and failing in all aspects of customer service.”

Petitions with more than 10,000 signatures get a government response, those with more than 100,000 are considered for Parliamentary debate. To sign go to petition.parliament.uk/petitions/220440.