A frustrated commuter who left his car on a level crossing has vowed to fight on against unreliable trains.

Despite being sentenced to community service, Simon Taylor remains defiant, believing he only did what thousands of travellers want to.

Taylor mounted the protest when he discovered his train to London would not stop at Berwick station near Eastbourne. He was then told the train would not be held at Lewes to allow him and other stranded commuters time to catch it there.

His patience snapped and he parked his car on the Berwick crossing, blocking the line and delaying trains for six minutes.

Taylor, 47, admitted obstructing an engine contrary to the 1861 Malicious Damage Act at Hove Crown Court last month.

Yesterday he was ordered to do 80 hours' community punishment and pay £250 compensation to Network Rail, which was fined £1,272 for the delay he caused on September 29 last year.

After the hearing, the property manager, of Windmill Road, Polegate, said his lawyers were considering an appeal against the sentence.

He said: "I am one of many commuters who are put upon by railway companies up and down the country every day.

"I reacted in the way in which many of them would perhaps have liked to act, although I accept that I should not have done so.

"As my barrister said in court, I was treated by South Central in a cavalier and discourteous manner.

"I had no intention to cause injury or harm to anyone. South Central claims I caused a delay of six minutes. I dispute that.

"The train would have gained time as it was no longer stopping at Berwick or the other stations to Lewes.

"I feel that the imposition of 80 hours' community punishment is wholly out of proportion to what I did that morning."

Roger Booth, prosecuting, said Taylor had deliberately parked on the level crossing because he was aggravated when he discovered the 6.30am service to London would not be stopping at Berwick because the train was too long for the station.

Under a national agreement Network Rail faced fines of £212 for every minute trains were delayed as a result of incidents on its tracks.

The £1,272 fine resulting from the six-minute delay would have to be claimed back from train operator South Central.

David Haronouff, defending, said Taylor had received considerable public support as a result of publicity from his court appearance last month.

Radio phone-ins and coverage in the media had shown sympathy and understanding for his protest.

Mr Haronouff said Taylor came from a good family background with his solicitor father having been appointed the youngest Chancery Master to date at the Royal Courts of Justice.

Taylor's mother was secretary of the Brighton Festival Chorus and his brother was a prominent solicitor. Taylor himself had stood for election as a councillor and had been chairman of his local Liberal Democrats in 1996.

Brighton and Hove magistrate Joan Fraser, called as a character witness, said she had known Taylor all his life and was a family friend.

She said: "I have no reason at all to doubt his honesty and integrity.

"I cannot speak highly enough of him."

Sentencing Taylor, Judge Austin Issard-Davies said: "Everyone who travels regularly by train will have shared at some time the frustration you felt that morning.

"I have no doubt it was that frustration which led you deliberately to leave your car on the level crossing.

"It was a stupid and egotistical protest which must inevitably have served to disrupt the journeys of commuters all over the rail network.

"You had no way of knowing if the situation you created would endanger life. Fortunately, it did not."

At the earlier hearing, Taylor claimed South Central had used a train which was too long to stop at short platforms.

He said: "I was angry. A ticket lady shouted from the other platform that the train would not be stopping.

"I drove off in my car but then wanted to go back and say something.

"So I just turned left out of the car park and stopped.

"My car was half across the pavement and half across the track but it was not a deliberate gesture. I was angry. I blew one."

Judge Issard-Davies said: "Having seen and heard Mr Taylor, I do not believe he did not realise he had left his car on the level crossing.

"The fact the car was there for some little time and the fact it was there at all is, I conclude, connected to his anger at the situation he found when he arrived at the station."

A spokesman for Southern, formerly South Central, said: "Mr Taylor's conviction and sentence reflect just how seriously the judge felt about this individual who felt he had the right to put other people's lives at risk simply to make a point."