Crowthorne and Sandhurst

Passengers are furious after an early morning service connecting Sandhurst, Crowthorne and Wokingham with Reading was axed.

They have signed a petition urging operator First Great Western to re-think and have won the backing of MPs whose constituents are affected by the cut.

More than 100 regular users of the 5.57am Gatwick-Reading service,which was dropped on Monday this week, have signed the petition organised by Aongus O'Laoire.

Mr O'Laoire, of Beechnut Close, Wokingham, says the two-car train is always busy with passengers joining at many stations between Gatwick and Reading. The service was dropped on Monday, December 10.

Bracknell MP Andrew MacKay and Wokingham MP John Redwood have backed the campaign.

Mr O'Laoire, who works for a London-based telecommunications company and uses the train for a connection at Reading, said there was little notice of the timetable change and on-board announcements never mentioned it.

In a letter to FGW boss Alison Forster, he said: "The loss of this train will be a major inconvenience for those joining before Wokingham and they will have no route to Reading before the 5.57-7.28 Gatwick to Reading train.

"For passengers joining at Wokingham it will also cause considerable difficulty, as they will have to take a train 20 minutes earlier, or a train that arrives at Reading 20 minutes later, thus missing a number of high speed links to Paddington."

Mr MacKay said petition signatories in Crowthorne, Sandhurst and Finchampstead would be inconvenienced.

He added: "I have written to Alison Forster to say she needs to reconsider this decision.

"A lot of people who start work early use the service to get to other stops on the line and quite a lot of people will use the line to connect with services to London."

An FGW spokesman said it was part of a new timetable which had been publicised.

He said: "It should not have come as a surprise to passengers. We consulted local user groups and notified MPs of the new timetable details in February 2006.

"Over the next few weeks we will monitor services very closely and, if it is necessary and possible,we will make further modifications."

He said alternative services run by Virgin were closely timed to the service FGW ran.

ic Berkshire