Southern Railway has been heavily criticised for advising a Sussex commuter to take a 100-mile detour for a 3-mile journey.
Katherine Wiltshire's office journey was hampered by train cancellations on the network. She sought advice on Twitter from Southern Railway, asking how to get from Aldrington to Brighton after a number of departures were cancelled.
Aldrington and Brighton stations are just about 2-3 miles apart.
The train operator told Katherine to travel on a 100-mile trip up to London via Clapham Junction before returning to the south coast.
When Katherine challenged it, the railway Twitter team replied: “With two cancellations to an hourly service, this is feasible as it would be quicker than waiting.”
A Southern spokesman later admitted the customer service adviser had made a “genuine mistake”.
He told the Times: “He thought the originating station was Portsmouth – as he was also dealing with a Portsmouth enquiry at the time – which would have made his original advice correct.
“He apologised as soon as his mistake had been pointed out.”
