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The trains heaters were on for the first time since last winter this morning. This is great and most welcome in the cold depths of winter but its still autumn.

I, like most commuters, have to walk to the station and I dress appropriatly for that journey. So why is the heat on on the trains - no one needs it.

When pasengers are still turning up to the station without coats its a pretty good sign that its not yet cold enough to put the heaters on. Now that they are on I suspect we will see a rise in passengers being ill as the heated train provides a great incubation tank for all sorts of nasty germs. Influenza will be on the increase soon.

• With carriges more packed than ever do we actually need heating on trains?
• So why are the heaters on?
• Who decides when exactly the heaters go on and under what conditions?
• Is it in the drivers control to turn them down or off?

London Bridge is a fine example of Southern Railways lack of commitment to its passengers. For this example I am concentrating on the announcements for the Caterham trains. These are timetabled to leave London Bridge at approximatly 20 minute intervals during the evening rush hour. The trains are always packed with commuters. In someones infinate wisdom the trains occasionally depart from different platforms - it depends on the departure time and even then they get swapped about a bit. Thus you are never quite sure where where the next train will be.

Often the train is made up from a two car service and they add a four car inbound service to it. This means that the two carriges are often sitting at a platform for over 15 minutes plus before the platform is announced.

Last night for example the platform was announced with 4 minutes to go before the train left. The old and infirm often have trouble getting to the platform in time amoungst the massive rush to get a seat. It's like a bun fight at times. If one gets there early one should be rewarded with a seat to make oneself comfortable while one waits. As it is we are stood on an overcroweded concourse that is a pickpockets haven and I constantly get barged by people rushing for thier trains. Not a good experience.

Southern / London Bridge - sort it out!

When I get an off peak train I occasionally see a few seemingly underpaid old age pensioners battling against rheumatism and alzheimer's to hand out Customer Surveys (passenger questionnaires) along with free pens. I always fill these in and I always make mention of the disparity between the platform height and the train step at South Croydon railway station.

Currently it is about 24" - the track having settled since the last ballasting. If you were to take a tape measure to your stairs at home you would find that each step is about 8" - which most people would consider to be a normal size step. Passengers at South Croydon have to attempt a step at three times the height of a normal step - try taking 3 step on your stairs next time.

I raise this issue again because I recently took a photo of the gap - its huge. Surely now that the Government is tightening up even further on Disability discrimination, South Croydon Station must be in flagrant abuse of the regulations. Its difficult enough to board and leave trains for ordinary fit people but mothers with pushchairs, people with luggage, the elderly and infirm have a torrid time.

I have just purchased my annual season ticket and it has gone up from £1,452 to £1,512. That's a rise of 3.968% - more than current inflation, more than my pay rise yet again. Where is this money going? Perhaps it is into the pockets of wealthy institutional investor shareholders. Meanwhile I got to sit down on the train less last year - despite a 3.3% increase in the cost of my annual season ticket last year. I can see the pattern repeating again this year with even less space to stand in on the train which I am paying more for. I would move further out of town so I have a better chance of a seat but we cannot afford the housing further out now that the rail fair has gone up again. The rail companies claim they need to hike fairs to pay for investment in the railway. Yet government is constantly bailing them out whilst they are paying out large dividends to the shareholders. We are being fleeced yet again.

I was at a model railway show today in Ally Pally but needed to meet up with Paula at Waterloo at 5pm to go and see the inaugural showing of 300 on the iMax screen. But I was almost scuppered by the Northern lines Charing Cross branch being closed. There was very little notice until I found a sign at Camden (long story) telling me it was sheet . This meant a journey down to London Bridge and then along the Jubilee. I was half an hour late and Paula was not best pleased. When I did the journey plan at the TFL site it did not mention this vital piece of information.