Southeastern Railway Arvostelua 

Big thanks to Olu at lewisham Station at around 22:50 who helped retrieve my wallet which had fell behind the platform shelter and thanks to the passengers who did try to help. Very efficient and attentive service

At 35 degrees you don't have AC working in your trains, you don't deserve public money. Disgusting

Trying to log a Delay Repay claim with Southeastern is an absolute exercise in frustration. The online portal feels intentionally designed to make you give up.

It constantly loops, fails to recognize perfectly valid ticket photos, or spits out generic error codes right when you are about to submit. It shouldn’t require multiple attempts, browser swaps, and a degree in IT just to get the compensation you are legally owed for a train that they cancelled.

If your trains are going to be late, at least make the process of refunding your passengers functional. Absolutely abysmal user experience.

I lost a personal item on the train to Waterloo. We spoke to several staff members in our search and all were amazingly interested and helpful . Special mention to Chris and colleagues on platform 18 whose suggestion resulted in me recovering the list item . 🙏🙏

Well. I was upstairs rushing to grab the HS southeastern train to Gillingham Kent from London St Pancras .Monday 15June around 10:40 on .having just purchased a coffee from the Costa stall opposite. As I was hurriedly trying to get past the barrier I knocked over the coffee all over the floor on near the platform and was incredibly embarrassed. And got quite flustered. One of the station staff there named Mohammed went and bought me a freshly brewed coffee and even took the time to see me to my train. He was very calm , understanding, polite and extremely courteous. .It was such a kind gesture of him .
The way I look at it was despite the accident, something good came out of it . I hope other station staff will follow his example. Very nice young man !

Shambles or a service. Constant delays, breakdowns and disruption.

It was my first time going on a Javelin train today so I was quite excited.

Awful customer services, faulty ticket.

Enough said.

This is to recognise the excellent customer service staff member called Marailyn.

She is amazing at her job

Sorry no second name
She helps customers at Herne Bay in Kent area

Absolutely horrible service. Made me pay a full price for a child when travelling off peak just because their ticket office wasn't open to buy the "kid for a quid" ticket. Machines in the station don't sell those types of tickets. Absolute scammers and are always late!

Useless service there has been delays all week. I thought we had managed to get the trains to run on time a long time ago but apparently not.

WORST TRAIN in Europe. I took the train a few times up from Gillingham to London and this will be the last. Seriously, is way cheaper to just take a plane from Bristol to any capital city in Europe than to take a train with them. You are basically paying 80£ to not have a seat during the ride, AC that doesn't work during the summer time and compensation promises that are just a big scam when the train is delayed for the fourth time for 40 minutes in a row.

Recently we were traveling to Ramsgate from Stratford International. During our trip the staff member checked couple of times on the passengers with disability to make sure they knew which station we are getting off and that rampl will be provided. Made our journey to be with a lot of peace of mind.

usually on time for me. when my southeastern train was a bit late recently (just enough for delay repay, not enough to make me moan about it directly here). I did the delay repay thing, and was pleasantly surprised how quickly they sorted it out, despite me doing the form wrong apparently, where I know other companies would use this as an excuse to not pay or make me jump through hoops. a rare triumph of customer service deserves praise.

Im from Spain and for some reason we are 40 years ahead of the UK in terms of trains . What is going on? Why do people get on with this? Delays everywhere, DIRTY trains , NO air con when temperature outside is 34 degrees , NOT enough space and extortionate prices what’s happening ?

I purchased a valid ticket for my journey and was able to provide proof of purchase afterwards, yet still received and was forced to pay an £80 penalty fare because my phone battery died during a ticket inspection.

What’s most disappointing is not the fine itself, but the complete lack of discretion or common sense shown towards genuine paying customers acting in good faith. At no point was there any dispute that I had bought and paid for the correct ticket. The issue was purely that I could not display it at that exact moment due to a dead phone battery.

The appeals process felt entirely procedural and impersonal, with little consideration given to proportionality or genuine circumstances. The system appears designed to prioritise revenue collection over fairness or customer experience.

Passengers are increasingly encouraged to rely on digital tickets, yet when technology fails, customers are treated the same as deliberate fare evaders. That simply does not feel reasonable.

I understand rules need to exist, but there should also be room for judgement and discretion where there is clear evidence of honest payment and no intent whatsoever to avoid the fare.

I travelled on Southeastern Highspeed services between Stratford International and Broadstairs on 24 May 2026 and unfortunately experienced extremely poor conditions in both directions, particularly relating to overcrowding, accessibility, and passenger safety.

On the outward journey (11:48 departure), the train was heavily overcrowded to the point where boarding was chaotic. We initially attempted to board an earlier service (10:48) but were unable to do so due to extreme crowding at the platform. At Stratford International we were advised to move towards the front, but even there the situation was extremely congested and it was very difficult to board safely.

On the return journey (17:55 from Broadstairs), conditions were again very overcrowded. The platform was already full before arrival of the train, and boarding was disorganised with passengers pushing to enter. Once on board, there was very limited space to move through the train, and many passengers were standing in vestibules and door areas.

The most serious issue throughout both journeys was the lack of available seating and the impact this had on vulnerable passengers. My father (70+ with sciatica) and mother (nearly 70 with mobility difficulties following a foot operation) were both required to stand for long periods. I also have cerebral palsy, mobility difficulties, knee pain and previous operations on both feet, and I was unable to obtain a seat on either journey.

Priority seating did not appear to be effectively observed or enforced. At one point, I observed an elderly passenger struggling significantly while younger passengers occupied multiple seats, and assistance only came after a delay.

There also appeared to be minimal visible crowd control or ticket enforcement, which contributed to the perception of overcrowding and lack of order during boarding. Passengers were repeatedly told to “move down” even when there was very limited space available to do so.

While the train itself did eventually move and the journey completed, the level of overcrowding and lack of effective passenger management made the experience uncomfortable and concerning from a safety and accessibility perspective.

Given the cost of approximately £100 for three passengers, the experience was also very poor in terms of value for money.

I believe Southeastern should consider improved crowd management during peak leisure travel periods, better enforcement of priority seating, and more effective platform and boarding control to ensure passenger safety and accessibility are not compromised during extreme demand periods.

Overall, while the service technically ran, the conditions experienced were unacceptable for passengers with mobility needs and raise serious concerns about capacity management on busy coastal routes.

It is a scam. I literally changed none of my details and the website added 61 pounds to the price. The pricings also feel stupendously high. The website has probably averted me from ever going with Southeastern Railway to Brighton and Hove.

I could give less I would. Money hungry pigs whose power tripping staff let any inch of authority go straight to their tiny heads. Don’t travel with SE.

I would like to leave a word of thanks to the gentleman (whose name I do not know ) working today and often in the booking office at Birchington-on-Sea railway station. He is always extremely helpful and patient , as today when I renewed the Senior Railcards for myself and my wife. We use them often and he is invariably most informative and patient. He is a credit to the company.

I travelled on the 21:10 service from London Victoria to Gillingham and was seated in the end carriage with a small number of passengers (fewer than 10). A ticket officer checked my ticket but did not appear to check others in the same carriage.

The manner of the interaction felt abrupt and not particularly polite. This made me feel singled out and raised concerns about possible profiling.

I have submitted a formal complaint and hope this is reviewed appropriately.