NEARLY a quarter of South West Trains services were more than five minutes late in 2003-4, new figures show.

The statistic of 24 per cent of trains being excessively late was the worst of any commuter rail operator in London.

The figures are contained in the annual report of the London Transport Users' Committee, which monitors transport performance.

However, SWT's lateness was 2.6 per cent better than the year before. In 2003-4 SWT also cancelled 1.5 per cent of trains and reduced the total number of scheduled services by 2.5 per cent.

Silverlink recorded 16.6 per cent of trains arriving over five minutes late.

South West Trains and Silverlink also has some of the most overcrowded services in London. In autumn 2003 SWT outer suburban trains carried 5.9 per cent more passengers than they were designed to take, while Silverlink's North London Line - which serves Richmond - recorded 7.1 per cent.

The LTUC report commented: "The railways still have a very wide gap to close if they aspire to achieve levels of user satisfaction similar to those routinely achieved by most other retail services and, indeed, by most members of Transport for London's family of operators."

The report was much more positive about London bus services, noting that the service operated was up by ten per cent and passenger usage up by 12 per cent on the previous year. Reliability was also up by 1.1 per cent.

The average time people waited for a bus was down by over half a minute to 5.8 minutes, recorded the report. These translated into better satisfaction ratings among passengers, except for the figure on value for money' following big fare rises.

The LTUC reports that mechanical breakdown and staff shortages remain rare on buses, whose main obstacle is traffic congestion.

The tube also received a thumbs-up in the report, which notes that waiting times are down and reliability up, despite power cuts and derailments during the year. Negative features of tube performance included a 0.4 per cent drop in passenger numbers and an increase in crowding.

The LTUC, set up to provide an independent voice for passengers, includes Twickenham resident David Bertram among its membership.