Appalling discomfort

Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email eastbourne.herald@jpress.co.uk SUS-180130-143238001 — Call the newsdesk on 01323 414488 or email [email protected] SUS-180130-143238001

After reading an article in the Daily Mail of February 19 with the suggestion from a former president of the Institute of Osteopathy that passengers should bring their own cushions to combat the appalling discomfort of the seats in the Thameslink class 700 units (not to mention the equally dreadful seats in the so-called Gatwick Express and other similar units on Great Northern and Great Western services) I was most alarmed to read the response of a Govia Thameslink spokesman who conceded that the seating were harder, but had to be to comply with fire regulations.

Surely the only inference of this comment is that all other more comfortable seats provided in all other trains running in this country are in breach of these fire regulations and as such all such trains should be immediately taken out of service and retro fitted to ensure passenger safety and regulatory compliance.

Personally, I would venture to suggest that the only reason the seats in these trains have such bottom numbing qualities is because they are cheap and nasty and no one else in Europe would accept them.