Disgruntled rail passengers are calling for Southeastern to be stripped of its franchise in an online petition.

Within days of rail bosses blaming 'strong sunshine' for delays on its services into London, the campaign was quickly gaining momentum and on track to trigger a government response.

In the same week, one of its drivers even reportedly criticised the company and urged commuters to complain.

The petition calls for the rail franchise to be removed from Southeastern.

Created by Oliver Passey, it states: "Southeastern constantly let down their paying customers, cancelling trains strategically so they don't have to pay refunds, while making £12.8 million in profit.

"Their customer service is beyond useless and the people of the south east have suffered long enough."

Within a week of being set up, it had already amassed more than 4,000 signatures.

A total of 10,000 is needed for the government to respond, with 100,000 for it to be considered for debate in parliament.

The petition deadline is June 6.

Strong sunshine was the latest excuse offered by Southeastern for having difficulty dispatching trains on Tuesday.

Previous explanations have included leaves on the line and the wrong kind of snow.

For commuter Adam Jenner it was just another nail in the train company's coffin.

"You just couldn't make it up," said the 35-year-old, who has been travelling by train into work for about 15 years.

"The other day I was on the train and the driver said 'Sorry for the delay but I don't know what the problem is. But feel free to complain because Southeastern are not a great company to work for.'

"He said that over the tannoy to what must have been hundreds of passengers. It's not a good advert at all."

Mr Jenner lives in Greenhithe but deliberately drives to Sidcup to catch his daily train into London's Cannon Street. His ticket costs him almost £2,000.

"I purposely drive to Sidcup to avoid sitting on a Southeastern train any longer than I have to.

"My train journey should be about 30 to 35 minutes but even this week going home it's been five minutes late leaving London and then 20 minutes late by the time I got to Sidcup."

When asked about the petition, a spokesman for Southeastern said: "Any decision on the awarding of any franchise for any train operator is made by the Department for Transport.”

Two years ago Southeastern was rated worst train company for customer satisfaction. Entertainment magazine Shortlist also ranked Southeastern as the "undisputed champion" of bad commutes, and there is also a Facebook page titled I Hate Southeastern Trains.

Sign the petition here.