Campaigners demanding a better train service for Deal have set up an action group to fight their battle.

A website has been launched and an open meeting has been at the Royal Hotel, Beach Street, Deal.

The moves were taken following a packed public meeting at the town hall and the action group has pledged to fight for high speed trains to stop in Deal and improved rail services for the town.

A website called trains4deal.com has been launched and it has an online petition to the Prime Minister.

Campaigner and journalist Tom Rowland said: “We believe we could be pushing at an open door. Southeastern has been surprised at the number of people from Deal already joining the fast trains at Dover or Ashford.

“The prospect of London to Dover in 69 minutes is so attractive after years of being resigned to a frustratingly slow service that’s now got even worse.

“But high speed commuters are finding the rail connections to complete their journey to and from Deal are less than reliable, especially in the recent bad weather.

“This is an open invitation to ‘drive to the train’, bringing more traffic to the Dover-Deal road and parking chaos around stations with a better service.