A rail union has once again demanded the company which formerly operated Southeastern be stripped off its remaining train franchises after it was hit with a £23.5million fine by the government this morning.

Southeastern was stripped off its contract to run the majority of train services in the county in October due to financial irregularities.

The shock announcement came after it was accused of failing to declare millions of pounds of "historic taxpayer funding" which should have been returned to the Department for Transport (DfT).

It has already had to repay £64m.

Southeastern was owned by Govia - a joint venture between the Go-Ahead Group and France-headquartered Keolis.

In addition to running the Southeastern network it continues to run Southern, Thameslink and Great Northern.

The group stopped operating the Southeastern franchise - formally the London & South Eastern Railway (LSER) - on October 17, 2021.

It has since been operated by the Operator of Last Resort - a subsidiary of the DfT set up to takeover struggling train franchises.

Now the Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union says the probe has revealed "fiddling of the figures dates back many years" and "reinforces the case" for Govia to be stripped of its other franchises.

RMT general secretary Mick Lynch said: "The privatised financial scandal on Southeastern is no fluke, it reinforces our case that franchising on our railways was always a racket and that this scam was the tip of the iceberg.

"Financial sanctions are not enough. Govia should be stripped of the rest of their lucrative London commuter routes as part of a plan to rid our railways of the privatisation nonsense once and for all. "

Earlier today, the government confirmed LSER was being issued with a £23.5m penalty notice for a "serious breach of the company's franchise agreement" - on top of the £64m already recovered.

In a statement, the DfT said the fine came "after work conducted by the Department for Transport identified evidence showing that between October 2014 and March 2020 LSER had deliberately concealed over £25m of historic taxpayer funding relating to HS1 [High Speed One], which should have been returned to the taxpayer".

It added: "The review also identified evidence of similar behaviour by LSER during its previous franchise agreement that ran from April 2006 to October 2014."

Transport Secretary Grant Shapps said: “I took decisive action and did not renew the contract with Southeastern following this appalling breach of trust.

“Our rapid and firm action protected taxpayers and passengers – ensuring much-needed services continued to run.

“LSER’s behaviour was simply unacceptable and this penalty sends a clear message that the government, and taxpayers, will not stand for it.”