COMMUTERS to London face the worst journeys into work in Europe, according to a survey out today. People travelling from parts of north Kent are suffering most as the journey from this regional compares badly with others into the capital.

While the 57-mile trip from Oxford to London takes just under an hour, it takes 48 minutes to get from Chatham to Cannon Street - a distance of 35 miles.

Commuter Samantha Harrow, 27, who travels from Chatham to London every morning, says she isn't impressed by the Connex South East service. She stressed: "It's a dreadful service. The train is often late or delayed. You just can't rely on the service. The trains to Cannon Street are too short so they are always crowded."

Robert Phillips, 33, of Port Rise, Chatham, who works as an IT consultant in the capital, said he thought the journey was too long. He added: "The service is better than it was but it takes 48 minutes to get to Cannon Street, which is too long.".

The survey, by property consultants Cushman and Wakefield Healey and Baker found that commuters take an average of 51 minutes to get to their offices - the longest journey time among eight major European cities. It compares poorly with just 36 minutes for Frankfurt and 33 minutes for Barcelona.

Some 56 per cent of Londoners - the highest figure in Europe - say the poor reliability of public transport is the thing they hate most about travelling.

Rail passenger campaigner John Davies, from Rainham, who confronted Connex boss Olivier Brousse in December, said he was not surprised that the London commute is the worst in Europe.

He said: "It certainly takes me 53 minutes to travel from Rainham to Cannon Street. I think part of the problem is due to the standard of the rolling stock and the backdated rail system.

"Also London does have an extremely high proportion of commuters which causes other congestion, such as on the tubes."

Sarah Boundy, a spokesman for Connex, said: "Connex aims to provide passengers with affordable, reliable and a comfortable train service. Our improved relationship with Railtrack has led to a marked improvement in recent punctuality and performance since Christmas and Connex's performance for this first quarter is 88 per cent.

"Connex has also even achieved 100 per cent punctuality on a number of occasions this year. We realise there is still a lot of hard work to be done to maintain and improve on this trend, but we are hopeful that we can do it."