CCTV cameras at some railway stations aren't always working, it has been revealed.

Southeastern has confirmed that not every CCTV camera at stations will be working.

It follows a complaint by a commuter from Hollingbourne who discovered that the CCTV cameras at the station car park were not switched on.

Southeastern says it would like to provide CCTV at all its stations but says it does not have the money to have working cameras at every station in Kent.

Instead the company monitors crime trends from British Transport Police.

Figures show there have been three crimes at Hollingbourne so far this year. There are around 18,000 journeys made from the station each year.

A company spokesman said: "We take crime extremely seriously and work very closely with our colleagues at British Transport Police to try and reduce the level of crime across our network, and we have seen a reduction of crime at Hollingbourne station.

"We have a quick and efficient set of processes in place to deal with requests from our colleagues at the BTP to provide CCTV.

"The CCTV at the station has not been in operation since April 2008 due to vandalism and due to the continued reduction in crime rate and the need to put resources into other stations with higher levels of crime, it is not a priority at the moment.

"If this situation were to change then we would look at making it a priority."

• There is rail misery for commuters in the West Malling area of Kent on Friday morning, after a freight train broke down in the Barming area.