Tunbridge Wells MP Greg Clark has called on Southeastern to reduce rail fares and prioritise the introduction of flexible ticketing for part-time workers.

He believes that in the past travellers on the Hastings line have suffered double-digit increases which has resulted in a huge discrepancy in the prince of an annual season ticket from Tunbridge Wells - around £1,500 difference.

At the meeting with the managing director of Southeastern, David Statham, he stated he believes the 'injustice' should be corrected.

Mr Clark added: "I also pointed out that Southeastern is in the dark ages when it comes to ticketing. In London, flexible ticketing has been around for over 10 years.

"The technology is easily available so why hasn’t it reached Tunbridge Wells yet?Lots of people work part-time now and it is unfair that their choice is to either pay over the odds for a season ticket or suffer the high cost and inconvenience of buying daily tickets."

He believes the recent extension of the franchise was disappointing in terms of improvements for travellers from Tunbridge Wells. He is also passionate that if the company doesn't start providing better money for value that the franchise should be withdrawn when it comes up for renewal.

A Southeastern spokesperson said: "Our managing director welcomed the opportunity to meet with MP Greg Clark local to discuss a range of issues that we know are important to our passengers and his constituents.

"He also provided a detailed briefing on the new Direct Award contract, outlining the improvements that we plan to make to our services over the next three and a half years. These include 95,000 extra seats, more staff at stations to help with providing information to passengers, and significant investment in improving our stations and trains."

"Mr Clark also wanted to know if there were plans to introduce flexible ticketing. Unfortunately, Smart ticketing is not included the DAC but we remain committed to the introduction of smart ticketing and we continue to work with the DfT to introduce this to the network.

The meeting was held on Friday, October 17.