Southeastern have given themselves a pat on the back for their recent performance but commuters are far from impressed.

More than a week since the biggest timetable change for five years – to accommodate rebuilding work at London Bridge – the train operator said nearly 92% of its trains had arrived on time in that period.

But commuter Jennifer Coles is at her witt’s end. Since the changes she has been relying on the first Cannon Street train from Rainham, but erratic cancellations in that service have seen her miss a job interview and be continually late for work.

She said: “As a commuter I understand the infrastructure needs to be improved, yet my train fare has increased again this year and we are being provided with a poorer service, with a reduced number of services to Cannon Street and suffer regular cancellations and delays.”

The alternative route to Blackfriars puts an extra 30 minutes on to her journey and means on top of the £4,000 she pays for her gold card annually, Ms Coles must fork out for unavoidable high speed charges and then the tube to decrease her tardiness.

“Can they honestly say this is fair? They do not seem to realise how much disruption this causes commuters.”

Ms Coles has written to Southeastern strongly encouraging them to look at the contract they have with TFL and allow customers access to any tube stop to reduce their already increased travel times, and waive the high speed charge when other services are cancelled.

But David Statham, managing director at Southeastern, said: “Performance was good last week and most passengers seem to have adapted well to the new timetable.

“We’ve been working hard to provide as much assistance as possible during the first week to keep Kent and London moving while the vital rebuild takes place at London Bridge.”

Work to rebuild London Bridge is part of the £6.5bn Thameslink programme – meaning Southeastern services to Charing Cross are unable to stop at London Bridge until August next year.

But commuters from across the country have complained of turmoil, safety issues and overcrowding at stations.

Southeastern said, since last Monday, it had laid on more than 170 agency staff at stations to help passengers understand the new routes. This was on top of 100 extra permanent frontline staff recruited to provide support for passengers.

A ‘Meet the Manager’ event is being help at Cannon Street station between 8am-10am on January 27, giving passengers the opportunity to speak to senior managers face-to-face.

But Ms Coles said: “They haven’t even considered hosting one at Blackfriars where their popular services are currently being diverted. I suppose it would mean they would have to listen to far more negative feedback.”