COMMUTERS are used to seeing big screens flashing with rows of letters and numbers as they wait for the train.

But they might get a surprise at Brighton Station this week when personal and heartfelt messages flash up for all to see.

The Waiting Wall, which is at the station as part of Brighton Digital Festival, is the brainchild of Hove web developers Steven Parker and Alan Donohoe.

Made possible by online message submissions from the public, the screen went live first thing on Monday - and left bleary-eyed travellers with the morning blues having to do a double take.

Mr Parker said: "It's about people getting things off their chest, anonymously. Most of it is people putting up messages that maybe they can't say publicly, that they can't discuss with family. They just want to release it.

"People don't tend to write too much, they treat it like Twitter, but over the past few days it's really gone up a notch."

Occupying a screen installed as part of the station's revamp, the messages, in traditional timetable format, are interspersed between the regular rolling imagery you would see in a busy terminus.

Mr Parker said: "We do filter them because you do get the occasional joke message. Some people want their five minutes of fame and sometimes they're a bit rude. There are a few dark ones and a few relationship ones.

"It's almost a case of wanting to put a face to the message. It's intriguing that you could be standing next to someone in the station and not know it was them who had sent the message you're reading."

Both aged 38, the pair met at the University of Brighton and now run a digital company called Free The Trees.

Their project is inspired by the Wailing Wall in Jerusalem and ideas from writer, philosopher and presenter Alain de Botton.

An event in The Cyclist bar in the station previewed the screen late last month and allowed for people to submit their own messages and it will remain in the station until Sunday.

Visit thewaitingwall.com to see the wall and post a message.