"If service are being cut by 15 per cent then fares should be cut by 15 per cent."

Summer Dean, who helped lead the event and is self-employed, told the crowd: "We are asking Southern Rail and the Department for Transport to start actually giving us answers.

"We are not just politicians standing here telling them how commuters feel, which is what they do so well. We are stood here as commuters telling you how we feel.

"We want to know how long this temporary service is going to last. We can't just have until further notice."

She added: "We are protesting today against the terrible, terrible service."

At the end of the hour-long protest, which police were present at, she urged the crowd to write to their local MPs in an attempt to help the situation. The group left to shouts of: "We pay, you delay."