That's the belief of Cllr Gerald Vernon-Jackson, leader of Portsmouth City Council, who was this morning asking rail passengers what they thought of the new trains to London which have smaller seats.

He was at Fratton train station handing out surveys to see exactly what train users make of the new trains operating between the city and London Waterloo.

South West Trains have introduced the new 12-carriage blue 450 trains which have five seats in each row, compared to four in the old 10-carriage, white 444 trains.

As a result the seats are smaller, with many passengers complaining they are too small to sit comfortably in.

Cllr Vernon-Jackson, was hoping to get the views of more than 2,000 passengers.

He said: 'The really annoying thing is that the reason we are losing them is because they are sending them to Southampton.

'The lease on the line between Southampton and London is up soon, and it is obvious that Southampton and Bournemouth to London is a more important line to them than our one.

'We had to put up with the old slam door trains for ages when Southampton got the newer trains, and now we have got the nice new trains here, they are taking them away.'

South West Trains claim the new trains - which were originally only intended for use on the suburban line between London and Guildford - are being used to alleviate crowding.

As previously reported in The News, an Emsworth man, David Habershon, is spearheading the 'no450' campaign, which aims to stop the roll-out of the new trains on the Portsmouth line.