‘Stop messing up commuters’ lives’


A TRAIN company has been accused of “messing up” people’s lives by axing key services via Maidstone to the City. Tonbridge andMallingMP Sir John Stan-


ley accused Southeastern of "zero listening" over complaints about the withdrawal of services.


CADETS and Badgers from St John Ambu- lance’s Maidstone division spent a day showing interested passers-by how much funitistobeinvolvedwiththe charity and displaying their first aid skills. They demonstrated how to correctly bandage and dress wounds, resuscitation techniques and the importance of the re- covery position. Divisional officer Paul Cole said: “The


day was a great opportunity for our young- sters to show their first aid knowledge and skills to the general public and we were very proud of them. Six local families ex- pressed an interest in their children join- ing our local Badger sett, which is great news.


“Incredibly up to 150,000 people die


each year in situations where first aid may have made the difference and events such as this one provide us with an opportunity to urge people to take up the challenge of learning some skills.” Parents who are interested in their chil-


dren joining Badgers or Cadets can visit di- visional meetings held every Thursday evening, during term time, at Dunk Me- morial Hall, Church Street, Maidstone. For more information, call 01732 874446 or log on towww.sja.org.uk/sja/counties/kent


"Not only do passengers face increased journey times to stations in London they do not want to get to, but their whole family and business life has been absolutely messed up." A rail summit, held in Maidstone, also heard that Kent MPs, including Tracey


First-aiders display skills to help recruitment


Crouch (Chatham and Aylesford) have called for a cap on rail fare rises in the county. Charles Horton, Southeastern’s managing director, said the firm’s hands were effec- tively tied by the terms of its franchise. The Government's argument was that it should be rail users who paid more for the costs of running the railway, not the general tax- payer. He insisted he was not deaf to


the criticisms but held out little hope of bringing back services from west Kent in the immedi- ate future. "Changes are possi- ble but as private sector operators, we have to make sure that they are commercial.” However, he said that the company was happy to look at bringing back services if other parties contributed the £675,000 estimated subsidy needed for west Kent lines. Cllr Nick Chard, KCC cabinet member responsible for trans- port, said the views of rail users would be fundamental in draw- ing up a rail action plan that KCC was producing ahead of the award of the next franchise in 2015.


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