From January 19, 1990

Chaotic, dirty, overcrowded, expensive and inconvenient – and that is just on the good days.

British Rail’s Kingston service came in for a bashing 25 years ago with the presentation of a petition signed by almost 1,000 irate commuters.

Liberal Democrat and Conservative councillors demanded improvements and a list of demands were to be placed before railway executives at a joint meeting.

Kingston’s opposition leader, Councillor John Tilley, presented the petition to the council’s highways committee.

It said: “We believe our transport service is chaotic, dirty, unreliable, expensive and inconvenient and we urge Kingston Council to make every representation to improve the service.”

Coun Tilley said: “The wording reflects the anxieties and very real annoyance of local people about what’s happened to the rail service in recent years.

“Many people travel into London from Kingston to work, but Norbiton station, for example, has been cut back and cut back.

“People will recall that we’ve had a number of rapes in the area. A reduction in staffing will not help. Staff also help counter vandalism, particularly important after the recent arson attack.”

Councillors all agreed on the excellence of Surbiton’s rail links, but Kingston was always the poor relation.

During the day, there were only two trains an hour to Waterloo and one of those was occasionally cancelled.

Councillor Ian Osborne said people were discouraged from using trains by failings in the service.

He cited the case of a passenger having to lead others out of Chessington after dark by holding a flaming Evening Standard above his head because the lights had packed up.

Councillors agreed to lobby British Rail on the Kingston service, the possible introduction of a new Kingston-to-Wimbledon shuttle and reassurance on reliability.

 

50 YEARS AGO: January 16, 1965 Alderman Cyril M Judge, former mayor of Kingston, became the first mayor of the Greater London borough of Kingston 50 years ago.

He told the Comet his main responsibility would be blending into a single unit the three areas – Surbiton, Malden and Kingston – that had enjoyed individual district status.

25 YEARS AGO: January 19, 1990 More than 200 extra litter bins were to appear in Kingston, it was announced.

The Comet also reported that “mobile response teams” were being set up to respond to “litter emergencies”, likely to occur during busy shopping sale periods.

The bins were to cost about £31,000.

10 YEARS AGO: January 19, 2005 Planned flexible drinking laws were slammed as “a mess” by Kingston publicans.

Under controversial new legislation, general closing times were due to end from November 2004.

Confusion over how it would work lead to fears the move could cost Kingston Council £130,000 in the first year.