Six-year-old girl pleads with rail bosses in heartbreaking letter

Six-year-old girl pleads with rail bosses to improve services so that she can see her dad
Six-year-old girl pleads with rail bosses to improve services so that she can see her dad



A six-year-old girl tugged on the heartstrings of rail bosses when she wrote a letter begging them to get her father home on time so he could tuck her in at bedtime.

Ella Porter wrote the heart-wrenching note to bosses at Southern, pleading with them to help her father Neil get back from work in time to see her before bed.

Mr Porter, a graphic designer from Uckfield, East Sussex, takes the train to east London each day to get to his work in Shoreditch, paying £4,000 a year for his commute. Words: PA

But disruptions, delays and cancellations between Uckfield and London Bridge mean he faces "major chaos" on his journeys, making him late home.

Young Ella also chastised Southern for "taking all of daddy's money", meaning she can't go on a holiday to Disneyland.

In the letter, which Mr Porter posted on Facebook, Twitter and Instagram, she wrote: "Dear Mr Railway Man, my daddy is always late home and I miss him very much because he always used to tuck me into bed, this makes me upset.

"Please get him home on time. Daddy says you take all his money, that is why I can't go to Disney Land. I really want to go to Disney Land."

She signs off: "Ella aged six."

Tweeting his daughter's letter, Mr Porter wrote: "Please share my daughter's letter, I think Southern Rail UK should compensate my daughter for her time without her Dad.

"I pay £4,000pa, I accept the odd disruption. Major chaos surrounds every journey. It's stressful."

The letter gained support on social media, with one fellow commuter, @jimdesign, writing: "I feel your daughter's and your pain. Been late too many times."

Sophie Pizzey said: "Aww that's so sweet, heartbreaking too, bless her xx"

The letter appears to have melted the heart of at least one person at Southern. A tweet from the rail firm said: "Really sorry for the disruption caused to you. Genuinely has got me welling up. I'm sorry."

A spokeswoman for Southern said: "We are sorry that Mr Porter has been delayed on his way home and that his daughter misses him.

"Trains to Victoria and London Bridge travel over the most congested part of the whole of Britain's railway network and we are constantly pushing against the boundaries of what is physically possible on the infrastructure to provide as much capacity as possible to and from London.

"London Bridge station is being rebuilt with fewer platforms and tracks for our trains currently, and this has made train performance even more challenging. We and Network Rail are determined to improve the situation and have made some additional changes to the timetable today to help with this."





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