A COMMUTER was stunned to be told to “travel by other means” when he complained about c2c’s new timetable.

Dean Finch, group chief executive for National Express, which owns rail company, c2c, made the comment in a frank email exchange with passenger David Hart.

Mr Hart posted the reply from Mr Finch on Twitter, but c2c say it is part of a longer response in which Mr Finch answered all the questions and apologised twice.

Mr Hart had been in conversation with Mr Finch when the chief executive replied: “The only available path for me to ‘fix it’ is to get more rolling stock. This is what is happening.

You are clearly angry beyond description so I can only suggest that we arrange to refund your season ticket back to you, so that you are free to travel by other means.”

The managing director of c2c, Julian Drury, was copied into the email and Mr Finch signed off by writing: “Julian can arrange this for you”.

Mr Hart posted the response on Twitter, prompting criticism of Mr Finch from many users already angry at the impact of the new timetable.

Mr Hart said: “He just turned after a conversation.

“I said if that’s the solution, you’ll lose a lot of money.”

Commuters have been angered by the changed schedule which has led to overcrowding, shorter trains, increased journey times and more stops at east London stations.

Other passengers on social media questioned Mr Finch’s response. @ginger_liz tweeted: “Wonder if @natexgroup shareholders are happy with the chief executive telling people not to use c2c!”

A c2c spokesman said: “Dean often receives emails from customers, and regularly responds personally when he can.

“This extract is part of a far longer exchange where Dean had answered all the customer's questions, and had already apologised twice.

"As the full exchange makes clear, we have been surprised by the extraordinary increase in demand, which has already filled the extra capacity provided by the new timetable.

“We are doing all we can to address this, which is why we spending a seven-figure sum to lease additional carriages that we will add to the busiest trains as soon as possible.”