" But the Gatwick/Brighton trains get preferential treatment, and the Wimbedon loop trains just get cancelled." If you have to make a priority decision, if something has to given, that makes sense tho doesn't it? That weighing up and balancing of priorities has to be done on stressed systems - and people living 4 miles away from work can get to work by other means, at short notice. People living 50 miles away, or travelling from airports with luggage can't