THE rate of passenger complaints to Arriva Trains Wales went down last summer compared to 2016, according to data from the rail regulator.

The train operator received 46.2 complaints for every 100,000 passengers, from July to September last year.

The figures from the Office for Road and Rail show that this was down on the same period in 2016 when it was 74.7 for every 100,000.

The ORR said that reporting issues at Arriva Trains Wales mean that the rate of complaints may be higher and the train operator was dealing with a backlog of complaints.

Nationally the rate of complaints across all rail franchise holders was 28.7 per 100,000 passengers, down by 2.2 per cent for the quarter compared to the same period in 2016. Across the country passenger concerns included late or unreliable services, ticketing policies, poor facilities on trains, and being forced to stand.

At Arriva Trains Wales the largest number of complaints were about the punctuality of its trains. Most complaints are made by email or an online form. Complaints received via social media are not counted in these statistics as the operators have different ways of dealing with comments on social platforms.

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