MPs have met with a train company over the "unacceptable" service it has given to passengers.

Hertfordshire MPs met with bosses at West Midlands Trains, which runs London Northwestern Railway, last week just a day after Transport Secretary Grant Shapps told the train company it must spend an additional £20 million improving services and reducing delays following poor performance.

Mr Shapps said it must rapidly improve services so people had trains they could rely on.

The meeting, set-up by Watford MP Dean Russell, saw Hertfordshire MPs join forces to hold West Midlands Trains to account over the problems it has faced with London Northwestern.

Mr Russell was joined by Hertsmere MP Oliver Dowden, South West Herts MP Gagan Mohindra and Hemel Hempstead MP Mike Penning at the meeting on February 13.

In a letter given to the MPs at the meeting, West Midlands Trains set out short, medium and long-term plans to fix the issues.

The train company says it has pledged to “introduce additional carriages at peak time on the busiest of trains”.

The letter also states the franchise “are about to launch an extensive communications plan which will go further to explain to passengers why things went wrong last year and more importantly what we are doing about it".

Problems started on the London Northwestern service started when a new timetable was introduce in May 2019, which has affected commuters up and down the country including Watford, Bushey and Kings Langley.

The National Rail Passenger Survey found the rail franchise had seen the biggest fall in passenger satisfaction of any rail franchise in the country since the disruption started.

Following the meeting Mr Russell said: "The service, which commuters pay a lot of money for, has been unacceptable.

"Along with my colleagues I will continue to push for improved communication and a service that works for passengers.”

“We had a pretty frank discussion and the company has taken on board all of our complaints. We need a reliable, efficient and modern rail service in and out of London. Local commuters pay a large proportion of their salaries on rail travel and they need to be able to be confident they can get to work on time and get home again back to their families.”

Sir Penning added: “We had a pretty frank discussion and the company has taken on board all of our complaints.

"We need a reliable, efficient and modern rail service in and out of London. Local commuters pay a large proportion of their salaries on rail travel and they need to be able to be confident they can get to work on time and get home again back to their families.”