FARES are to be slashed from Hampshire's newest railway station less than four weeks after the Daily Echo exposed how passengers travelling from Chandler's Ford were being taken for a ride.

The Daily Echo revealed how it was cheaper to travel from Southampton's St Denys station to Romsey than to get to Chandler's Ford - even though Romsey was just over five miles further up the line - while it also cost less to travel from Romsey to Southampton than from Chandler's Ford to the city.

Passengers and civic chiefs called for the rail operators to get their act together over the multi-million-pound service from Romsey to Totton which opened on May 18.

At the time, a spokesman for SouthWest Trains told the Daily Echo that although they were aware of "some anomalies", the earliest opportunity for looking at the situation was the September fares review.

Now, South West Trains has announced that fares from Chandler's Ford are to be slashed from Sunday.

A day return between Chandler's Ford and Southampton Central will cost £3.10 instead of £5.90 and a cheap day return will be £2.80 instead of £4.80.

A company spokesman said: "Since launching our new service from Chandler's Ford in May we have received a lot of positive comments about the service.

"However, we also quickly realised that some local fares were not competitive enough - so we worked quickly to resolve this issue and are pleased to say we will be introducing new fares on Sunday from Chandler's Ford."

South West Trains' commercial director Rufus Boyd added: "A lot of work has been put into Chandler's Ford so we are keen for any anomalies to be put straight.

"We want to encourage local people to use our service and are doing this by introducing cheaper fares. We want to get it right."

Hampshire County Councillor Colin Davidovitz, who performed the formal opening of the station in May said: " I am really delighted at the news of this huge fare reduction.

"Ever since I opened the new station I have been working hard to persuade South West Trains to cut the fare for this new service."

He added: "I am sure that this will encourage many more people to use the train for their journey to and from Southampton and to connect to the main line services at Eastleigh and Parkway."

Past vice-chairman of the Rail Users' Consultative Committee of Southern England, Alan Shotter, said: "I knew I could rely on Rufus once the Daily Echo pointed out what was wrong with the fares. I'm glad South West Trains have acted quickly."