THE number of complaints made by disgruntled passengers to the North-East's railway watchdog shot up last year by more than 16 per cent.

The Rail Passengers' Committee (RPC) for the North-East reveals in its annual report that it received 1,461 complaints for 2002/3 - 208 more than in 2001/2.

The increase is being blamed largely on the back of the long-running strike by Arriva Trains Northern conductors, involving the RMT union, which brought huge disruption to the region's railways.

Among train operators, Arriva was the subject of 631 complaints, followed by 404 against GNER and 240 against Virgin Cross Country.

The vast majority of complaints surrounded train punctuality, and the frequency and quality of services.

Ernie Preston, secretary of the North-East RPC, said one of the "shoddier aspects" of the inconvenience and disruption which resulted had been the failure by both sides to deal with complaints passed on by the RPC.

Mr Preston says in the report: "At times, Arriva and the RMT appeared to be in competition as to which of them could pass the buck more quickly."

The report details how the RPC did, however, manage to deal successfully with a number of passenger complaints.

These included a pensioner who arrived back at Manchester Airport following a lengthy holiday unaware that conductors were on strike and had to pay £137 for a taxi as no services were available to get him home to York.

After initially complaining to Arriva, he was offered £3 in rail vouchers but, on the intervention of the RPC, he was refunded the full amount for the taxi fare.

The RPC's report identifies a number of areas in which the region's railways need to be improved.

Deputy chairman John Taylor says a number of smaller stations on the Durham Coast line, Tyne Valley line and on the East Coast Main Line lack facilities allowing passengers to contact station staff.

He also describes how Sunderland station, which is used by both Arriva and Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus, is in "urgent need of improvement" to make it more attractive to visitors.

The report also criticises the continued use of 1980s- built Pacer rolling stock used on many minor routes for their "bus-type bench seats", poor comfort and high noise levels.