Midland Mainline had a 69% punctuality in the survey

The three worst-performing inter-city train companies in the UK - Virgin CrossCountry, Midland Mainline and GNER - all run in the region, according to the figures from the Strategic Rail Authority.

Virgin CrossCountry, which runs a service through Derbyshire, ran 67.8% of trips on time, while Midland Mainline had a 69.1% punctuality record and GNER hit the target for 74.8% of journeys.

The nation's worst-performing regional train service was run by Central Trains with 72.9% punctuality, while Arriva Trains Northern came in eighth out of 10 such operators on 82.3%.

Disappointing results

All the figures are for the January to March 2003 period.

A Midland Mainline spokeswoman said the quarterly figures are "disappointing".

Emma Knight said the company, which runs trains from Nottingham to London, is at the mercy of Network Rail, the company responsible for track and signals.

A statement from Central Trains, which has a service from Birmingham to Nottingham, says it has improved since the current figures were tabulated - with eight out of 10 trains operating on time.

The figures for GNER, which runs on the east-coast line through Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, showed an improvement to 74.8% punctuality from a figure of 69.2% for the previous year.

More complaints

Overall, fewer of Britain's trains ran on time over the first three months of this year compared with the same period last year.

The Strategic Rail Authority says about 20% of trains failed to arrive when they should.

Complaints have also increased by 8%.