Rail commuters in London, Surrey, Sussex and Kent are set for a week of travel chaos as Southern staff began their five-day strike on 8 August. Thousands of passengers were faced with cancellations or delays and packed train carriages as Southern warned of "significantly reduced" services.

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Southern has said that 60% of their trains are operating on an emergency timetable during the strike, however, there are some services that are not running at all during the week. Trains to Tonbridge and Hastings have been cancelled, while services between Brighton and London are expected to be packed and subject to last minute alterations.

Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union members are striking over changes to the role of conductors, whose duties of closing doors are being given to train drivers. Talks between RMT and Southern's operator, Govia Thameslink (GTR), on 5 August were unsuccessful and the rail operator refused to cancel the strike.

RMT general general secretary Mick Cash said: "It was clear right from the start that there was no serious intent from Govia Thameslink to engage in genuine negotiations, and that their script was being written from behind the scenes by their government paymasters. I have been involved in countless negotiations and have never witnessed a farce like this."

The public appear to be losing sympathy for Southern conductors, taking to Twitter to vent their frustration at the travel chaos. IBTimes UK rounds up some of the best tweets from the first morning of the strike.

They can't seem to do anything right...

Others tweeted about their alternative to the Southern...

Straight to the point....

Sympathy fading quickly...

One frustrated commuter even wrote a song about it...