We are part of the few lucky ones that can still afford a mortgage in London.

We have recently moved into the Sutton area and considered this to be a step forward in our lives.

Working in London, while house hunting our research showed fast trains to and from London allowed us to have a comfortable place to live and some life quality after years of effort and money saving.

However, nothing could be further from the truth.

Why? Because construction work at London Bridge station since January 2015, which will last for three years, means one hour’s journey each way is easily transformed into two to three hours every day due to recurrent delays and cancellations.

It is often common to be late to work and it is even more common to have to wait up to 45 minutes, standing up in the middle of hundreds of anxious people at the end of a day, while trains are cancelled one after the other.

In order to prevent further disruption to our lives and work commitments, our days are now starting as early as 5.30am, so we can get the more reliable earlier trains, finishing usually after 8pm, almost 13 hours later.

This has had an obvious impact on our lives, increasing exhaustion levels, creating a scenario of ongoing frustration where a task as simple as getting to work or home in one of the world’s major cities takes us back to third-world country levels.

Our daily routine has now included getting to the train station and completing reimbursement forms for every single train delayed or cancelled.

However, we do not want our money back. We just want the life that we were dreaming of. After all, we consider it to be a privilege to live and work in London.

We are aware meetings have taken place at high levels, including the Mayor of London himself.

After all, disruption to London Bridge does not affect just our lives, it affects the whole economy of a country and, in our case as teachers, the teaching and learning of the future citizens of the United Kingdom.

We would like to voice the despair that thousands have to go through every single day in view of a solution that can provide the work-life balance everyone deserves.

We will be thankful if you can share this message and help all of us, the ones affected by the construction works in London Bridge station.

ANDRE COSTA
Sutton