A CRISIS meeting to discuss cuts to services from Amersham, Chesham and Chalfont and Latimer underground stations is being organised.

MPs, local councillors and tube users from towns served by the Metropolitan line, including Chorleywood and Rickmansworth, will be able to grill London Underground (LU) bosses invited to defend the recent slash in services.

At a meeting of Chesham Town Council's planning and general purposes committee on Monday, furious councillors dismissed a letter, in which LU boss Derek Smith defended the cuts, as "unhelpful and discourteous".

Town councillors are now hoping big political guns like Chesham and Amersham MP Cheryl Gillan (Con) will lend their support and force tube chiefs to change their tack.

Cllr Chris Spruytenburg (Lib Dem, Asheridge Vale) said after the meeting: "This is going to be quite a big meeting if it comes off. I think it's necessary we need to keep the pressure on London Underground. The service has got to be improved."

The number of off-peak Metropolitan line trains from Amersham to the capital, calling at Chesham, Chorleywood and Rickmansworth, have decreased while services running from Uxbridge and other stations under the control of the new Greater London Authority (GLA) have increased.

In a letter to Chesham Town Council, dated June 8, Derek Smith, managing director of London Underground Limited, said the cuts were necessary because off-peak passenger numbers were lower at Amersham than other branches.

Mrs Gillan has written letters to London Underground to express her concern.

She said she would support any action the community saw fit to take and added: "This is absolutely ridiculous.

"It's mothers with children, the elderly and the people who travel off-peak who are going to be affected by these cuts."

A spokesman for London Underground said a meeting was to be held next week to which MP Cheryl Gillan and representatives from Chiltern District Council would be invited.