Out of the 244 organisations surveyed, London Midland increased its score by 9.3 points from 68.1 to 77.4 during 2016. Key areas of improvement listed by the report were complaints handling and getting things right first time.

The UKCSI is now in its ninth year and surveys 10,000 consumers to gauge customer service provision in the UK business landscape.

Positive findings by the Institute of Customer Service reflect London Midland’s philosophy of making travel simpler and easier for its passengers. The company calls this approach Travel Made Simple.

Richard Brooks, commercial director at London Midland, said: “Being named the most improved UK organisation for customer service is a significant accolade for London Midland. Most important this is further evidence that our customers are getting a better service.

“The UKCSI cites ‘making experiences easier’ as the number one driver for improving customer satisfaction. This has formed the basis for much of our recent activity and we have increased Sunday morning and late night services on key routes, provided additional ticket buying facilities and reduced crime and antisocial behaviour across our network.”

Being named the UK’s most improved organisation for customer service comes just two weeks after London Midland received two awards from the Institute of Rail Operators for being the country’s most improved train company. In the same month Transport Focus reported that London Midland had held its customer satisfaction rating at 85% when average overall satisfaction for the rail industry had fallen to 81%. This week the train company also received the top Gold rating from Investors in People.

London Midland’s Travel Made Simple includes an investment of £15 million in strategic initiatives to improve services and make travel as simple as possible.