THE company poised to take over the running of Scotland's trains is among the poorest performers in the latest national passenger satisfaction survey.

The Abellio-run Greater Anglia franchise was rated the second poorest in Britain for value for money fares and also scored badly for on-board space, toilet facilities and availability of staff in the latest Passenger Focus poll, which produced every six months by the consumer watchdog.

Abellio, a subsidiary of the Dutch national rail company Nederlandse Spoorwegen, is set to take control of the ScotRail franchise from First Group from April 1 this year on a ten-year contract.

The biggest gripe for customers using its Greater Anglia services, currently the operator's only other UK franchise, were the toilet facilities, with 49 per cent of passengers questioned rating them as poor.

Nearly half (47 per cent) were also dissatisfied over a lack of staff, while 40 per cent complained about a lack of seating and almost as many (39 per cent) said ticket prices offered poor value for money.

Only 80 per cent of Abellio passengers rated the service as good or satisfactory - unchanged from Autumn 2013 - compared to 88 per cent of ScotRail passengers under the existing franchise.

The biggest complaint for ScotRail passengers was a poor choice of shopping, eating and drinking facilities on board or in stations, with more than a quarter of passengers (29 per cent) complaining about this.