PASSENGER misery on Southern Rail, Britain’s worst performing railway, “could have been avoided,” a damning new report finds today.

The National Audit Office’s long-awaited inquiry into the Southern Rail fiasco found that the operation “has not delivered value for money.”

The report concludes that Tory ministers failed to anticipate that a controversial plan to axe train guards would be met with fierce resistance. After seeing the damning report, union leaders said they wanted “heads to roll.”