There were a few people there who put their point stridently. However, their main grief was the closure of the Perry Vale exit and the lack of disabled access.
I managed to raise the issue of delays and overcrowding due to insufficient gates and provided evidence that Forest Hill and Sydenham should each have four gates open in the main direction of flow.
Southern were obstructive in their feedback; they simply stated that their employees had instructions to open the gates if there was a Health and Safety issue, while refusing to acknowledge that there were a lack of gates. TfL said that each gate could handle 33 paper tickets per minute, and were willing to supply extra gates in as little a four weeks (but where would they be installed?)
Southern then said that their consultants had advised that planning would not be granted before December, so they could not have extra gates installed until February. The mayor said that planning would be expedited.
Jim Dowd was also there and pressed Southern to explain why the gates had to be put into operation now. Could they not be delayed until the whole line was gated? Southern spluttered an unintelligible reply.
The party then proceeded (by train) to Sydenham at about 1815