Commuters, students, businesses and residents made their views heard at a Zone 6 rally outside Epsom station on Saturday.

Campaigners joined MP Chris Grayling at 10am to show Southern their support for the move, prior to a meeting between him and the train company’s chief executive on Friday, July 20.

Mr Grayling addressed the supporters, who turned up and held banners despite the rain, and said there was "a lot further to go" but that he was fully committed to getting Epsom into a London zone.

He suggested that if Southern, which operates the South Central franchise through Epsom, does not agree to include it in Zone 6, support for it could switch to other train companies willing to do so when the franchise comes up for renewal in 2015.

He said: "I hope that Southern will accept now that, even though it’s their franchise, if they don’t accept Zone 6 for Epsom, there are others who will do it and we will put the Department for Transport, which lets train franchises, under pressure.  It's another gentle lever we can use.

"These things take time.  It’s about chipping away until eventually someone says ‘alright’. That is certainly what happened with Stoneleigh and Ewell West - it took a couple of years in those cases, but I hope it won’t take that long this time.

"It is just logical.  Whatever the reasons may be, you cannot really have Tattenham Corner and Epsom Downs stations in the zone and not Epsom."

Residents at the rally raised their concerns with the MP about the anomaly that some Epsom buses accept the Oyster Card, and the negative impact on trade of not being in Zone 6.

Mr Grayling said: "It is very helpful to know about the buses because it adds to the case that it is illogical for Epsom to be in the zone for buses but not for trains."

Edward Rose, who attended the rally on behalf of Epsom’s taxi drivers, said: "The taxis in Epsom are really suffering.

"Travellers with Oyster Cards are getting off the train at Ewell and not using Epsom station."

More than 2,100 people have now signed the Epsom Guardian’s online petition and Mr Grayling intends to hand over all of them to Southern at his meeting.

Click here to sign our Zone 6 petition