A regional daily has printed a mock apology surrounded by white space after a government minister refused to comment on a story.

The Argus, Brighton, decided to use page five of Saturday’s edition to ’empty chair’ Transport Secretary Chris Grayling after he turned down the newspaper’s request for an interview about rail strikes taking place this week.

Thousands of trains have been cancelled as a result of the five-day strike by Southern Rail staff affecting services across the paper’s patch.

The action by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers centres over a row about plans for drivers to operate carriage doors rather than conductors.

The mock apology was printed as part of a double-page spread on the strikes

The mock apology was carried as part of a two-page spread on the dispute published in Saturday’s edition of the paper.

It reads: “It had been our intention to use this page to carry the Government’s response to next week’s all-out train strike. We had cleared the page for Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to give the tens of thousands of rail users details of the actions he will take to relieve their daily misery.

“We hoped to be able to bring you news that the Government was taking our plight seriously, that it understood the serious concerns for the economy of Sussex and that it was working tirelessly behind the scenes to bring about an end to the appalling train service we are currently experiencing.

“We regret to announce that due to circumstances beyond our control we are unable to offer you this service. Those of you who use the trains regularly will be familiar with the feeling.”

Editor Mike Gilson told HTFP: “We have been covering the deterioration of our train services for the last two years and have held all sides to task.

“In the last few months we have asked the government repeatedly for answers on its role in this scandal which has caused untold misery and have failed to get satisfactory answers.

“Last week ahead of the week-long strike we asked the new Transport Secretary Chris Grayling for an interview so he could tell our readers what the government was doing to help bring an end to this dispute.

“We were not surprised to get a negative response and so decided we would let our readers know this by way of an apology. To me a page of white space and an apology in the place where the Government’s explanation should have been was just about the most powerful statement we could have made.”

The Department for Transport has previously declined requests by The Argus for interviews on rail-related issues in Sussex, after the paper revealed the 7.29am Brighton to London Victoria service had been late every day for a year.

As well as holding Southern Rail and the RMT to account, The Argus has asked the government to explain its role in both the awarding of the contract to GTR, Southern’s parent company, and what steps it is taking to help commuters.

Last month after being rebuffed a number of times reporter Ben James travelled to Westminster armed with a picture of the then Rail Minister Claire Perry to try to get an interview.

After asking members of the public outside the Department if they knew the whereabouts of the woman in the picture he was eventually granted an interview.