Rail cancellations cause Christmas chaos as sickness hits train drivers
Christmas getaway travel plans have been put into chaos as illness among train drivers has led to cancellations.
Avanti West Coast was forced to cancel 26 train services on the key line serving the north west of England, with the majority owing to a shortage of drivers whose shifts could not be covered.
This has been further exacerbated by an uptick in sickness across its employees, the operator said.
It was one of several train operating companies on Saturday that have had to axe services across the rail network due to staff shortages.
This comes as Covid cases in England and Scotland have doubled in the last two weeks, with data showing around one in 24 people tested positive for Covid-19 last week, up from around one in 50 at the start of December.
The rate of people with flu has also risen sharply, with the percentage of people testing positive for flu doubling from 2.6 per cent, to 5.6 per cent in the week starting Dec 4.
Rush to get home
Saturday has been touted as one of the busiest days of travel on the rail network as people rush to get home before Christmas Day.
In a survey of people looking to use the train over the festive period by Transport Focus, one in five had chosen to travel on Saturday.
Avanti was one of the worst hit as 26 trains were cancelled throughout the day, with “a shortage of train crew” given as the reason. This included several services to and from London and Glasgow, Manchester and Birmingham.
The shortages also saw some trains to and from Edinburgh having to start or terminate at Preston.
The train company blamed the gaps in service on annual leave arrangements, as well as an uptick in staff sickness.
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “We have been seeing some short-notice cancellations on our network and would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused as we know this is not good enough.
“These service changes are a result of resourcing challenges where we have seen a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements and elevated levels of sickness. We are working hard to make sure we can minimise these cancellations.”
Holes in services
The Telegraph understands that the historic agreement, which gives drivers an allotment of leave as long as shifts could be covered, was agreed at a time when the company had a pool of drivers willing to work overtime. However, this is not the case anymore, leaving holes in its services.
This comes despite Avanti already cutting its timetable for December due to staff shortages created by the historic arrangements.
This included running only two trains per hour between London and Manchester. Explaining the decision at the time, Avanti said the cuts were to “enable us to run a more reliable service for our customers and minimise unplanned short-notice cancellations”.
Avanti was one of a number of train companies that was forced to cut services as staff shortages hit. LNER, which runs the key service between London and Edinburgh, was forced to cut some trains from its schedule because of staff shortages.
Govia Thameslink had to cut a number of services between Bedford and Horsham due to a lack of staff, while its sister company Northern also cut some trains later in the day. Southeastern cut all services on its Bromley North line for a two-hour period for this reason.
It comes after seven rail companies yesterday were hit by delays and cancellations because of staff shortages, which included West Midlands Railway, CrossCountry and Southeastern.
Delays in Dover
It comes after Thursday saw widespread delays on the rail network after Storm Pia caused travel chaos, with 144 trains cancelled to and from Euston and King’s Cross across the day.
Meanwhile other modes of transport were hit by delays on Saturday with travellers at the Port of Dover experiencing queues of 90 minutes on Saturday after a huge surge in demand.
The port authority said that the uptick in people wanting to use ferries came after an impromptu strike by Channel Tunnel workers on Thursday that saw dozens of Eurostar and Channel Tunnel Rail Link services cancelled.
Elsewhere, Britain’s roads saw an influx of motorists as people made their last-minute trips before Christmas Day. The AA estimated that as many as 16.4 million car journeys took place on Saturday.
Throughout Saturday, National Highways was reporting delays on key motorways, including the A303 near Stonehenge, the M6 near Staffordshire and on the A1.
‘Vomiting or diarrhoea’
More than 700 Airbus Atlantic staff are believed to have fallen ill following the company’s Christmas dinner in western France in a suspected case of mass food poisoning.
Agence Régionale de Santé (ARS), the country’s regional health authority, said that the diners showed “clinical signs of vomiting or diarrhoea”.
The menu included foie gras, scallops, lobster and tournedos, followed by desserts of ice-cream logs and hazelnut and chocolate mousse costing €15 (£13) a head, The Guardian reported.
Airbus said that only “around 100” were taken ill and said it was cooperating with the ARS “to identify the cause of the illness and ensure this cannot happen again in the future”.
Christmas Eve is likely to see the roads full once again, with people making last-minute car journeys across the country.
Transport analysis company Inrix warned there are likely to be delays of around 40 minutes on Christmas Eve on some parts of the M25.
