Train firm abandons disabled passenger when his train was cancelled
A rail firm that has cancelled hundreds of trains in the past two weeks abandoned a disabled passenger at Leeds station after his train was cancelled.
John Martin and his wife Ruth were booked to travel with TransPennine Express from West Yorkshire to Glasgow on 22 December. The couple had bought first-class tickets from Leeds via Manchester Oxford Road, with an easy transfer to the train to Glasgow Central. They had also booked passenger assistance at all three stations.
But when they arrived at Leeds station, the couple were told their first train was not running due to a shortage of train crew. Ruth Martin said: “Staff on both gates at Leeds station and in the ticket office confirmed that out train was cancelled and tickets would not be valid on Cross Country or LNER.”
Normally train operators arrange “mutual acceptance” of tickets between themselves, but on the last Sunday before Christmas all trains were busy.
Ms Martin said: “There were no TransPennine staff visible on Leeds station but I was directed to a door marked private under the escalator on platform 15 where I located one.
“After disappearing into his room a few times he came up with the plan for us to take the 10.45am to Manchester Victoria and for us to take a tram across Manchester to Oxford Road.
“I informed him I had booked passenger assistance as my husband can hardly walk but this made no difference.
“We would also not have made the 11.29am connection in Manchester so his suggestion was futile.
“Feeling totally abandoned, I returned to the ticket office and purchased further tickets and travelled with CrossCountry from Leeds to Glasgow.”
The original tickets cost £105, but the new tickets were priced at an additional £184.
“It was a dreadful experience,” said Ms Martin.
“I’m still not sure how I managed not to cry on Leeds station but kept it together for my husband’s sake.
“But every cloud, as they say. The train manager on CrossCountry found us seats and carried our case, and best of all we managed to spend Christmas in Glasgow with our new grandson.”
A spokesperson for TransPennine Express said: “We are very sorry for the disruption to Ms Martin’s journey.
“As we bring in our new trains, it has had an associated impact upon our training schedule and our train maintenance plan which is having a big knock-on effect to our services.
“Our current performance is not acceptable and we are working hard to fix this.”
The train firm has refunded the couple the cost of the CrossCountry ticket and offered them a free first-class return on their next Transpennine Express journey.
