Buffet hits the buffers on nightmare sleeper service

‘Unhappy people of all ages on train’

SLEEPER train passengers were left without food or drink for 12 hours when a weekend service was hit by staff shortages.

People travelling on the Caledonian Sleeper between Inverness and London on Sunday complained they were only told the café, shop and bar services were unavailable after the train departed.

In a similar incident on the same night, passengers on a sevenand-a-half hour service between Edinburgh and London were told that, owing to a lack of staff, they would be unable to buy any food — despite still being able to purchase drinks at the bar.

The staffing problems come despite a Scottish Government investment of £23million and a £150million overhaul of carriages, launched to great fanfare in April.

They also come a week after workers on the service voted to strike over alleged workplace stress and mental health issues.

Operator Serco disclosed last week that the service made a £3million loss in the year to March despite £23million of Scottish Government funding.

Inverness to London sleeper passenger Gillon Johnstone took to Twitter, writing: ‘I was left without anything to eat or drink from Sunday evening. I was not even able to buy a bottle of water or anything to eat, far less have a whisky.’

Speaking to the Scotsman newspaper, he added: ‘There was no apology and a lot of unhappy people of all ages on that train.’

The Scottish Daily Mail last month told how passengers are facing disruption on the service after staff voted more than ten to one in favour of industrial action.

RMT union members say they have suffered stress and morale is low following the introduction of the new fleet. The union said poor staff levels and insufficient training had caused a breakdown in industrial relations.

Fergus McCallum, who uses the sleeper from Edinburgh every week, said he was unable to buy food during a journey on Sunday.

He told The Scotsman: ‘Staff announcing they are overworked won’t sell any food between Edinburgh and London but are still selling booze. They have absolutely lost the plot from a customer-focus point of view.

‘The train has families and kids, so they will deal with short staffing by dropping food on an eight-hour journey but continue selling alcohol.

‘The management are incompetent. They do not appear to have applied any common sense.

‘Managers should have made sure food was available, and if necessary shut the bar instead.’

Serco launched 75 carriages with double beds and en suite showers, bragging that the new service was more like a ‘hotel room’ than a train carriage.

However, since its launch the service has suffered cancellations and delays, while technical issues with the carriages have caused further problems for passengers.

The roll-out of the new trains to the Highland service was also delayed while the company focuses on its Lowland route.

Ryan Flaherty, Serco’s managing director for the Caledonian Sleeper, said: ‘Due to some short-notice staff absences we were unfortunately not able to provide our usual evening food and drink options in the club car on some recent services.

‘Where possible, we contacted guests in advance to notify them of this and we apologise to anyone who was inconvenienced.’