Why no help for passengers left stranded?

From: M Clayton, Avenue Hill, Leeds.

THE other day, I went on a day trip to Morecambe with Northern Rail. I decided to return on the last train at 19.08 as the earlier train left too early at 16.19.

On arrival at Morecambe Station, I noticed the train departure notice said “delayed” but then it changed to “cancelled” and was accompanied by an announcement saying “we apologise for any inconvenience caused”. Thirteen people were left stranded on the station.

There was no reason given for the cancellation, no mention of any replacement bus, no contact details given for assistance. It was an unmanned station, so there was no member of staff to help.

Of the 13 people, six senior citizens needed to get to Leeds, three young people needed to get to Lancaster, one man needed to get to Edinburgh for a flight to Spain (his flight from Manchester had been cancelled), one man had a bike, plus there were two other people (destination unknown).

Fortunately, one of the men travelling to Leeds knew what to do as the same thing had happened to him on a previous occasion. He ordered three taxis for 11 of us to travel to Lancaster. We pooled our contributions to pay for the taxis.

We explained to the ticket collector on the train what had happened and she was very helpful, and went beyond the call of duty. As she was finishing her shift in Leeds, she arranged to give a senior citizen a lift home as they lived fairly near each other.

I never expected a rail company to cancel the last train from a destination leaving passengers stranded with no offer of a replacement bus or any offer of help.