Commuters’ misery as trains fill up

Would-be passengers were reportedly turned away for their morning commute to Bath as trains from Bradford on Avon hit capacity. They took to Twitter on Friday morning in fury to slam the situation as an “absolute joke”. Chris Weston wrote: “The train had to leave people on the platforms at Bradford on Avon & Freshford due to overcrowding. “Utterly ridiculous.” The misery for commuters has been running over the past two days. Caroline Kay, who is chief executive of charity watchdog Bath Preservation Trust, said about 20 people were told they wouldn’t be able to board on Thursday, January 3. She said everyone on the train from Bradford on Avon to Bristol and Cardiff were advised to get out at Bath Spa and catch the main line train behind. Great Western Railway replied: “Sorry for any discomfort. “There’s fewer carriages available at the moment due to the upgrade works which means we have to run more trains than usual.” Another passenger, Marie Lloyd, said her train on the “busy commuter route to Bath” arrived with only two carriages, instead of the usual five. “At 33 weeks pregnant it wasn’t safe for me to even get on it. Disgusting,” she said. Ms Kay said: “The trains have an increasing commuter market and they don’t appear to be increasing capacity sufficiently to deal with it.” Speaking about the wider issues, she said the quality of service needed to improve if people are to continue to use public transport over cars. “The key issue is that it’s now cheaper to come in by train from Bradford on Avon than park in Bath all day,” Ms Kay said. “The motivation for using public transport is quite good. But frankly if it’s a hideous experience every morning, it’s very off putting. “What we need to back up these sticks (expensive car parking, proposed clean air zone) is the carrot of attractive and affordable public transport.”