A man who travelled to London from Manchester has hit out at rail services after having to spend £225 on a taxi to complete his journey.
Yousef Abda says a series of delays and cancellations left him "stranded" as he attempted to reach the capital to visit his girlfriend for the weekend on Friday, June 17.
The 33-year-old was advised along with "hundreds" of other passengers to board a train to Birmingham when he learned the 7.55pm Avanti West Coast service from Manchester Piccadilly to Euston had been delayed.
They were told, from there, that they would be able to catch a connecting train to Euston. But once Mr Abda arrived in Birmingham the last two trains to Euston were cancelled.
With no trains back to Manchester scheduled until the next day, he was given the option of booking a hotel in Birmingham for the night or getting a taxi to London and was told he'd be able to claim the money back.
The English language teacher chose to stump up £225 for an Uber ride to London, finally arriving at his destination five hours later than expected at 3.30am.
Recalling the nightmare journey, he told the Manchester Evening News : "When I arrived at the station in Manchester, it was pandemonium. There were hundreds of people, all angry and waiting to get home.
"I spoke to somebody and they said it was the train from half five and it hadn't left yet. A staff member said the train was going tonight but they didn't know when. He said my best bet was to go to Birmingham and change."
After taking that advice and arriving at Birmingham New Street station at 10pm the next service to Euston was cancelled. The one after that, which was scheduled for 11.20pm and was the last of the day, was delayed for half an hour before finally being cancelled.
Mr Abdi was among a bunch of passengers made to wait at a service desk for assistance. He said: "People were stood around shouting and getting increasingly agitated.
"It got to just after midnight and they said anyone going to London can either get a hotel in Birmingham and come back tomorrow, or get a taxi."
The delays forced Mr Abdi to trash some of his weekend plans. He said: "It ruined the whole weekend. All the running around took it out of me. It was a pointless journey in the end.
"I wasted all that money and didn't enjoy it. I was meant to go straight to my partner's work party but obviously getting there at half three in the morning, I went straight to bed."
He says he has contacted Trainline - the app on which he purchased his ticket - and train operator Avanti West Coast to request a refund.
The firm has agreed to refund half of the fare. Avanti West Coast put the disruption down to damage to overhead wires and a fire next to a stretch of railway track.
Mr Abda said he had been left "disappointed" by the "abysmal" way in which he has been treated.
"I didn't think it would be difficult to get the money back," he said. "It's a lot of money so I presumed it would be treated with some urgency. They are presuming a lot if they think it will not affect me."
A spokesperson for Trainline told the Manchester Evening News: "We're sorry to hear about Mr Abda's experience travelling to London on Friday 17 June. We should have refunded the cost of his ticket for this part of his trip, so we're looking into why this didn't happen in this instance. Our team have now processed a refund for £49.05 back to Mr Abda."
An Avanti West Coast spokesperson said: “We are sorry to hear about Mr Abda’s experience which was a result of damaged overhead wires and a line-side fire and meant our services were severely disrupted. If Mr Abda could please get in touch with us we can discuss refunding his taxi journey.”
