A Scots passenger says he was left 'stranded' at an English railway station after train staff 'ignored customers' and booked themselves taxis back to Scotland.
Edinburgh Live reports that Michael Clements was on his way back to the capital from Birmingham New Street but could not get further than Preston after Storm Dudley closed the railway.
The Scot was due to arrive at Edinburgh Haymarket at 8.30pm on Thursday then travel on to his Stirling home but passengers were told the train would go no further than the Lancashire city.
Trees further up the line had been pulled down by high winds, damaging overhead power cables.
Michael says he was baffled when Avanti West Coast staff left to book their own taxis home without giving customers advice about onward travel.
Eventually Network Rail staff helped him find a bus service back to Edinburgh - but the sting of seemingly being abandoned by Avanti staff has left him shocked and angry.
Michael said: "Avanti spent a lot of time arranging staff taxis to get them home and TransPennine have kept us somewhat informed of what is going on.
"It's a mess to be honest, but it does feel like rats from a sinking ship and they all knew it.
"I was travelling from Birmingham to Haymarket, I caught a train an hour early because of Storm Dudley.
"Avanti halted the northbound service at Preston, some got off, but I waited and we were told the TransPennine train on the opposite platform was going to Carlisle.
"I got on and found myself in amongst a load of Avanti staff sat in first class standing at the back, I heard a number of them contacting an Avanti colleague to arrange taxis to get them all home from Carlisle.
"We then got to Oxenholme and the train halted because of a suspected tree on the wires between there and Penrith.
"We wait around for getting on for an hour in Oxenholme and then suddenly all the Avanti staff start putting on coats and getting ready to leave.
"They all got off, I am assuming to get in taxis, and then just after that TransPennine manager announces the train cannot go north and we are to return to Preston to catch a bus.
"It wasn't Avanti who helped me get a bus in the end, it was due to Preston station staff.
"There wasn't any management in the customer service desk at Preston by Avanti, we were directed to where to find the buses by a Network Rail worker.
Avanti says it arranged coaches for onward travel, and will speak to Michael directly to find out more about how its staff handled the situation.
A spokesperson said: "We always endeavour to get customers where they need to be, and our staff worked hard to provide onward road transport for all customers travelling to stations north of Preston.
"As far as we're aware no one was left behind. Taxis were arranged by station staff for customers travelling to Lancaster and Oxenholme. Coaches were arranged for those travelling to Penrith, Carlisle, and Scotland.
"Customers travelling to and from Scotland also had the option to use their original travel tickets for our services today (Thursday 17 February). We're trying to make contact with the customer to establish what happened on this occasion."
Avanti West Coast took over from Virgin Trains as the operator running the West Coast Main Line in 2019.
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