A Scots who boarded a sleeper train in Glasgow expecting to travel to London was left stunned when he woke to find the train didn't leave the station. Jim Metcalfe said he woke up in the wrong city after he and other Caledonian Sleeper passengers were left to snooze without knowing the train had been cancelled.
Mr Metcalfe, a charity chief executive based in East Renfrewshire, was due to travel to London for work on the Caledonian Sleeper service at 11.40pm on July 20. The 43-year-old uses the service occasionally throughout the year for business trips.
But he was left speechless when he was awakened in the morning by rail staff who told him the train hadn't moved all night. Staff later told him services had been cancelled due to tracks being impacted by the soaring temperatures.
He said: "I can't sleep before it starts moving so I get on early and try to sleep first, so I got on at 10.30pm and was asleep by 11pm. That was it really.
"There was a knock on the door at 5am and a guy very kindly appeared with a roll and sausage and coffee. He explained the train hadn't moved.
"We were told we had to get off because they needed the platform back. It was more surreal than anything else - I should have been 300 miles away."
Having confirmed the sleeper was still running before he set out to Glasgow Central, Mr Metcalfe said he was initially frustrated by the situation - but has praised rail staff for their handling of the issue.
He told the BBC: "I would say in a really difficult situation, the on board train staff were really calm and professional and handled it as best they could. I just went home, for me it was a minor inconvenience.
"But it is bringing home what is happening around the world on the climate emergency - it made it very real that you were experiencing this in real time."
Mr Metcalfe had revealed his travel torment on Twitter. He wrote: "In 15 years of using this train, and through many bizarre twists and turns, this has to be strangest yet.
"Wake up, and the train never left Glasgow. It was just sat here all night, and now we have been thrown off it at 5.30am in the wrong city. Cal Sleeper tweeted that the service was on last night, let people board, and just left us sitting here all night.
"They let everyone get in and go to sleep, and just left us here. I'm travelling for work. It's hard to even know what to say."
Trains were cancelled across the UK as temperatures soared to more than 40C (104F) for the first time causing train tracks to overheat and buckle, and for overhead cabling to fail.
Network Rail said their staff had worked through the night to repair the damage.
Kathryn Darbandi, Serco's Managing Director for Caledonian Sleeper: "We apologise to guests affected by the cancellation of our overnight services between Scotland and London. This was due to a fault identified on the line, late in the evening, related to the extreme temperatures causing problems across the network, which were outside of our control.
"We made all efforts to support guests impacted, including providing overnight accommodation on board and options for travel on alternative rail services the next day. All guests will receive a full refund."
Don't miss the latest news from around Scotland and beyond - Sign up to our daily newsletter here .
