HUNDREDS of Virgin Trains passengers were advised to cancel plans to travel south from Scotland as flooding caused chaos to cross border travel.
Services running north to Scotland came to a halt from around 3pm yesterday because of flooding between Penrith and Oxenholme. Replacement buses were laid on to prevent northbound passengers from being stranded with journey delays of up to an hour.
Three-and-a-half hours later Virgin Trains, who run the West Coast Main Line franchise, told customers looking to head south from Scotland that they should "abandon travel tonight" because trains were on limited supply. They said tickets would be valid today.
Customers, who saw services to and from London Euston severely disrupted were told compensation would be paid for delays of more than 30 minutes.
Also disrupted were First TransPennine Express services between Glasgow Central and London Euston.
Meanwhile Virgin Trains were bombarded with queries about when replacement coaches would be provided for those who had travelled south. Some passengers took the option of returning to Glasgow when London-bound services terminated at Carlisle.
A Virgin spokeswoman was unable to say when they hoped the flooding issues would dissipate. She said: "Because of the congestion, if people don't have to travel we advised them not to. What we are trying to do is get things moving again."
One customer on the 5.30pm from Glasgow to London, asked if accommodation would be provided if returned to Scotland's biggest city as he was told there was no guarantee of of onward travel at Carlisle. He was told by Virgin Trains: "The team are working hard to make sure everyone gets where they need to be."
A year ago, Virgin, who run the West Coast Main Line franchise, added 3,000 seats per day to its Anglo-Scottish route to bolster its ability to cope with demand at peak times of the year.
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