Last updated at 16:38, Tuesday, 18 September 2012

TRAIN passengers have received an apology after they were left stranded in Ulverston late on Saturday night.

A First TransPennine Express service from Manchester Airport to Barrow was terminated at around 10.40pm in Ulverston due to scheduled engineering works on the system.

Two 52-seat buses were pre-ordered to ferry customers the rest of the way to Barrow, but only one showed up.

The bus quickly filled and, although a number of free taxis were called to fill the breach, this was not communicated to some passengers and they ordered their own.

A Barrow father, who did not wish to be named, said his daughter was left out of pocket to the tune of nearly £30 for her cab ride home.

“It’s unacceptable for passengers to be abandoned, especially at that time of night,” he said.

“My daughter couldn’t get on the bus and she had to call a taxi and was presented with a bill for £28, which was money she didn’t have.

“I think they should compensate everybody for being out of pocket and apologise.”

A First TransPennine Express spokeswoman did apologise for any inconvenience and said there would be an investigation into why the second bus was a no-show. She encouraged anyone who was left out of pocket to write to them, but said the company had tried to do its best by passengers.

“Once control discovered there was only one bus, they ordered some taxis from Acacia to take the rest of the people,” she said.

“It looked like there was 35 people remaining, so they ordered two eight-seaters, one seven-seater and three normal taxis and they moved the people who couldn’t get on the bus.

“So, anybody that got a taxi and paid for it shouldn’t have.”

Disgruntled customers can apply for compensation by emailing tpecustomer.relations@firstgroup.com.

First published at 16:26, Tuesday, 18 September 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk