A man was forced to fork out £225 for a taxi after being left 'stranded' on a nightmare train journey from Manchester to London. Yousef Abda says he was one of dozens of passengers hit by delays and cancellations while attempting to travel to the capital on Friday, June 17.
The 33-year-old had purchased a return ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston so he could visit his girlfriend for the weekend. But when he arrived at the station, he found that his train - the 7.55pm Avanti West Coast service to Euston - had been delayed.
Mr Abda and 'hundreds' of other passengers were instead told to board a train to Birmingham, where they could change for Euston. They arrived in Birmingham at 10pm, only for the next two trains to London to be cancelled.
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Stranded, Yousef booked an Uber to the capital as he said staff at the train station informed him he would be able to claim the money back. The ride cost £225 and Yousef arrived in London at 3:30am - five hours later than planned.
"When I arrived at the station in Manchester, it was pandemonium," said Mr Abda, from Sale Moor. "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."
Mr Abda, who works as an English language teacher, says he and hundreds of others followed the advice and boarded the train to Birmingham.
"There were people absolutely everywhere," he explained. "It was a really bad atmosphere."
After arriving at Birmingham New Street station at 10pm, Mr Abda planned to board a train to Euston ten minutes later. When the service was cancelled, he waited an hour for the next train - the final one of the day - which was scheduled for 11.20pm.
However, the service was delayed for 30 minutes before eventually being cancelled. Mr Abda said he and the other passengers travelling to London were then made to wait at a service desk for further instructions.
"People were stood around shouting and getting increasingly agitated," he explained. "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."
As there were no trains back to Manchester until the morning, Mr Abda caught a taxi to London and arrived at 3.30am. However, the delays meant he had already had to cancel some of his weekend plans.
"It ruined the whole weekend," he said. "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. In an email seen by the Manchester Evening News, Trainline initially told Mr Abda they would not be refunding his trip as he had boarded his return train to Manchester two days later.
The firm has since 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 said: "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.”
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