After personnel left the station without waiting for the delayed train to arrive, rail passengers were locked inside and had to contact the police to be freed.
At Oxenholme station in Cumbria, up to 30 people were trapped behind 7-foot spiked gates.
One of those caught when the Avanti West Coast train from London Euston arrived one hour, 40 minutes late was Rhiannon Neale, a 26-year-old campaigns manager who was travelling home to Kendal after witnessing the BBC’s A Question of Sport being taped in Manchester.
She said that no personnel was present. They had both gates secured after leaving for home. There were a few toddlers and several very old people, but just one guy was able to jump through the barriers.
The train driver got off the train and said that the only option was for us to board again; she would then let us out at Penrith (the next stop), where we could all get cabs back. In the meanwhile, the police had been contacted.
“We all declined.” We were all fatigued and it was far past midnight, so there was a fair amount of cursing and yelling.
We were all able to escape thanks to the police’s discovery of a maintenance worker who had a key up the track.
The event is the most recent failure for West Coast Main Line operator Avanti, which has been under under scrutiny since implementing an emergency schedule that eliminated hundreds of daily trips.
After Tuesday night’s mishap, local MP and former Lib Dem leader Tim Farron sought a probe of Avanti West Coast’s performance.
‘What transpired might have very quickly turned hazardous,’ he said, adding, ‘I have already written to Avanti to seek an explanation for their negligence.’
Mr. Farron encouraged the Department for Transport to take franchise revocation action against the firm, which is managed by Italian state operator Trenitalia and First Group, because of what he called “obviously systematic failings.”
A representative for Avanti West Coast expressed regret about the customers’ experiences at Oxenholme station. We’re investigating the specifics of what occurred right now.
We would like to express our gratitude to the Network Rail crew for acting quickly to get our clients out of the station safely.