Avanti West Coast apologises for cancelled trains after less than half ran on time over Christmas
A train operator has apologised for the number of cancelled trains over the Christmas period, saying a combination of strikes, sickness and bad weather had all played a role.
This newspaper revealed on Monday that just 44 per cent of Avanti West Coast's trains arrived on time over the festive period, with 23 per cent cancelled altogether at short notice.
The company's performance has been criticised by both Andy Street, elected mayor for the West Midlands, and Shrewsbury and Atcham MP Daniel Kawczynski.
A spokesman for the company acknowledged the delays and cancellations had been the source of much frustration.
He said a number of factors had combined to affect the operator's previously improved performance.
The spokesman said: “We would like to apologise to our customers who had their journeys impacted by cancellations on our network at this time.
"We know it is a source of immense frustration and we would like to thank our customers for their patience.
“During this period, we experienced a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements, elevated sickness levels and ongoing industrial disputes."
He said those factors, coupled with infrastructure and weather-related problems meant the company had to cancel an increased number of services.
"This had a bearing on our previously improved levels of performance," he said.
He said the company had since made a number of improvements which should mitigate such problems in future.
The company had recruited new drivers and made changes to historic leave arrangements, he said.
"We have secured further improvements in rosters as part of the recent timetable introduction which, alongside our unprecedented levels of driver recruitment and training and negotiated changes in historical leave arrangements which commence this month, will increase our operational resilience and support long-term stability."
Mr Street said Avanti's performance over the period from December 10 to January was not acceptable.
Mr Kawczynski, who uses the company for his commute between Shrewsbury and Westminster, wrote to the Speaker of the House of Commons calling for a parliamentary debate on the standard of Avanti's service.
