Travel misery as TWO trains break down on main commuter route

Passengers travelling from Ilkley to Leeds and Bradford were hit by the last-minute cancellations after both trains failed at Bradford.

On one service to Leeds, the crowding was so intense that scores of people were left behind on platforms, and the guard urged those on board to file complaints to operator Northern Rail and seek refunds.

There were further cancellations on the Skipton and Doncaster lines this morning. It was not clear whether these involved the same trains.

Asked last week by The Yorkshire Post to explain a spate of train faults over the winter, Northern insisted that they had just “experienced a small number of technical issues”.

Today’s problems came the morning after the watchdog Transport Focus revealed that commuter satisfaction with Northern had fallen, with passengers complaining particularly of the way the company dealt with delays.

We have asked Northern to explain the nature of today’s breakdowns.