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By Khalesa Rahman

Two trains were cancelled when ticket conductors were stuck in a broken-down taxi yards from Birmingham New Street Station – and were BANNED from walking the rest of the way.

London Midland was forced to cancel the 17.49 to Hereford and the 17.59 to Great Malvern on Tuesday after the staff failed to make the 1,000 yard journey from Snow Hill station in time.

Incredibly, the train operator has admitted that health and safety rules mean conductors are BANNED from walking between stations because they are carrying money.

Yet commuters who were delayed by the cancellations were left furious by the taxi policy.

Computer science student Daniel Mander, 19, was stuck at University station and his journey home to Bromsgrove was delayed by around 40 minutes.

He wrote to London Midland on Twitter: “Could you please pass on that it is generally quicker to walk between the two stations!”

Mr Mander, who pays £275 for a three-month rail ticket, later told the Mail: “The two stations are a five minute walk apart. With the traffic in the city centre I would imagine that it takes longer by taxi.

“I know that myself and a lot of other commuters are getting extremely fed up of the poor service from London Midland.’’

A spokesman for Passenger Focus, a commuter support group, said: “Clearly this was irritating for passengers, so we’ll establish from London Midland why its staff were unable to walk.”

But a London Midland spokeswoman said it was company policy to provide taxis for conductors travelling between stations for safety reasons.

She said: “We apologise to passengers who were affected by the cancellation of the 17.49 Birmingham New St – Hereford and 17.59 Birmingham New St – Great Malvern services.

“The two conductors who were due to work these trains were stuck in a broken down taxi in Birmingham city centre.

“For the safety and protection of its employees, it is London Midland’s policy to provide taxis for conductors travelling between stations as they carry cash and card reading equipment.”

The distance between the two stations is around half a mile and can be walked in 12 minutes, according to Google Maps.

London Midland, which runs services throughout the region including the Cross City Line, has previously suffered a huge commuter backlash over the staffing shortfalls, which saw almost 1,000 services cancelled or delayed between October and December in 2012.

There have been improvements since, but commuters claim some problems still remain.