Angry Twitter response after company says rail cancellations were due to drivers not volunteering to work on scheduled days off

This article is more than 3 years old

This article is more than 3 years old

Virgin Trains has been criticised heavily online after blaming a series of train cancellations on Saturday on a shortage of drivers volunteering to work on rest days.

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The train company’s Twitter team provoked hundreds of angry comments when responding to query about a “driver going AWOL” on the 13:30 London Euston to Manchester service.

Virgin Trains tweeted: “Due to a sudden shortage of drivers volunteering to work rest days, we have had to reduce the number of services today.”

Many on social media criticised Virgin Trains for relying on voluntary overtime, urging the rail company to employ more drivers to avoid future delays.

Nicole Mifsud, 25, posted the tweet that started the controversial exchange, writing during the delay:



Nicole Mifsud (@Nigoleee) LMAO @VirginTrains how TF can your driver go AWOL?! #euston #getmetomanchester

Some Twitter users called on Virgin to refund Mifsud’s ticket. Others attacked the company for failing to employ enough staff, and then blaming the drivers it did employ for not volunteering to work on their days off.

Bentos #AllamOut (@bentos_j) Since there is no obligation to work overtime, do you really believe it is correct to blame your drivers publicly? @RMTunion

AyePhoneCases (@AyePhoneCases) Sudden? You mean you don't schedule things to allow for rest periods? You want drivers to be suffering from fatigue? Thought about that?

Mifsud told the Guardian: “Departure time came and nothing was happening. Then an announcement said they were looking for a driver and everyone got really confused.

“Eventually they told us to get a different train as this one wasn’t going to leave any more.



“So everyone got off and then, within two minutes, they told us to get back on. Then they put three trains worth of people on the initial service.

“The train was quite hot and the guy on the public address system didn’t really know much about what was happening.”

Mifsud, a travel agent, was travelling to Manchester to visit a friend and was left confused by the rail company’s responses.

“It turns out there was actually a suicide attempt somewhere the night before and drivers only got in about 3am that morning. They legally need 12 hours break, which I completely understand. But the tweet response from Virgin got people up in arms.”

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said: “Due to a sudden shortage of drivers volunteering to work rest days, we had to reduce the number of services we were able to run on Saturday. We’re sorry for any inconvenience this caused some of our customers.”