When Deborah Campbell booked a ticket for the new Caledonian Sleeper, she planned to rest up in one of the service’s redesigned comfort seats ahead of a weekend in London.

By the time Campbell arrived at Glasgow Central station, however, her 23.40 train had already broken down. “You were supposed to be able to board from 10 o’clock onwards. I turned up about half 10 and there were queues everywhere,” she said.

The journey on 28 June was supposed to be the start of a trip to a West End show, a Pink concert at Wembley Arena and a visit to her adult son.

After two hours waiting at the platform, Campbell was directed to Glasgow Central Hotel where passengers were served tea and coffee while a senior member of staff tried to make alternative arrangements over the phone with management.

“They had kids sleeping on the hotel floor. It was such a shame, it was terrible,” she said. “I normally just get a Virgin train down to see my son, but someone suggested the sleeper was really good and it had all been done up.”

A Classic room on the Caledonian Sleeper. Photograph: CFH Photography

According to Campbell, customers eventually took matters into their own hands and contacted Virgin Trains on Twitter to ask whether they could squeeze on to one of its services.

Virgin offered to take the stranded passengers to London from Glasgow on its 4.14am service, but said it could not guarantee seats.

Unable to stand for long periods as a result of arthritis, Campbell instead had to take a replacement bus, arriving in London hours past the scheduled 7am and narrowly making it in time for the show at the Palladium.

But the nightmare was not over. Her return journey on 1 July was also delayed because of issues with preparing the train and the service was dogged by technical glitches.

“When we got on, the lights were on all night. I never slept a wink,” said Campbell. “It was absolutely freezing because they had the air conditioning on all the time.

“Nobody told us ‘sorry we’re going to be late’, and the toilet wasn’t working in our cabin either. So we had to walk about three carriages.”

Although customers are meant to get a response to refund requests within 20 days, Campbell says she is yet to receive compensation for the £100 return journey.

Asked whether she would consider booking with the company again, Campbell was firm in her response. “Never in a month of Sundays,” she said.