Andy McDonald stuck on Virgin Trains East Coast service after it broke down soon after leaving Stevenage

One of the most prominent figures in rail protests across the country was unable to reach rallies in the north of England on Tuesday morning – because he was stuck on a broken train.

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The shadow transport secretary, Andy McDonald, started the day by denouncing the privatised rail system outside King’s Cross station in London, before taking a train to Stevenage to meet other protesters.

However, his onward train to Leeds, where he was due to join more campaigners and give a string of broadcast interviews to highlight the 3.4% increase in rail fares, broke down soon after leaving Stevenage.

McDonald tweeted:

Andy McDonald MP (@AndyMcDonaldMP) After great rail fares rally at Kings X, and then meeting brilliant campaigners at Stevenage, now en route to Leeds only for our Virgin train to breakdown with complete loss of power just like this awful Tory government!

Contacted by the Guardian at 12.20pm, McDonald confirmed he was still stuck aboard the Virgin Trains East Coast service between Stevenage and Grantham. “It’s all been cancelled, we’ve been here for getting on an hour and a half,” he said.

Referencing the decision by the transport secretary, Chris Grayling, to allow Stagecoach to end its contract to run the east coast service three years early, before almost £2bn in premium payments were due, McDonald said: “They’ve had the benefit of a £2bn bailout and a 3.6% hike in fares and it still doesn’t seem like it’s going to be any better.”

While his Labour counterpart was stuck, Grayling was in sunnier climes on the day of the biggest fare increase in five years, on a trade visit to Qatar.

Separately, Virgin has apologised after its official Twitter account compounded a customer’s complaint about sexist language by asking whether she would prefer to be called “pet or love”.



Emily Cole tweeted that she had been “dismissed with that hideously patronising word … honey” by a train manager.

Emily Lucinda Cole (@EmilyLucindaRC) When virgin trains mess up and the older male train manager in the resulting conversation dismisses you with that hideously patronising word women shudder at in contexts such as these: "honey" @virgin_trainsEC.

Virgin Trains EC replied: “Sorry for the mess up Emily, would you prefer ‘pet’ or ‘love’ next time?”

Cole said she was stunned by the response. Virgin later deleted it, saying: “We apologise unreservedly for this tweet and for the offence caused.”