West Midlands Trains cancellations to continue for months

Parent company West Midlands Trains said it had lost a total 25,000 training days during the pandemic

Train delays and cancellations are likely to continue into the new year, an operator has said.

West Midlands Trains said it was facing a train driver shortage after training opportunities were restricted by the pandemic.

Passengers travelling between Worcestershire and Birmingham have been routinely left struggling to get home.

The operator apologised to passengers but said disruption would continue for months while it "catches up".

Tim Clarke, who lives in Worcester, said he had regularly had problems getting home from his job in Birmingham since he had returned to the office post-lockdown.

Tim Clarke has struggled getting home from Birmingham since returning to the office

He said he was stranded for hours on Thursday after multiple trains were cancelled.

"I'd finished early, had a long week at work, was hoping to get back to see my daughter," he said.

"You're left stranded, not really with any alternative so you're just left loitering around the station."

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Trains across the West Midlands Railway network, which includes routes in Shropshire, Staffordshire, Herefordshire and Warwickshire as well as Worcestershire and the West Midlands, have been affected.

A dedicated Facebook group for people affected by the services has more than 800 members. Users branded trains "appalling" and said driving was a more attractive offering.

Francis Thomas, from parent company West Midlands Trains, said it was "really, really sorry" to passengers.

"In 2019, we recruited over 100 extra drivers - on top of the 30 or so we take every year - and then the pandemic struck," he said.

"It takes over a year to train new drivers and the first thing that happened was that all driver training shut down for seven months, because of restrictions and we've been playing catch up ever since."

He said there was "no quick fix" adding: "This is going to go into next year, it will continue for several months."

Mr Thomas urged passengers who had been delayed to claim their compensation.

Unions said railway operators across the country faced similar problems, but suggested it was "disingenuous" to blame the pandemic, when recruitment had been an ongoing problem for years.