Rail cancellations: Council seeks meeting over last-minute changes

TransPennine said it tried to make changes to the timetable at least a day before

Last-minute cancellations to rail services in East Yorkshire have prompted the council to ask for a meeting with the rail operator.

East Riding Council said the short-notice changes by TransPennine Express had caused a lot of inconvenience.

The company said higher-than-normal sickness levels continued to affect its services.

Infrastructure portfolio holder at the council Claire Holmes said a meeting to discuss a solution was appropriate.

According to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, Ms Holmes told a council meeting the cancellations were happening due to staff illnesses and strikes, with current recruitment and training levels unable to fill the gap.

"It causes inconvenience to all concerned, including workers, students and people attending medical appointments," she said.

"So it's appropriate to ask for a meeting with managers to discuss a solution."

TransPennine Express said coronavirus continued to affect its services, with the pandemic also resulting in a backlog in training.

It said it had to make changes at short notice so the rest of the timetable could run efficiently, but tried to do so at least a day before.

The company also apologised to passengers for any disruption and urged them to check for any changes to the timetable.