Stranded Nottingham passengers' anger over signalling fault

East Midlands Railway (EMR) advised customers not to attempt to travel by rail during the disruption

A rail company has been criticised for its "pretty poor" handling of a signalling fault in Nottingham that left hundreds of people stranded.

Passengers reported chaos at stations across the East Midlands on Tuesday evening after several major services were cancelled.

Some were forced to stay overnight in hotels while others found other forms of transport.

East Midlands Railway (EMR) said it was sorry for the inconvenience caused.

The signalling fault was first reported just before 17:00 GMT, as large numbers of people were about to head home from work.

Jake Lawrence was stuck at a "chaotic" Beeston station trying to get home to Leicester.

He said he believed he could have been there all night, were it not for the generosity of a kind stranger.

"A good Samaritan who was travelling to London on the same train offered me a lift from her husband to East Midland Parkway, where the trains were actually running again," he said.

"The handling from EMR was pretty poor; we were told buses would be sorted but no time frame.

"Information at the station was not helpful either.

"Older people without the internet wouldn't have been able to know how long the wait could have been."

The disruption was caused by a signalling system failure in the Nottingham area

Richard Blackburn said he was on a train, waiting to depart from Leicester, when it was announced the service had been cancelled.

"We were told EMR had cancelled the service and that we'd be put in taxis," he said.

He said they had headed to the front of the station where they were told they would be looked after.

"The guard even promised to come with us and make sure we got home.

"We all disembarked, went up to the station front and were met with confusion and surprise - we never saw our guard again.

"It was clear nothing was happening, the station staff spent more time moaning and didn't know what to do," he said.

Eventually the intercity trains started to run again and Mr Blackburn managed to get a train to Loughborough.

He then shared a taxi home to Barrow upon Soar, Leicestershire, getting in two hours late.

It took Richard Blackburn two hours longer than it should have to get to Barrow Upon Soar station

Olivia Haigh said that although staff seemed "clueless" they had handled the situation as well as they could.

She was waiting on a train due to depart from Nottingham when the fault was announced.

She said passengers were repeatedly told the train would be hopefully be moving soon.

"This went on for about an hour or so before we were told the train had been cancelled.

"We were all told to exit the train and there were hundreds of people around the station trying to get out of Nottingham," she said.

Olivia Haigh said she was glad EMR allowed her to use her ticket the following day

She was able to return to her flat in the city and eventually made her journey to Boston, Lincolnshire, the following morning.

She said: "I think it was handled as well as it could have been to be honest.

"The staff, I'm sure, were as clueless as we were.

"East Midlands Railway were good in the sense that all tickets were valid the following day."

EMR said the disruption was caused by a signalling system failure in the Nottingham area.

This resulted in no trains being able to run in or out of Nottingham station.

Normal service was not restored until Wednesday morning.

A spokesperson for the firm said: "Replacement rail buses were requested, but unfortunately they were unable to be sourced locally, which delayed the buses arriving at Nottingham railway station.

"Ticket acceptance with other train operators and NET Tram was put in place until the end of the day, to enable customers to get home on other routes.

"We're sorry for the inconvenience caused and would like to thank our passengers for their patience."