Celtic fans faced major rail disruption ahead of semi-final

Celtic supporters faced major rail disruption ahead of their Betfred Cup semi-final against Hearts in Edinburgh.

Fans heading for Murrayfield Stadium were turned away from full CrossCountry trains at Motherwell station.

Others were forced to join lengthy queues at Glasgow Queen Street with many fearing they would not make the 13:30 kick-off.

Fans took to social media to criticise ScotRail for not running a 15-minute service.

Trains were running on the usual half-hourly weekend timetable.

ScotRail said it was "sorry for the congestion on many of our services today".

The company said two extra services would run from Edinburgh Haymarket to Glasgow after the game.

The Celtic v Hearts game was moved to Murrayfield after initial plans to play both semi-finals at Hampden Park in Glasgow on the same day were scrapped.

Aberdeen v Rangers goes ahead at Hampden later, with a 16:30 kick-off.

When the semi-final fixtures were originally announced last month, Hearts and Aberdeen stated their concerns about travel arrangements for supporters with both games taking place on a Sunday with reduced public transport provision.

And the Scottish Police Federation's general secretary said it would be "idiotic" to stage both games in Glasgow on the same day.