ANOTHER local commuter has added her voice to criticisms of TransPennine Express trains, saying there has been the worst reduction in service she has known in five years of travel on the route.

Dr Julie Tuck, of South Otterington, said the rail regulator should consider removing the franchise from First Group and Keolis, which took over the service from Arriva Trains Northern 11 months ago with the prospect of new trains and improvements at stations like Northallerton.

Dr Tuck, who commutes five days a week between North-allerton and Leeds, has complained to TransPennine Express about delays, fewer services, overcrowded and dirty trains, unhelpful staff and lack of information for travellers.

She said a recent increase in fares equated to 8pc, taking into account the fact that passengers had lost a reduction in the price of monthly season tickets and could no longer use saver return tickets for one-day morning journeys.

Dr Tuck joined other commuters in criticising an increase in parking charges at North-allerton, where management is now undertaken by National Car Parks on behalf of Trans-Pennine, and a two-week emergency train timetable introduced last November.

Dr Tuck said her own problems included a three-hour delay on Tuesday of last week caused by a signalling fault.

"There are few TransPennine staff available to sort out the problem. No information is given or suggestions as to how to get to your destination.

"A group of people waited over an hour in York for something to be sorted out. The TransPennine representative did not speak to us and refused to organise a taxi to Northallerton, as suggested by GNER staff, who acted as our intermediary.

"When a replacement train was arranged, the representative made a gruff announcement to us, which we didn't catch, and then disappeared.

"The same train then appeared twice on the departure board, leaving at two different times. One did stop, and one didn't, at Yarm. No apology was made on the train.''

Dr Tuck added: "There has been a significant reduction in services outside the York to Manchester portion of the TransPennine network, decreasing services to Northallerton, Middlesbrough and Liverpool. This has increased the number of people on the remaining trains but there has been no increase in their size.

"There has been an increase in journey time to Manchester by a total of 30 minutes, by small increases of standing time at each station stopped at. This means the trains are not often classified as late even though the journey time has increased.

"Many of the morning trains have obviously not been cleaned, with multiple items of rubbish on the floor, headrest cushions scattered everywhere and bins full and smelling.

"Conductors appear very unwilling to sell tickets on the early morning trains, even when people explain the queue was too big and they would have missed the train, which would then have meant a one-hour wait. There are no automated ticket machines at Northallerton. The refreshments trolley is significantly reduced in frequency.''

Dr Tuck said late trains were causing her to miss meetings at work and her personal life was affected because of uncertainties surrounding arrival times back at Northallerton.

A spokesman for TransPennine Express said the severe signalling delay on Tuesday of last week was outside the direct control of the company, but he acknowledged that some decisions taken during organisation of contingency plans could have been better.

The level of disruption meant it was difficult to inform customers in the normal way, but TransPennine always reviewed how such incidents were handled by staff.

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