PASSENGERS who suffered a nightmare 16-hour rail journey are set to launch a flood of compensation claims against Virgin trains.

The train operator was under-fire after passengers using its cross country service from Newcastle to Plymouth arrived more than eight hours late.

The service left Newcastle at 3.05pm on Monday, but passengers only arrived in Plymouth, on a replacement coach service, shortly after 7am yesterday.

Virgin said it had encountered an "unfortunate set of circumstances" which began with serious flooding in the West Midlands.

But the North-East Rail Passengers Committee condemned the delays as "horrendous".

Secretary Ernie Preston said he hoped Virgin would give "serious consideration" to the expected compensation claims from affected passengers.

The floods blocked the Birmingham to Plymouth line and also delayed the arrival of a replacement train driver who had been due to take over at Birmingham New Street.

Passengers were forced to wait in Birmingham for more than two hours for a replacement bus service.

Three buses eventually arrived to pick up the 100 plus passengers, but one broke down with a puncture on the M5 in the early hours of the morning.

Those on board then faced another four-hour wait before someone arrived to repair the tyre so they could resume their journey to Plymouth.

Marketing consultant Caren Barnfather, from Chester-le-Street, County Durham, was on board and was travelling to meet business clients in Plymouth. She said: "I think the whole thing could have been handled rather better."

Virgin chairman Rich-ard Branson publicly apologised to those involved for their "nightmarish" experience and promised to look into what had happened. Virgin offered to deal with any compensation issues as quickly as possible