Rail passengers suffered a 16-hour nightmare after a series of problems hit a Virgin train travelling from Newcastle to Plymouth.

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

Passenger Karen Barnfather told the BBC the train was on time until it reached Birmingham New Street.

She said: "We seemed to be stopping in the station for too long, and we had two different announcements advising us we were awaiting a new driver who had been delayed on a late train.

"After 40 minutes at the station, they advised us that due to floods the service had been cancelled and we were all to leave the train."

Two hours later, the passengers were told they would be taken by coach to Bristol so they could catch their connecting trains.

Then the passengers were informed they would be taken all the way to Plymouth - but a puncture on the M5 delayed their journey by another four hours.

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson today apologised to the passengers and promised the company would "try to learn from the experience".

He told the BBC: "The area that needs to be looked into is what went wrong with the coach and why they had to wait four hours for it to be mended."