UNDER fire ScotRail have reached “a new low” after making the incredible admission that a train was cancelled because the driver “forgot” to stop.
The beleaguered firm have launched an investigation after Friday’s 13.00 from Glasgow Queen Street to Edinburgh failed to stop at Croy, North Lanarkshire.
A furious passenger asked ScotRail why his train had been cancelled and received the astonishing admission that the driver “forgot” to stop.
The Scottish Conservatives said the incident was further evidence the government needed to sort out its train “fiasco”.
The blunder emerged after a passenger at Croy messaged ScotRail’s official Twitter account, asking: “Hi, why was the 13.12 Croy to Edinburgh train cancelled?
ScotRail’s account replied: “Hi, really sorry the driver forgot to stop.”
After the reason for the cancellation was revealed, many commuters voiced their fury at the error.
On Twitter, Ian Phillip said: “Stuck at Croy because driver of 13:12 to Edinburgh forgot to stop. Seriously, HE FORGOT TO STOP A TRAIN!”
Mickey Power wrote: “I’m on the 13.00 train to Edinburgh and your driver forgot to stop at Croy! Absolute shambles of a company. Late for meeting now!”
And on Facebook, Jean Cassells said: “Really Scotrail you should be ashamed of yourselves. On my outward journey from Croy to Edinburgh the driver of the 13.00 train forgot to stop at Croy.”
Scottish Conservative chief whip John Lamont said:“It’s bad enough ScotRail passengers are paying through the nose for late and overcrowded trains.
“But for carriages to sweep past them on the platform without stopping is a new low in service provision.
“Perhaps if the Scottish Government sorted out the country’s trains fiasco, incidents like this wouldn’t seem so bad.
A ScotRail spokesman said: “This is a very rare occurrence and we are currently investigating why it happened.
“We would encourage any customers who were delayed by 30 minutes or more to keep hold of their tickets, and apply for compensation at scotrail.co.uk.”
The revelation is the latest in a series of blunders from the rail firm, and its developer Abellio.
A petition calling for Abellio to be stripped of the ScotRail contract was signed by over 19,000 people back in October and presented to Scottish Transport Minister Humza Yousaf.
Yousaf famously responded to anger over late and overcrowded trains by saying he was not a “transport expert”.
And last week, a new website which tracks ScotRail’s social media revealed that the firm apologised had apologised to customers over 10,000 times since January.
