Passengers and drivers were left stranded at Potters Bar station early Wednesday morning, November 22, due to cancellations and fast trains failing to stop.

The knock-on effect was that up to a dozen drivers were unable to get to their trains and had to join the crowd of commuters braving the cold.

Some commuters had left home at 05:40 to wait for the relief bus to take them to Potters Bar in time for the 06:00 only to find that the first three relief trains were not running.

And the reason soon became obvious – the drivers were stranded too.

But while most commuters seemed quietly resigned to having their journey disrupted -- having had weeks of practice -- the drivers, ironically, seemed agitated and impatient.

In the end one of the drivers made a phone call, apparently asking for the lights to be changed to red to force the fast trains to stop and pick up those who had been waiting on the increasingly crowded platform.

Whether as a result of that or not, the next Kings Cross express did stop at 06:40 but then went non-stop to Finsbury Park leaving passengers waiting in the cold at Hadley Wood, New Barnet and all stations south.

The Times has an article in the Wednesday November 22 edition which is also on its website entitled 'A secret you need to know to get to work'. The article highlights the misery faced by passengers using services in Hertfordshire following the Hatfield derailment.

The Times also has an article about the compensation payments due to commuters and news of those who could lose out.

Questions, raised in the 'Have Your Say' section of this site are being forwarded from this site to WAGN and Railtrack. They include ...

Why are the relief bus services inadequate?

The answers to the questions raised on this page will be published on the site when they are received.

If you are still not satisfied you can e-mail both companies directly.

Phil Heath from Railtrack and Susanne Page from WAGN have allowed an e-mail redirect to be set up from this site direct to their offices.

You can mail Phil at Railtrack and Susanne at WAGN

November 22, 2000