Euston station is a ‘petri dish of chaos’ say livid passengers as station is rammed with seething crowds making an attempt to get dwelling for Christmas – as practice bosses admit it is as a result of their employees are on vacation

Euston station has been branded a ‘petri dish of chaos’ by livid passengers after reams of delays and cancellations immediately – which practice bosses have now admitted is as a result of too many employees are on vacation.

The concourse on the central London railway hub was rammed with crowds of individuals seething on the delays who have been desperately making an attempt to get dwelling to see their households for the Christmas holidays.

One fuming traveller posted a photograph of individuals packed in like sardines on the Euston concourse on X, previously Twitter, at round noon calling it a ‘petri dish of chaos’ that prices greater than equal companies in international locations corresponding to France and Spain.

Dozens of Avanti West Coast companies to and from Euston have been cancelled at brief discover immediately, primarily on account of staffing shortages which the rail agency admitted have been attributable to ‘historic go away agreements’.

This comes at one of many busiest occasions of the 12 months for the rail community as big numbers of Britons the lengthy practice street dwelling to see their households over the festive interval.

An Avanti West Coast spokesperson advised MailOnline: ‘We’ve got been seeing some short-notice cancellations on our community.

‘These service modifications are a results of resourcing challenges the place we’ve got seen a scarcity of practice crew on account of historic go away agreements.

‘We’re working arduous to verify we will minimise these cancellations, however we all know it is not ok.

‘There has additionally delays on the community because of disruption.

‘We want to apologise to our clients travelling immediately who’ve been affected.’ 

It got here after main disruption to companies between London Euston and Milton Keynes yesterday afternoon which lasted till the within the early hours of this morning after an individual was hit by a practice and overhead wires have been broken.

There have been additional delays after a railway tunnel close to Milton Keynes flooded this morning. The flooding at Kilsby Tunnel is now believed to have been cleared by Community Rail.

At the very least 26 Avanti West Coast companies to and from Euston have been cancelled since simply earlier than 9am this morning.

The companies ought to have between London and Preston, Wolverhampton, Edinburgh, Glasgow, Blackpool, Birmingham, Manchester and Liverpool.

A ‘scarcity of practice crew’ was the reason for a minimum of 23 cancellations, based on Avanti West Coast’s dwell tracker.

When requested concerning the last-minute cancellations, an Avanti spokesperson blamed employees shortages which have been attributable to ‘historic go away agreements’.

Different cancellations have been attributable to faults on the practice and some extra have been cancelled as a result of ‘extra trains than typical needing repairs on the identical time’, based on Avanti on-line standing tracker.

An additional eight Avanti companies to and from Euston have been delayed, largely as a result of flooding within the practice tunnel.

Tweeting at round noon immediately, traveller Claire McDonald expressed her frustration at Avanti, asking: ‘@AvantiWestCoast any likelihood of a practice immediately? 11.16 cancelled, 11.33 cancelled- ready for the 11.40 so I can change at Birmingham to Wolverhampton however nothing at Euston is transferring and the place is heaving.’

She shared an image of the rammed concourse to the social media platform.

One other social media, Akash Nayee, shared an image of the concourse from round noon saying: ‘Genuinely do not assume I’ve seen Euston as dangerous.

‘Really feel for all of the employees making an attempt to handle the movement of passengers.’

Community Rail has been contacted for remark.