A man on a sleeper train woke up to discover it had never even left the station.
Jim Metcalfe, who was on board the Caledonian Sleeper train service from Scotland to London, was hoping to get a good night's kip on the 345-mile journey.
However, the regular train user was shocked after waking up to realise the train hadn't even moved.
Recalling the bizarre incident on 20 July, Jim wrote on Twitter: "@CalSleeper In 15 years of using this train, and through many bizarre twists and turns, this has to be strangest yet. Wake up, and the train never left Glasgow. It was just sat here all night, and now we have been thrown off it at 5.30am in the wrong city.
He added: "Cal Sleeper tweeted that the service was on last night, let people board, and just left us sitting here all night. They let everyone get in and go to sleep, and just left us here.
"I’m travelling for work. It’s hard to even know what to say…"
@CalSleeper In 15 years of using this train, and through many bizarre twists and turns, this has to be strangest yet. Wake up, and the train never left Glasgow. It was just sat here all night, and now we have been thrown off it at 5.30am in the wrong city. pic.twitter.com/MZyRwm9C7E
— Jim Metcalfe (@jim_metcalfe) July 20, 2022
People were full of sympathy for the passenger, with one person commenting: "They'd better cough up some compo!"
Another wrote: "Omg, that’s terrible!?!", to which Jim replied: "Thanks! I survived. Not a big deal.
"There were serious people working on the line to deal with a major emergency. But - it was a weird one, and could have been handled better!"
Although a third person questioned: "Didn’t people notice the lack of movement?!"
Jim replied: "Fair point. I was asleep though. Only the official door knock and roll & sausage alerted me to our morning’s fate."
The person then followed up with: "So, they still served breakfast and then said get off? Lol."
Jim said: "They did. There’s some class in that, if not much else."
Comedian Matt Forde also wrote: "Every time I’ve used it since the refurb there’s been a problem. Got tickets booked again in a couple months… I am deeply worried @CalSleeper"
Jim responded: "It is a wonderful, lovely train with some cracking staff. But when it goes wrong, it does so on a spectacular scale!"
Kathryn Darbandi, Serco’s managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said: “We apologise to guests affected by the cancellation of our overnight services between Scotland and London.
“This was due to a fault identified on the line, late in the evening, related to the extreme temperatures causing problems across the network, which were outside of our control.
“We made all efforts to support guests impacted, including providing overnight accommodation on board and options for travel on alternative rail services the next day. All guests will receive a full refund.”
