Broken train and lost bus: A Northern rail fiasco
The rail service is again told to make improvements after the "absolute disgrace"
Hello and welcome to The Southport Lead.
It should be easy to get between Wigan and Southport - two large towns with a direct rail link and around 20 miles distance. Yet on Wednesday, that journey took passengers four hours and involved getting off a broken train between stations, moving onto another train to cover just a portion of the remaining distance, and then a late night coach tour of country lanes by a lost driver.
The most frustrating thing for some is just how unsurprising the farce was. Today’s newsletter looks at the shambolic journey and yet more frustrations with Northern Rail.
Southport briefing
🚓 A Southport man has been charged as part of an investigation into the supply of contaminated heroin. As reported by The Southport Lead, one death and several overdoses have been recorded in the town in recent weeks and are all believed to be linked to the same batch of drugs contaminated with nitazenes, a synthetic drug which mimic the effects of heroin but can be far stronger and more unpredictable. Last week, police arrested a man and woman on suspicion of manslaughter and the male, Carl Gardiner, has since been charged with drugs offences. The 51-year-old, of Leyland Road, is accused of three counts of possession of a Class A drug - cocaine, heroin and etonitazene (a type of nitazene). The woman, a 32-year-old from Waterloo, has been bailed pending further enquiries.
❤️ Sergio Aguiar paid tribute to daughter Alice after completing the last leg of his challenge to run all six of the major marathons. Alice was among the three victims of the Southport attack and Sergio completed the extraordinary effort to raise funds for the Alice’s WonderDance, the charity set up as her legacy. After completing last year’s London Marathon, Sergio decided to take on the six majors this year and after comleting Berlin, Chicago, New York, Tokyo and Boston, he returned to London and ran the full course alongside David Stancombe, who lost daughter Elsie in the same attack. Afterwards, Sergio paid tribute to Alice on social media, writing: “It’s not about the medal, but about you, Alice, your magic, your legacy, your name, your beautiful smile, your long, beautiful hair. Everything I do and will continue to do is for you, to show the world the most beautiful and sweet daughter with such a pure heart, the best daughter parents could have.”
🤐 Reform UK is remaining silent on reports of a fallout between the national party and its Southport branch. Amid rumours that Larry Sweeney has been dropped as the official chair of the Reform UK Southport, the national party has refused to engage with questions from The Southport Lead or other media. Southport’s Lib Dem group pointed out that Sweeney is no longer listed as chair on the party’s website, while it is understood that there are concerns over the nature of some of the local branch’s campaigning and the selection of problematic candidates. These include Mark Ormsby whose hateful social media posts were uncovered by The Southport Lead last week. Sweeney told The Liverpool Echo that he remains a candidate but would not discuss his role as chair.
🚨 Two people from Southport have been charged and another two arrested as police launched an operation to track down outstanding suspects. Named Operation Sprint, the action targeted those suspected of posing the greatest risk to victims and communities and saw multiple units deployed to bring in 10 suspects across Sefton. Among those, 42-year-old William Larkey was charged with failing to appear at court for drugs offences and minor traffic matters and Catherine Norris, 43 and of Braemar Avenue, was charged with failing to appear at court for drugs matters. She has been remanded into custody to appear at Liverpool Magistrates Court on Monday 4 May. A 42-year-old man from Southport was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence and coercive control and a 22-year-old man from Birkdale, was arrested on suspicion of domestic violence, harassment, coercive control and possession of a controlled drug. Sergeant Lucas Gallen, Sefton Proactive Team said: “Today’s results demonstrate our determination to actively pursue those suspected of causing harm in our communities. Operation Sprint is about safeguarding victims and putting suspects before the courts. We will continue to use all available resources to keep Sefton safe.”
Broken train and lost bus add to Northern Rail woes
By Jamie Lopez
A botched Northern Rail journey which saw passengers moved from a broken train and onto a bus which got lost has been described as an “absolute disgrace”.
The embattled rail company is facing more calls to make urgent improvement after a farcical journey which saw a train break down between stations due to engine failure. Passengers were able to travel a little further on another train before being moved onto a coach which was almost unable to make its way between Burscough and Southport.
The journey left Wigan just before 8pm on Wednesday but passengers were not able to return home until after midnight. Among those to share their frustrations, one passenger had managed to travel between London and Wigan significantly quicker than Wigan and Southport.
According to those on board, the train lost power mid-journey and, after a long period sat on the broken train, they were eventually told to get off and onto another train which only took them as far as Burscough. From here, a coach had been brought to complete the driver but passengers report the driver getting lost and struggling down dark, narrow country lanes in the large vehicle before again struggling to find Meols Cop Station.
Southport MP Patrick Hurley has frequently lobbied Northern Rail to improve its service and described the events as farcical but unsurprising.
Speaking to The Southport Lead, he said: “This is just yet another example of the shoddy service that Northern are performing and are delivering on the Manchester-Southport line. We’ve had situations for years where there’s been serial underinvestment in that line. We’ve routinely had rolling stock that isn’t up to scratch.
“We routinely have service cancellations and delays which means that people are late for work in the morning, are late getting home in the evening and, as we saw with the situation this week, you can’t even guarantee that the train is going to be able to reach its destination at all.”
