Rail bosses say sorry after Blackpool North is left SHUT

Northern said it was also looking into the claims to prevent a repeat of Saturday’s incident which, it was claimed, saw around 20 people waiting outside in the cold.

Frustrated Michael Dillon described the situation as a “fiasco” and took a picture of shutters at the station down at 7.57am. It should have been open at 6.10am, Northern’s website said.

Mr Dillon said: “The worst part was Northern staff were inside the building, while 20 or so people were stood outside freezing cold. It’s a joke and the reason I will be boycotting Northern once I have passed my driving test.”

After being contacted by The Gazette, a spokesman for the beleaguered rail firm said: “We’d like to apologise to our customers in Blackpool for the late opening of the station on Saturday.

“The station should not have been closed and we are investigating the circumstances to make sure this does not happen again.”

It was not immediately known what time the station eventually opened.

Northern has been under increased pressure this year, following months of disruption, including the botched introduction of a new timetable in May.

Hundreds of services were cancelled and others severely delayed over the following weeks, with passengers left furious by the handling of 
the changes.

In just two weeks before May 17 to 31, a total of 381 trains from Blackpool North were cancelled, 199 part-cancelled, while 15 ran with a reduced number of carriages.