The North ‘cut off’ for ONE month as major train operator slashes services

COMMUTERS face more travel hell after a major train operator slashed its timetables and suspended ticket sales owing to staff shortages.

Avanti West Coast will run as few as four trains an hour instead of its usual seven on the West Coast main line from Sunday.

Services from London Euston to Manchester will be worst-hit — down from three to one.

The news outraged passengers on the line which also serves Birmingham and Glasgow.

Manchester commuter Ryan Sutherland, 28, who works in London, said: “It’s like the North West is being cut off for a month.

"I feel abandoned.”

Ticket sales for travel from Sunday until September 11 are suspended while a new schedule is finalised.

A limited timetable is in place until further notice.

Avanti blamed staff shortages, which it put down to sickness and “unofficial strike action”.

But Aslef’s general secretary, Mick Whelan, called Avanti “lying cheapskates” who did not employ enough drivers and relied on rest day working and overtime.

He said the only strike was on August 13.

Greater Manchester Mayor Andy Burnham said he would demand Transport Secretary Grant Shapps set Avanti a deadline to fix the problem — or be stripped of the franchise.

• UNION Unite has rejected a seven per cent pay deal and £500 lump sum for workers due to strike for eight days at Felixstowe Port, Suffolk, on August 21