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Commuters' anger at Merseyrail snow disruption

BBC Orlas and Ellie are standing inside Liverpool Central station. Orla has brown hair and is wearing a black winter coat. Ellie has long brown hair and is wearing a grey woolen hat and a black winter coat and a pink and blue patterned rucksack.BBC
Students Orla Donnelly and Ellie Canning have missed university lectures

Passengers have said they were "frustrated and angry" that Merseyrail services could not handle this week's snow and ice.

A number of services were cancelled or delayed, prompting metro mayor Steve Rotheram to pledge an inquiry.

Workers said the disruption had made them late for work and students said they had missed lectures.

"A few snowflakes and everything comes to a standstill," one commuter said.

Steve Carey has short grey hair and is wearing dark rimmed glasses. He is standing inside Liverpool Central station and is wearing a grey winter coat and has a rucksack on his shoulders.
Steve Carey said he expects "a much better service in this modern day and age"

Steve Carey from Birkenhead said he felt "very let down" by the service.

"It is the only way I can get to work," he said.

"I was at Birkenhead Park station yesterday. There was a little bit of snow coming down, next thing there's an announcement that the trains are off.

"I expect a much better service in this modern day and age.

"They spent a fortune on all these new trains - let's see them work."

Another commuter called on Merseyrail to "get its act together".

"You pay a lot of money for a year's pass... and then you are having to get buses into town," he said.

"You look at places across Europe: they get tonnes of snow and they still seem to be running fine; we get a few little snowflakes over here and everything comes to a standstill."

A black and yellow Merseyrail train at a station
Some Merseyrail services were cancelled or delayed after snow and ice

One woman said she was forced to pay for a taxi to work as the trains and buses were affected on some days.

"I work with kids so I've had to pay for an Uber to get there, which is obviously expensive," she said.

"It's frustrating. If we haven't been able to print our ticket we get £100 penalty, but if the trains aren't running there is nothing put in place to help us."

Students Orla Donnelly and Ellie Canning travel by train to Edge Hill University.

They said they had missed lectures due to the disruption.

"From Tuesday we haven't been able to get in because of the trains," Ms Donnelly said.

Metro mayor Rotheram said he had ordered an investigation and had summoned representatives from Network Rail, Merseyrail and train manufacturer Stadler to a meeting of the combined authority later this month.

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