Ormskirk woman slams ‘appalling service’ after her ‘traumatic’ Merseyrail journey home

An Ormskirk woman has criticised the “appalling service” she and her husband experienced following her “traumatic” rail journey home.

Anita Fielding had spent time in Liverpool celebrating her husband’s birthday but her day turned sour during her train ride back to West Lancashire. The passenger says the car she was travelling in was ” virtually empty” until the train reached Aintree, when huge crowds who were intoxicated, began to “pile on”.

Anita, who was travelling on a three-car train, told the ECHO: “The doors opened and people came piling in and 90% were drunk. My husband was sat opposite me and couldn’t get to me, people were pushing against me.

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“I felt totally traumatised, when we got off the train the staff asked if we were okay. You couldn’t move, it was overwhelming.

“Crowds were pushing to get on the train, people were shoving, it was a horrendous experience. There was no organisation at all, I feel sorry for the staff.

“People were drinking, people were kicking off, it ruined the day. They need to look at what events are going on, I didn’t know there had been a gig that day, but they must have known that so why only send a three-car train?”

Anita also says there was no air conditioning and the whole incident ruined her day. She added: “I’m not one to complain but what if you were in your 80s, you couldn’t move.”

Greg Suligowski, head of customer strategy at Merseyrail, said that evening was particularly busy and additional provisions were put in place.

He added: “I am sorry to hear that Anita had this experience whilst travelling on one of our trains. A major event taking place at Aintree racecourse on the evening of Friday 16 June meant services were busier than usual.

“Whilst we did put extra trains in place to cater for this event, we are limited in terms of the numbers available. This meant that some customers experienced very busy services.”