Avanti to cut dozens of trains between London and Manchester

Up to 20 trains between Manchester and London are to be cancelled every Saturday until the new year, it has emerged. The Manchester Evening Newsreported earlier this month that Avanti West Coast was to slash the number of trains it runs between Piccadilly and Euston to two an hour on Saturdays from December 9 until December 31.

However, as first reported by The Sunday Times, the number of trains running is already being reduced. The company told the M.E.N that they are experiencing a number of 'short-notice cancellations' which are 'ongoing and currently under review.'

A spokesperson blamed them on train crew shortages due to 'historic leave agreements and ongoing industrial disputes.' “We have been seeing some short-notice cancellations on Saturdays on our network and would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused," he said.

READ MORE: The Greater Manchester suburb where parents are too scared to let their kids trick or treat

READ MORE: "They said guests can 'make themselves at home'": Man, 31, is kicked out of Manchester Premier Inn because of what he did in their restaurant

"We know this is not good enough and are working hard to make sure we can minimise these cancellations. These service changes are a result of resourcing challenges where we have seen a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements and ongoing industrial disputes."

The reduced December timetable has been confirmed but Avanti said it was unable to say how many trains across it network would be cancelled before then.

The Sunday Times says at least 15 of Avanti’s services have already been removed on Saturdays. Avanti normally runs around 50 services each Saturday between London and Manchester but from next weekend