'Stranded' man forced to book £225 Uber in nightmare journey from Manchester

A man was forced to fork out £225 for a taxi after being left 'stranded' on a nightmare train journey from Manchester to London. Yousef Abda says he was one of dozens of passengers hit by delays and cancellations while attempting to travel to the capital on Friday, June 17.

The 33-year-old had purchased a return ticket from Manchester Piccadilly to London Euston so he could visit his girlfriend for the weekend. But when he arrived at the station, he found that his train - the 7.55pm Avanti West Coast service to Euston - had been delayed.

Mr Abda and 'hundreds' of other passengers were instead told to board a train to Birmingham, where they could change for Euston. They arrived in Birmingham at 10pm, only for the next two trains to London to be cancelled.

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Stranded, Yousef booked an Uber to the capital as he said staff at the train station informed him he would be able to claim the money back. The ride cost £225 and Yousef arrived in London at 3:30am - five hours later than planned.

"When I arrived at the station in Manchester, it was pandemonium," said Mr Abda, from Sale Moor. "There were hundreds of people, all angry and waiting to get home.

"I spoke to somebody and they said it was the train from half five and it hadn't left yet. A staff member said the train was going tonight but they didn't know when. He said my best bet was to go to Birmingham and change."

Mr Abda, who works as an English language teacher, says he and hundreds of others followed the advice and boarded the train to Birmingham.

"There were people absolutely everywhere," he explained. "It was a really bad atmosphere."

After arriving at Birmingham New Street station at