The government just handed Avanti a new contract - now they've cancelled loads of trains

More than a third of train services from Manchester to London have been cancelled today (Saturday). In its original timetable Avanti West Coast was due to run 44 trains from Piccadilly to Euston.

But after announcing earlier this week it was cancelling Saturday services at short notice due to staff shortage, a revised timetable showed just 28 services heading south to the capital today.

It meant the frequency of services between London and Manchester was down from around three to two per hour. The reduced timetable was originally due to be introduced in December.

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But on Monday Avanti told the M.E.N a number of 'short-notice cancellations' which are 'ongoing and currently under review' would take place during November. 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.

"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."

In September, after two short-term extensions, Avanti was awarded a new nine-year contract to run the West Coast Mainline franchise, which also runs services stopping in Wigan, Stockport, Macclesfield, Wilmslow, and Warrington, despite having previously