Train driver 'refuses to depart' to Manchester Piccadilly due to 'unsafe overcrowding' - in same week Rishi Sunak cancels HS2

The driver of an 'unsafe' train in London refused to depart for Manchester Piccadilly because there were so many people on board, it was revealed today.

It comes just days after Rishi Sunak cancelled the promised HS2 rail link to Manchester - designed in part to reduce capacity on the West Coast Main Line. According to reports, the driver said: "The train's going nowhere until passengers leave."

Channel 4 correspondent and author, Symeon Brown, tweeted a photograph showing passengers stood up in a carriage walkway on board the train.

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It's understood to have been a Saturday morning Avanti West Coast train from London Euston to Manchester Piccadilly.

Mr Brown referenced the axing of the HS2 link to Manchester as he revealed the situation.

He wrote on X, formerly Twitter: "This week the PM cancelled the HS2 from London to Manchester that would reduce overcrowding. Today I'm on a train for Manchester with the driver refusing to depart as 'it's unsafe' due to overcapacity. 'The trains going nowhere until passengers leave', he says."

In a further tweet, he said that 10 minutes after he had taken the photo, there were 'twice as many people' standing in the walkway.

The Manchester Evening News has contacted Avanti West Coast for further comment.

Many trains in and out of Manchester were also cancelled or delayed for a second day running today because of damage to overhead electric wires at Manchester Piccadilly.

At the Conservative Party conference this week, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak announced after weeks of