Passengers trapped on trains for hours charged up to £26 for 'tapping out late'

08 December 2023 , 14:47

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Thousands were stranded on trains including people trying to get to Heathrow Airport (Image: X)

Commuters trapped on trains for hours in the cold as a power failure hit the Elizabeth Line in London last night have been fined by TFL for spending too long on the Tube.

Hundreds of passengers had to walk along the train tracks to reach safety as journeys to and from London Paddington faced "major disruption" on Thursday evening after overhead electric cables were damaged. Network Rail said it had to stop all services to and from Paddington while engineers fixed overhead power cables in the Ladbroke Grove area. People bound for Heathrow Airport were also affected.

Now some passengers are reporting that instead of being compensated for their delay, they are being fined anything from £9.40 to £26 as they were unable to tap their Oyster or bank card out within the time limit of four hours from tapping in.

People had to walk along tracks (X)

The lights went out on some trains (Twitter)

Some passengers reported being stuck for hours while receiving no information from operators. James Blunt and Rachel Riley were among hundreds of passengers who were "trapped for hours". On X, formerly Twitter, singer James Blunt issued a plea for takeaway pizza, writing: "Been stuck somewhere outside Paddington for close to 4 hours now. Out of peanuts and wine."

While Countdown presenter Rachel Riley also revealed she had been stuck on the Elizabeth line for almost four hours. In one photo, a group of passengers can be seen walking along the tracks in near-freezing conditions, using their phones as torches. In one video shared on the platform, a woman with a baby can be heard talking about the "crazy" situation as other passengers tried to force the doors open.

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Another man said those who need to relieve themselves have to ask the driver to take them onto the track so they can go to the loo there "like hooligans". Engineers worked through the night to get two of the four lines serving Paddington open for electric trains. Friday morning commuters were warned their journeys may be delayed by up to 90 minutes.

People had to climb out of trains (UKNIP)

Commuter Mikey Worrall said it was "the most surreal evening" of his life. He described the train as lurching to a stop and then a long, multiple-hour wait in semi-darkness as the driver drip-fed what little information they had through to passengers. Eventually, the battery backup running the train’s heating and light services ran out, and passengers were left in darkness for another hour and a half until they were evacuated.

Mr Worrall said: "We saw a couple of workers come past, and they were trying to keep everyone calm. Suddenly, we saw a stream of people coming down the track, and at that point, it was clear that we would be getting off. It was really eerie walking down the railway line in amongst this big crowd of people. It felt like a wartime thing."

A Network Rail spokesman said: "We are so sorry for the difficult journeys passengers endured on our railway last night and we will be investigating how and why it happened. The knock-on effects from last night mean operators will not be able to run a full service from Paddington today and passengers should check before they travel. Repairs are ongoing and we hope to have the railway fully open by the weekend."

People had to wait for hours (Twitter)

The £19 billion Elizabeth Line – which opened in May 2022 – uses mainline rail infrastructure west of Paddington. Paddington services have been repeatedly affected by rail system faults in recent weeks. Incidents on the Great Western Line include four damaged rails discovered in eight days last month.

A GWR spokeswoman said: “The only people who can drive our trains are competent train drivers with route knowledge. That would include train driving instructors.” GWR said the driver was fully qualified with “competence up to date”, adding that as yet there is no evidence the overhead electric equipment fault was due to a train.

A TFL spokesman told the Mirror that the charges were automatically applied last night, and anyone affected by the delays last night will automatically be refunded and they do not need to contact TFL.

Kelly-Ann Mills