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Craven concert-goers as young as 14 and 15 were left stranded at a railway station late on Sunday night.

The young music fans had travelled to Leeds to attend gigs by pop bands The Pigeon Detectives and The Wombats.

After the concerts, fans making their way back to Skipton boarded three replacement buses in operation due to engineering work on the railway line between Leeds and Shipley, aiming to catch a connecting train in Shipley at 11.22pm.

Music fan Lauren Wheeler, 18, said: "After the gig, one bus left from Leeds for Shipley and we were told another would be along in 10 minutes, but it was more like half an hour.

"That bus arrived at Shipley just as the last train left. There were two busloads of people abandoned in Shipley."

The South Craven School pupil said she called the train operators, but was unable to find out what was going on.

"I eventually had to call a taxi. It cost £17, so I've been trying to get the money back for that," she said.

"There were 14 or 15-year-olds left stranded in Shipley who had no idea what to do or where to go. We'd had a great night, but that really spoilt it."

Lauren's father, North Yorkshire county councillor Mark Wheeler, said: "The level of service was appalling, in light of the fact that a lot of the passengers were children.

"Parents were called out at quarter past midnight. An apology is great, but some sort of financial reimbursement wouldn't go amiss. If ever there was a compelling argument for the train service to be extended this is it."

Adam Tyson, 17, who lives in Bradford but was staying with friends in Cross Hills, was on the train as it left Shipley.

He said: "We arrived at Shipley station about 25 minutes before the train was due to go. We got on the train and assumed that it would wait until the other bus came.

"Then the train doors closed and we asked the conductor if he was going to wait for the other bus to arrive, but he just shrugged his shoulders and seemed to ignore us. There must have been about 50 people left behind, including about seven or eight of my friends."

One worried parent, who did not want to be named, had to drive from Cononley to Shipley at 1am to collect her son from the station.

"We were relaxed, thinking everything was fine, then the next thing we know there was this frantic phone call saying they were stuck in Shipley and they didn't know what to do. We weren't happy at all," she said.

Train operator Northern Rail provided a bus replacement service between Shipley and Skipton, but a delay meant that this did not arrive until after 1am.

Tim Calow, of Aire Valley Rail Users Group, said: "Obviously, it's unsatisfactory to have people stranded at the station late at night.

"I think there's been a lack of communication between the bus and the train companies. It would appear to be a case of different people being involved and not knowing what the others are doing.

"I would recommend to anyone who did get stuck to write to Northern Rail."

A spokesman for Northern Rail said: "We would like to apologise to those passengers travelling with us that evening.

"Not all of the buses got there before the train service was scheduled to leave.

"We did work with the company to then run a bus replacement service from Shipley up to Skipton, but there was a delay in getting that to the station. It's not the level of service we usually give and we will be working to make sure that this doesn't happen again."

Coun Wheeler said: "The attitude of those who run the service is inexcusable, especially when there are youngsters involved.

"The fact that there's no line of communication is inexcusable and a lot of parents would like some reassurance that this will never happen again. We were let down badly."

8:43am Friday 9th May 2008

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