500 passengers stranded for SIX HOURS after brakes fail on Cornwall to London train

11am from Penzance to Paddington broke down outside Pewsey yesterday
Passengers complain of water running out and there not being enough seats
First Great Western apologise and offer full refund for 'unacceptable service'



Hundreds of people bound for London were left stranded for almost six hours yesterday after their train broke down.

Passengers on the 'horrific' 11am First Great Western train from Penzance to London Paddington said they were 'treated like cattle' because there was not enough food, water or seats.

The service broke down five miles from Pewsey station in Wiltshire with around 500 people on board.
The train arrived at Paddington at around 10.15pm - five hours and 40 minutes after its expected arrival time.
This meant that some passengers were on the train for more than 11 hours in total.

A fractured air pipe caused problems with the brakes of the train, and due to the remote location First Great Western struggled to get an engineer to the scene.
Sue Evans, a spokeswoman for First Great Western, said: 'I'm really sorry for the significant delay experienced by our customers on the 11am train from Penzance to London Paddington this afternoon.

'A delay of this magnitude is unacceptable and a full investigation will be carried out following today's train failure. The train suffered a fractured air pipe, which automatically applied the brakes as a safety measure.



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