Northampton rail passengers told 'check before you travel' as trains hit by staff shortages on Saturday night

A number of trains to and from Northampton have been cancelled at short notice on Saturday night (October 16).

Operator London Northwestern Railway announced the cancellations via its Twitter feed late on Satutrday afternoon, blaming train crew shortages.

A number of services will also be terminated short of their scheduled destination with services from London Euston and Birmingham New Street affected.

The 21:54 and 22:34 Euston-to-Northampton services are among those cancelled which is likely to lead to other services being crowded.

A London Northwestern spokesman said: "Before the pandemic we recruited over 100 extra drivers.

"Unfortunately, due to Covid-19 and social distancing constraints, our driver training programme has been severely disrupted with over 25,000 training days lost.

"This has significantly increased the amount of time it takes trainees to become fully qualified train drivers. This unprecedented situation has resulted in trains being cancelled at short notice and fewer carriages being available on some services.

"We're working hard to run as many trains as we possibly can, but services are subject to cancellation or alteration.

"We always keep our journey planner, live departure boards and app up to date with all the latest changes. Please check the National Rail Enquiries journey planner to see how this affects your journey."