'I fainted three times on crammed Northern train'

A student who collapsed three times on a severely overcrowded Northern train has said the experience left her scared to travel during rush hour.

Issy Austin, a third year student at the University of Manchester, commutes to lectures from her home in Glossop, Derbyshire.

She was travelling on an early morning service into the city and believed she collapsed due to overheating because the carriage was crammed with an "insane amount of people".

The rail company apologised and said it took passenger safety seriously.

The 20 year-old caught the 07:52 GMT service from Glossop to Manchester Piccadilly on 5 November, unaware that the previous service, and one of the busiest rush hour trains, had been cancelled.

She said the number of passengers "squeezed into my train was absolutely abysmal".

“Towards the end of my journey, I collapsed and I didn’t collapse once, it was three times, and I was in and out of consciousness," she said.

Shortly afterwards, she said a male passenger travelling on the same early morning service also fainted.

Police and an ambulance crew escorted Ms Austin off the train and checked her over after the train arrived at Piccadilly.

She said they also came to the conclusion she had collapsed because of conditions on the train.

Ms Austin said she was left with bruising and felt unwell throughout the following week after the ordeal.

The student said she had no other alternative but to use the train to attend lectures but the experience had left her scared to board the train during rush hour.

To help avoid a repeat of her bad experience, she has decided to walk to an earlier stop on the route.

“I came to the conclusion that I would get onto the train at Hadfield so at least I am at the first stop, which means I should be able to get a seat and not risk fainting again,” she added.

But she says she is not always successful since other commuters have also begun adopting the same plan.

Jon Pearce, the Labour MP for High Peak, said: “In Glossop we used to have three trains an hour, that’s gone down to two.

“When you then start cancelling intermittently every other train it stops people getting to work, university and college on time.

“It’s having a massive impact on people’s lives and I’m hearing stories of people losing jobs.

“We treat cattle better when we transport them. It’s pretty shocking and it can’t carry on, we need a reliable train service.”

He said he had arranged to meet managers at Northern.

In reply to a complaint from Ms Austin to Northern about her experience, a company representative said they acknowledged services could get very busy at times, leading to “uncomfortable overcrowding for our customers”.

They said all available rolling stock was in use network-wide, making it challenging to add extra carriages or run more services.

“However, I understand that the conditions onboard caused significant distress to the point of medical issues, and this is simply not acceptable,” they said.

“Even though a service may become busy at times, passenger safety is paramount.”

They said the Department for Transport monitored crowding levels at key stations and on the 10 most crowded train services, and encouraged train operators to plan their timetable to accommodate passengers in peak periods.

“Rest assured, your feedback has been noted and will be shared to address concerns and allocate additional resources where needed," they added.

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