2018 has been an appalling year for the British railway industry.

On Saturday, October 13 I travelled from Newcastle to Glasgow and back for an event. Both journeys involved changing trains at Carlisle due to engineering work east of Edinburgh; I accept that.

However, it was on the return journey that I witnessed how customers are treated on the railways today. I joined what was supposed to be the London Euston bound train at Glasgow Central, however due to a landslip blocking the railway line in Cumbria, the train was terminating in Carlisle.

Lucky for me that I was changing trains there anyway, however for passengers travelling further than Carlisle, no replacement bus service could be arranged due to road closures in the area caused by flooding.

Saturday’s severe weather conditions are a fact of life, but it is in these circumstances where our rail companies need to pull together and see where possible everyone reaches their destinations at no additional cost. Unfortunately this did not happen.

Onward passengers were told to travel to Newcastle, where they would have to purchase an additional ticket for onward travel, because other rail operators wouldn’t accept the tickets they already had.

To me that is despicable and the industry needs to find a solution. I told passengers that if Jeremy Corbyn had his way, the railways would be nationalised and there wouldn’t be different rail operators to charge people twice.

One woman who had earlier told me that she was travelling home to what happens to be a Tory heartland, told me to shut up. What’s this, truth hurts does it?

Jeremy Whiting, Great Lumley