A nightmarish train journey from London to Leuchars has prompted an attack on potentially dangerous overcrowding.
Tay Bridgehead councillor Tim Brett and his wife Barbara were forced to stand all the way from the capital to York and other passengers had to stand even longer.
Mr Brett has written to operator East Coast complaining that it was “an incident waiting to happen,” and has also contacted local MSP Iain Smith and North East Fife Lib Dem candidate Sir Menzies Campbell.
When the couple booked their tickets back in January they were told they could not reserve seats, but when they boarded the train they were concerned to find it was fully booked.
Mr Brett said, “We, along with many other passengers, had to stand for the first part of the journey from London to York which, due to rail works at Stevenage, took three hours to cover. Other passengers were standing all the way to Edinburgh.
“The train was extremely busy I cannot recall being on a train where more people were standing both at the ends of the carriages but also in the aisles between the seats in the carriages.
“Indeed, one lady actually lay down in the aisle.”
Mr Brett claimed the overcrowding posed a potential hazard.
“There was no way in which passengers would have been able to exit the train in the event of an incident occurring and in fact many passengers were struggling to access the toilets.Imperative”On other forms of transport particularly air travel it is imperative that the aisles are kept clear of luggage in the event of an incident occurring, and I am surprised that this is not the case with rail travel in this country.”
However, a spokesman for East Coast insisted that despite the high number of passengers the train remained safe.
On the day Mr and Mrs Brett were travelling he explained that essential engineering work by Network Rail in Hertfordshire meant the number of trains running was greatly reduced.
He said, “This meant that our services were inevitably much busier than a normal Sunday morning.
“The guard on the 10.20 service from London to Aberdeen opened up First Class accommodation to all ticket holders to ensure all available accommodation on the train was fully utilised.
“We publicised the engineering work in advance via our website and using posters at all stations at which East Coast trains call.
“Safety is our number one priority at all times.
“Whilst our trains were busy on this day, every train operated in a safe manner and we kept Britain moving by operating trains throughout the day as our customers prefer rather than using replacement coaches.”
Seat reservations across rail industry generally go on sale 12 weeks before travel, he said, and Mr and Mrs Brett had booked their tickets more than 12 weeks in advance.