ANGRY Malvern parents organised a 'train rescue' to pick up their children from the railway station after a signalling fault caused commuter chaos.

Trains travelling between Great Malvern, Ledbury and Hereford were disrupted from Tuesday, leading parents to set up a WhatsApp group to organise for children stuck after college. 

Parents have claimed the disruption has caused havoc to their children's education.

A signalling fault between Worcester Foregate Street and Hereford was announced by Network Rail on Tuesday. 

The signalling fault issue arose again on Wednesday, meaning all lines were blocked between Ledbury and Hereford stations and seeing more trains cancelled or delayed.

Although Network Rail originally said the fault would be fixed by 3pm, the issue continued into Thursday morning, causing further disruption to commuters.

Rail replacement services were in operation between Worcester and Hereford throughout the incident. 

As well as several cancellations trying to get between Malvern and Hereford, via Ledbury, saw their trains delayed by up to 30 minutes or revised to terminate at or start back from Ledbury.

Allison Maxwell, from Malvern, whose daughter was left stranded trying to get home from Hereford Sixth Form College, set up a WhatsApp group of parents who were willing to drive to and from Hereford station to pick up the youngsters. 

She said one of the parents in the WhatsApp group, called the 'Hereford Train Rescue', claimed they had to pay £65 to get a taxi home. 

She added: "Many parents had to leave work to do the 90-minute round trip to rescue children.

"The disruption of the rail service between Great Malvern and Hereford has caused havoc for our children’s education.   

"Some children were unable to attend college this week for fear of being unable to get home or enduring a four-hour wait or journey.  

"It's daunting enough for a 16-year-old to transition from school to college without having to navigate a service that is ‘not fit for purpose’."

Diane Warner, also from Malvern, whose son attends the Hereford College of Arts, added: "My son has been left stranded at Ledbury and I’ve had to collect him.

"I’ve driven him to Hereford twice, he’s had to use a replacement bus service twice and missed the last lecture of the day to get an earlier train just to get home."

Disruption following the fault ended at around 10am Thursday morning as Network Rail said the fault was fixed, however, rail replacement buses remained on standby as a precaution. 

Network Rail were unavailable for comment.