A MALVERN woman said she is getting used to 'unacceptable' train services after cancellations left her partner three hours late for work.

Allison Maxwell's partner, Mark Hughes, was stranded trying to get to work in London after engineering works were not finished on time.

His job means he has been taking that journey to London every Monday for the past 18 months.

She said that during that time, her partner had been late to work many times due to delays and cancellations of the rail service.

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Mr Hughes was due to get the 5.53am Great Western Railway service between Great Malvern and London Paddington to get to his job in the capital.

However, it was cancelled, as was the next service, which was due to leave Great Malvern at 7.13am.

He eventually had to get the 8.56am train, which didn't arrive at London Paddington until 11.24am- three hours later than he originally would have.

This comes weeks after Miss Maxwell also had to set up a WhatsApp group to rescue her 16-year-old daughter and classmates from Hereford Sixth Form College due to late and cancelled West Midlands Railway trains.

The rail firm said it had developed an action plan to increase the number of drivers available in order to run a more reliable service.

Miss Maxwell told the Gazette: "Unfortunately we are getting used to trains being cancelled.

"He got to work three hours later than planned and this has happened many times before.

"It is unacceptable, especially when you get up at 4.30am to get that early train only to find out that past midnight the rail service decides they have got engineering work.

"By that time most people are asleep ready to get up in the early hours."

A spokesperson for Great Western Railway said: "We are really sorry that we had to cancel the first two of our trains from Great Malvern to London on Monday morning, this was due to overrunning engineering works.

"We know how disruptive this must have been and those due to travel on these trains will be entitled to a refund; we would encourage them to get in touch." 

A Network Rail spokesperson said: “We are sorry for the disruption to journeys caused by our overrunning engineering work.

"We were carrying out essential maintenance in the Worcester area but were unable to reopen the railway on time as planned.

"We did all we could to reopen as quickly as possible and thank passengers for their patience”.