RAIL users are urging local MPs and the Transport Minister to intervene over a catalogue of train cancellations and serious delays on trains from Worcester to London since the start of the year.

Campaigners say one day last week train operator Great Western Railway cancelled six services completely between Worcester and London, with six more trains terminated or starting at Worcester and failing to serve Malvern and Hereford.

The problems happened on Monday, February 12.

Peak-time morning commuters into Worcester from Evesham, Pershore and Honeybourne were hit by the cancellation of their train on every single day last week.

Replacement bus services failed to appear or were running extremely late.

Their peak evening return service - the 5.26pm Worcester Foregate Street to London Paddington - has also been among the trains cancelled on a regular basis this month.

The Vale Public Transport Group, which is made up of representatives from local councils, has written to all three Worcestershire MPs along with transport minister Chris Grayling.

They are urging the MPs to bring Great Western Railway to account.

Group secretary Helen Whitwell said: “Reliability problems dating back some considerable time on the Cotswold and Worcester-Bristol routes have been compounded since January with many cancellations of trains due, we understand, to lack of available train crew for new trains.

“These regular delays are causing serious inconvenience and hardship for customers, and particularly for those who rely on the trains to get them to and from work.

“There is also growing evidence that many business and leisure travellers are now deserting the Cotswold Line in favour of more reliable and regular interval routes - and often cheaper off-peak fares - from Birmingham or Warwick Parkway.

This is hardly surprising, when any cancellation on the Cotswold Line can result in a three-or-four hour off-speak gap in train services, and when there appears little effort to provide alternative transport options or to keep the public properly informed."

GWR did not respond to a request for comment.