Passengers waiting for a £289 meal aboard a luxury train were left stranded on the platform after a last-minute Covid alert forced it to abandon its service.
The Northern Belle luxury train turned into a ghost train this week after it was forced to leave 250 disappointed passengers standing on the platforms of Swansea and Cardiff stations.
Tables had been set and the food was ready to serve to passengers who had booked the slap-up seven-course Christmas Lunch worth £289 on board, but just minutes before it reached Wales on Wednesday a member of the onboard staff received a text telling her she had tested positive for Covid.
The infected steward had recently returned from a holiday in Portugal and had taken a PCR test. She had not shown any symptoms prior to receiving an email saying that the test had proved positive.
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Rather than risk the health of passengers who had booked the meal onboard, boss David Pitts reluctantly took the decision to cancel the trip.
It meant the vintage 1930s-style Pullman train once part of the iconic Orient Express group, which had started out from Carnforth in Lancashire, ran straight past the platform at Cardiff Central before returning to its base without stopping in Swansea either.
Passengers waiting couldn’t believe their eyes as it whistled past them before greeting staff on the platform, who normally welcome passengers onto the train, explained the reason.
Mr Pitts said the service was "terribly sorry to have disappointed passengers at such late notice and left them standing at the station.
“Legally, as all our staff have been double vaccinated, we could have continued and let people travel after ensuring that the infected steward was isolated for the rest of the trip.
“However, passengers’ safety is always paramount so we reluctantly decided to cancel the trip at the very last minute.”
Although public health officials had already told him there was little risk of transmitting the virus to passengers provided staff were adequately following normal food hygiene practices, Mr Pitts said: "Everybody is rightly very concerned about Covid and so we did not want to take any chances with passengers’ health.
“However we have managed to rearrange the trip for Monday, December 20, and hope that as many as possible of those who had booked for Wednesday will be able to join us.
“Plus, to be on the safe side, we will be retesting all our staff members for Covid.”
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