Rail passengers have expressed their frustration after being stuck at Stonehaven station for seven hours.
The group were stuck in the Aberdeenshire town after their Aberdeen to Edinburgh train was axed mid-journey.
The service was cancelled due to Storm Gerrit, leaving passengers stranded and ‘grumpy’.
The train stopped at the Stonehaven station at around 11:00am, with passengers left in limbo for two hours before being told they would have to board a replacement bus service to continue their journey.
The bus to replace the Scotrail service finally showed up just after 18:00.
London trip in jeopardy
Niall Atkinson, 32, was in the north-east visiting his parents for Christmas.
He had planned to get back to London for work the next day but said he was losing hope.
He said: We got stopped because the track was unsafe in one direction and flooded in the other.
“I’m trying to get to back to London for work but I don’t even know if I’ll get to Edinburgh at this point.”
The 32-year-old said they had been provided some food and water by Scotrail and passengers had taken it up themselves to go and get more.
He continued: “People have been doing runs to the shop for food.
“Someone turned up in a car at one point and offered to take passengers for food.”
Passengers stranded at Stonehaven given wrong information
Jane and Robert Mccue from Beaconsfield were trying to get back to London after visiting the Granite City.
She said the ScotRail staff on the ground were ‘charming’ but kept being fed the wrong information to pass on to the passengers
Jane said the messages were inconsistent with the group being told they’d be boarding a bus ‘in 40 minutes’ to then be told there would be ‘no bus at all’.
Robert answered with the one word quote: “Grumpy”.
The group were told there would be a bus at 17:15 before a bus finally arrived just after 18:00.
Scotrail was contacted for comment.
Storm Gerrit causes chaos
The news comes after a day of chaos in the north and north-east due to extreme winds and heavy rain.
Travellers faced severe disruption with roads closed, ferries and flights cancelled due to snow, flooding and high winds leading to fallen trees.
Bin collections in Aberdeenshire have also been affected.
