Outraged passengers told to buy new tickets after Caledonian Sleeper service from Scotland cancelled

The Caledonian Sleeper at Preston Station this morning. PicL Lois Lane/Twitter

The rail firm confirmed at 5:20am the service had been cancelled at Preston due to a technical fault.

About 200 passengers were left stranded.

Those stuck at Preston were told they would need to buy new tickets to travel to London with other rail services, but Caledonian Sleeper confirmed they would be reimbursed for the cost.

The outcome angered one passenger, who tweeted: "Another shambolic night on the @CalSleeper. Imagine having issues, then telling your customers that they have to buy tickets again to get to London. What a mess."

The operator said it was "proving difficult" to secure road transport to ferry those passengers stranded in Preston.

Ryan Flaherty, Serco’s managing director for Caledonian Sleeper, said: “Our Southbound Lowlander service was cancelled at Preston this morning due to a technical fault affecting ride comfort and on-board systems.

The broken down Caledonian Sleeper train is pictured here travelling very slowly south this morning after dumping passengers at Preston station

"We’re extremely sorry to those affected by this issue.

"Unfortunately ticket acceptance on other trains was initially declined due to knock-on effects of disruption across the network yesterday, but all guests will be reimbursed for their onward travel to London.

"Ticket acceptance was later put in place, which allowed the remaining guests at Preston to complete their journey. Our maintenance team will be looking into the fault this morning and we expect tonight’s services to run as scheduled.”

A Caledonian Sleeper service has broken down in Preston this morning

Caledonian Sleeper had earlier said in a post: "We regret to advise that due to a technical fault with our Glasgow/Edinburgh to London service, the train is now cancelled at Preston. We are currently working on a road transport option to get guests to London."

The post added: "Our apologies to guests waiting at Preston for onward travel. Due to rail disruption yesterday and knock on issues today, other rail operators are not able to accept sleeper tickets to London. Guests wishing to purchase tickets to London will be reimbursed. "

"It is also proving difficult to source road transport as a result of the disruption yesterday. We have secured coaches to be at Preston for between 8:30-9am to run to London. Please keep in contact with your hosts at Preston who will keep you updated."

Caledonian Sleeper overnight trains have been plagued by problems since the revamped fleet was rolled out in April.

There have been a series of faults with new carriages and staff have voted overwhelmingly for strike action.

Managers were also accused of “absolutely losing the plot” last month for serving drinks, but no food on an Edinburgh-London service because they were short-staffed.