It’s meant that services between Manchester and London have been running as infrequently as once an hour, rather than the usual three per hour.
Avanti also cancelled all seat reservations on journeys booked before 8 August, leading to frequent confusion on board trains.
The company has apologised for the ‘enormous frustration and inconvenience’.
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It added that it has increased the number of unreserved seating to ‘make it easier for customers to find a new seat’.
Several people have said they’ve headed to their reserved seat to find it double-booked, and passengers left to stand or try to find a vacant space on busy services instead.
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One person even reported ‘fights breaking out over seats that are reserved but have people sitting in them’ – a matter that Avanti said should be passed on to British Transport Police.
Hey @AvantiWestCoast – I won’t comment on the actual times of trains between Euston and Manchester, @AndyBurnhamGM has that covered, but fights are breaking out over seats that are reserved but have people sitting in them. You need to sort this out before someone gets hurt
Someone else said: “On the 0630 to Glasgow-London train. @AvantiWestCoast you’re still double booking seats!! Just been forced out our seats 2 hours in by v rude travellers. A quick word with your helpful train manager and it’s easily sorted – she upgraded us! It’s the way you ask. Thanks Karen!!”
One person asked Avanti: “Got my reservation months ago and found that four people have exactly the same reservation. Is this some sort of travel Hunger Games?? 13:09 Crewe to Edinburgh.”
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Someone on Twitter asked: “How the hell do you allow 3 people to book same seat?!? Absolute madness @AvantiWestCoast. Train is chaos and now running late. Complete joke!”
Another said: “Chaos of @AvantiWestCoast really has to be experienced to be believed: only 1 direct train per hour to Manchester from Euston; only 9 coaches booked (not 11) leading to ad hoc declassification; seats double-booked; driver shortage meant 10 min delay; shop cannot take card payment.”
“I spent months commuting to Manchester from London 15 years ago and the Virgin VHF (3 per hour) was a treat: sit-down restaurant car doing cooked breakfast; air-conditioning that worked; no smell & clean seats. 2-hour train journey was something to look forward to, not to suffer.
“By contrast the timetable for mid-September still hasn’t been confirmed, half the ticket machines at Euston were out of order with queues for the ticket booths. This is the main trunk line connecting the UK’s three biggest cities, when it is running at all.”
A spokesperson for Avanti West Coast said: “The reduced timetable was introduced to ensure a reliable service is delivered so our customers can travel with greater certainty.
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“This decision was not taken lightly, and we’re sorry for the enormous frustration and inconvenience this has caused for customers who booked with us to prior to the timetable change.”
Featured image: Avanti West Coast
News
Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
‘The average cost of a pint’ in the UK by region, according to the latest data
Danny Jones
Does it feel like pints keep getting more and more expensive almost every week at this point? Yes. Yes, it does, and while you can’t expect a city as big as Manchester to be one of the cheapest places to get one in the UK, we do often wonder how it compares to other parts of the country.
Well, as it happens, someone has recently crunched the numbers for us across the nation, breaking down which regions pay the most and the least for their pints.
The data has been examined by business management consultancy firm, CGA Strategy, using artificial intelligence and information from the latest Retail Price Index figures to find out what the ‘average cost of a pint’ is down south, up North and everywhere in between.
While the latest statistics provided by the group aren’t granular enough to educate us on Greater Manchester’s pint game exactly, we can show you how our particular geographic region is looking on the leaderboard at the moment.
That’s right, we Mancunians and the rest of the North West are technically joint mid-table when it comes to the lowest average cost of a pint, sharing the places from 3rd to 8th – according to CGA, anyway.
Powered by consumer intelligence company, NIQ (NielsenIQ) – who also use AI and the latest technology to deliver their insights – we can accept it might seem like it’s been a while since you’ve paid that little for a pint, especially in the city centre, but these are the stats they have published.
Don’t shoot the messenger, as they say; unless, of course, they’re trying to rob you blind for a bev. Fortunately, we’ve turned bargain hunting at Manchester bars into a sport at this point.
We might not boast the lowest ‘average’ pint cost in the UK, but we still have some bloody good places to keep drinking affordable.
London tops the charts (pretends to be shocked)
While some of you may have scratched your eyes at the supposed average pint prices here in the North West, it won’t surprise any of you to see that London leads the way when it came to the most expensive pint when it came to average cost in the UK.
To be honest, £5.44 doesn’t just sound cheap but virtually unheard of these days.
CGA has it that the average cost of a beer in the British capital is actually down 15p from its price last September, but as we all know, paying upwards of £7 for a pint down that end of the country is pretty much par for the course the closer you get to London.
Yet more reason you can be glad you live around here, eh? And in case you thought you were leaving this article with very little, think again…
Daisy Jackson -
7th September 2022 
