TRAIN operator Grand Central has apologised to customers in York after they were forced to travel like “sardines in a tin” on a service to London.

Many bank holiday travellers decided not to board Monday’s 14.08 service from Sunderland to Kings Cross, after fearing for their safety in the overcrowded carriages.

Traveller David Dunning paid £95 for his ticket, but left the train minutes after boarding at York Station, claiming he had to be “pushed” on to the overcrowded carriage.

A spokesman for the company said the 14.08 was “tremendously busy” following the cancellation of the previous service due to maintenance work on the East Coast Mainline.

He said: “We had a huge number of passengers joining the train before it got to York. We apologise for any inconvenience caused and we are looking at how we can deal with large peaks in demand.

“One of the difficulties we have is that it’s hard to predict loadings and we were caught out. We did fit additional carriage to our trains, because if we can add more we will.”