Great Railway Fiascos No 9: Train delay could have ruined career

STUCK ON a train as it crawled into London hopelessly late, Dr Debbie Shawcross was gripped by a "blind panic" as the start of an important examination came and went. The young doctor had paid pounds 440 to sit the Royal College of Physicians exam and had set out at 7am to arrive relaxed and in plenty of time. But because the Virgin train she caught from Milton Keynes to Euston couldn't cope with a light January snow, the stop-start service was nearly three hours late.

Dr Shawcross, 27, was already nervous about the exam, which she had to pass to move on in her medical career. She had invested pounds 1,000 on a revision course and decided to travel by train on the day to avoid the extra stress of parking in central London.

But despite leaving three hours leeway in case of delays, she arrived at the exam hall 15 minutes after everyone else had started writing, and "consequently failed that section".

The trip got off to a bad start when the 7.30am train was 11 minutes late at Milton Keynes and crammed with people. "The train was packed and I was squashed in like a sardine, but I put up with it, thinking the journey would only take 40 minutes," Dr Shawcross said.

Just outside Hemel Hempstead the train broke down. "We then had to wait for an hour before the train eventually began to crawl along the line into London," she said. The passengers had to wait some time before they were told what the problem had been and were never given the option of getting off to catch a train that could travel at normal speeds.

The slow progress left Dr Shawcross looking at her watch as the time she was due to begin the vital exam ticked ever closer. "The fact that my mental condition was one of complete turmoil meant that I wasn't in a fit state to do the exam," she said. "I couldn't believe it was happening to me. I didn't think I would make it to the exam at all. I was in a real blind panic."

Dr Shawcross failed the exam last January, but she was successful when she re-took it four months later. "I asked my brother to drive me to the hall and I was 90 minutes early this time," said Dr Shawcross, who is now working as a registrar in High Wycombe.

Virgin told passengers the train had been affected by cold weather after a 2in snowfall the previous evening. Dr Shawcross, who spent pounds 30 on the train ticket, said: "I blamed Virgin for my misfortune, and after reflection they decided to reward me with pounds 4 of railway vouchers as compensation."

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