Girl almost stranded after staff refuse to let her onto platform

Acting student Fleur McBride, 17, was travelling home from Chichester College last Wednesday, a strike day, but Southern staff did not let her onto the platform where her Great Western train was waiting.

Her mother, Sue McBride, who lives with Fleur in Henty Road in Worthing, said it was ‘disgusting’ that Fleur was not allowed onto the train.

“They have just left a 17-year-old girl in Chichester with no way of getting home,” she said on Wednesday.

“It tells you this train is running and you can use Southern train tickets,” she added, referring to the National Rail website.

“Luckily, she had money otherwise she would have been stranded,” she said. “What would she have done?”

Southern apologised to Fleur, saying: “Only passengers with pre-booked tickets for that specific service are able to board.

“Passengers with any other tickets are not permitted to board the train on ASLEF strike days as this would create severe overcrowding.”

Great Western said it runs services between Portsmouth and Brighton, with many stations, including Chichester, managed by Southern ‘who were not able to fully open these during the current strike period.’

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