THOUSANDS of Christmas shopping trips hit the buffers after staff shortages forced Central Trains to cancel all of its services between Worcester and Birmingham.
The train operator had to axe all its Sunday services in the west Midands because too few drivers wanted to work.
Drivers at Central Trains are not contracted to work on Sundays, and services are covered by staff overtime - but fewer than a third of the 150 drivers who would usually volunteer for overtime did so.
In a statement, Central Trains' managing director Steve Banaghan said: "We apologise to all our passengers, particularly on such a busy day
for Christmas shopping.
"An exceptional number of drivers who would normally be working on routes in the west Midlands did not volunteer to work. While we have done our best to run as many services as possible, we have simply not had enough staff."
The shutdown extended along lines to Worcester and Hereford as well as Lichfield, Walsall, Redditch, Coventry, Rugby, Northampton, Cardiff, Rugeley, Wolverhampton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leamington Spa and Stourbridge.
More than a dozen other individual trains linking Birmingham with Crewe, Leicester, Stansted Airport and Nottingham were also affected.
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