ANOTHER passenger involved in the Oxenholme lock-in incident went on record to question Avanti West Coast's status as a franchise holder. 

Kerry Francis, from Kendal, was travelling up from a Preston North End game on the fateful train that has since become national news. 

The train was supposed to set off at 21:41, and arrive in Kendal at around 22:15. This would have dovetailed it with the final Lakes Line train that goes through Kendal and Windermere.

When Kerry arrived at Preston station it was five minutes late, but this was not unusual. However the train took much longer then that to arrive, and then it took 40 minutes before the train finally got into Lancaster. 

This set off a chain of events that led to the passengers being locked in at Oxenholme station because the train was so delayed it arrived at midnight, well past the time of the last scheduled train. All of the staff had gone home. 

Kerrry said: "When we were approaching Oxenholme the train manager said that there will be buses to go on to Kendal and Windermere. Then we started walking toward the subway the gates were all locked up. Then we realised that there is no one here. 

READ MORE: Avanti West Coast say it is investigating Oxenholme incident

"The train manager came up behind us and said 'I don't know what is happening.' She said she would take us to Penrith and get taxis. Wasn't her fault but she was getting the brunt of the frustration." 

In the meantime, the passengers were considering sleeping on the benches or even walking down the Lakes Line to Kendal. In a now infamous photo, one man jumped over the spiked seven-foot fence to escape the station.  

Fortunately, a National Rail worker appeared with a key.

"It does seem to have gone downhill since Virgin lost the west coast mainline," Kerry said. "I understand there were staffing issues but there wasn't the customer care. You need somebody there to help-it fell to the customers to try and work it out." 

Avanti West-Coast said that they were investigating the issue. Kerry received an apology over Twitter but said that he has had no further correspondence with Avanti West-Coast over claiming refunds or receiving an explanation.