It is not clear in this view at Leamington Spa

station but the platform to the right was absolutely packed with passengers waiting to get a train south. Unfortunately for them, the 13.27 Manchester Piccadilly to Bournemouth service, being worked by 220004, was full and standing on arrival. Indeed, the station announcer was passing this bad news on to the hapless passengers waiting on the platform. The reason for this chaos was that the WCML was closed in the Northampton area with a complete power failure with no Virgin or London Northwestern trains operating north or south. Customers were advised to use their tickets on CrossCountry and Chiltern services but they could not cope with chronic overcrowding ensuing.