Last night at Preston was one unholy mess. The brand-spanking new, much hyped, Glasgow Central to Liverpool Lime Street 1847 service was curtailed at Preston due to unavailable train crew, and it all rather descended into chaos. During the journey, it suddenly emerged at Motherwell that this wouldn't be a direct service at all, and between there and Preston we heard a bus was being arranged, then taxis, then merely 'onward transport'. Platform staff had no idea of the situation at Preston and some passengers lost their cool to say the least. Eventually taxis were arranged and I was one of the lucky ones, travelling to Liverpool and then beyond as part of a through ticket, being put into one of the first taxis to arrive.
Perhaps this is an unfair comparison, but last time I was forced to take alternative transport on my home from Glasgow, Virgin had taxis ready and waiting at Preston for onward journeys. Perhaps this sort of unbridled chaos is atypical of TPE when things go wrong, but it looked dreadful on the first day of their new service. I'll be sticking with Avanti going forward, no question.