A TRAIN company is investigating after passengers complained they were unable to open the doors on a scheduled stop.

Simon Hickling and his wife were on the 12.30pm Virgin East Coast service from Kings Cross on Wednesday and planned to depart at Northallerton.

But when the train stopped they were unable to open the carriage doors and the train departed from the station.

Another passenger then pulled an emergency handle to halt the train which had only travelled a short distance.

Mr Hickling said a guard told passengers the driver had not allowed him to open the doors and simply decided to drive onto the next stop, Darlington.

Eventually after a discussion the train did return to Northallerton and the passengers got off as planned.

Mr Hickling said no apology had been forthcoming.

He said: “How did this incident occur? Can a driver just decide to drive on from a station without a signal from the line controllers or the guard?”

Virgin East Coast was unable to comment on the incident, but simply confirmed it was investigating.