FOR the second time in just over a month commuters were left spitting feathers after their train failed to stop at Pewsey station on Monday and they ended up in Westbury.

The 5.33pm train from London Paddington sped through Pewsey at 6.41pm, without warning, taking passengers 22 miles out of their way.

Dozens of people who had planned to get off in Pewsey had to get a train or taxi back to the village. It is the second time this has happened after a driver forgot to stop at Pewsey in late October.

"It was just an utter shambles and I want compensation. I was getting ready to leave as we were heading through Bedwyn and then I watched the train whizz by, not slowing down at all," said Shelley Whitehead, of Wootton Rivers, who eventually got to Pewsey station an hour later.

"There was no suggestion that the driver had realised this was our stop and there was no attempt to stop or address the situation, people could not believe it. Are these drivers actually awake?

"The ticket officer was frantically running up and down apologising to people but it took at least two minutes for the driver to notify us that we had missed our Pewsey stop.

"When we got to Westbury we were lucky as there was a train back the other way but the driver did not know this, even though he had over 15 minutes to check as we sailed past Pewsey to Westbury."

Allegedly 35 passengers had to change at Westbury and get a train back to Pewsey and many more were waiting for the next train at Pewsey as it failed to stop there.

Nick Wilshin, of Pewsey, added: "I have complained and would expect to get some compensation. On top of the previous mistakes, the conductor on the train from Westbury then proceeded to argue with some customers, as he thought they were 'fare dodging'.

"It was not his fault as he did not know, and he apologised when he found out, but it just demonstrates utterly woeful communication.

"It is quite dangerous when you think about it as people will have been standing by the platform edge ready to board."

Clive Tillotson, from Pewsey, added: "I want GWR to stop being awful. Last week I was in Japan. The trains are metronomic; fast and reliable. But fundamentally the worry we have as commuters is that these recent issues strongly suggest a very lax safety culture."

A GWR spokesperson said: "We are investigating the incident. We currently do not know if this is the same driver as the last incident. Safety systems are in place to make sure collisions with other trains are not possible on the same stretch of line."