A commuter was left stranded after a conductor refused to open train doors for ale trail revellers.
Mark Matthews was forced to take a taxi back to his home when a member of train staff failed to let him off at the Marsden stop on December 29.
He believes that it was due to an argument involving the conductor and a group of around 20 men in pantomime fancy dress, who boarded the train at Greenfield and would not pay for tickets.
Mark, who uses the Northern Rail operated line from Huddersfield to Wigan Wallgate for his daily commute, said: “They got on and refused to pay so the conductor just walked off to his office at the end of the train.
“They wanted to get off at Marsden, like I did, presumably to go to the pubs,.
“But when the train rolled into the station, although it stopped for one minute, the conductor didn’t reappear to open the doors so I was left stuck on it with them.
“They’d been drinking and it looked like they were on the ale trail.
“It was very annoying because like others, I’m just a regular commuter that wanted to get home after a long day at work.
“The train moved on and the men called the conductor back so they could pay and he opened the doors in Slaithwaite.
“But this meant that I had to pay for a taxi back home as no other trains were coming back soon, which isn’t on as I already pay for weekly passes.”
He now wants Northern Rail to revise its policy so that Colne Valley and Huddersfield residents are not affected by troublesome ale trail travellers.
Mark, whose partner has complained to Northern Rail, said: “I know that he may have felt intimidated but he should have at least informed passengers on the train unconnected to the incident about what was happening and why he wasn’t going to open the doors.
“But at the end of the day people who use the train who don’t cause trouble shouldn’t have their own journey affected by the actions of these people, it’s just not fair and I’m just worried that as the trail gets busier throughout the year it will happen again.”
A spokeswoman for Northern Rail said: "We’d like to apologise to Mr Matthews for the disruption he experienced.
"We have been working closely with local residents, community groups and the British Transport Police to reduce anti-social behaviour on this line of route and so far have had positive feedback from our approach.
“This recent incident is a reminder that this type of behaviour is from a minority and it is our responsibility to ensure the safety of all our customers and indeed our staff.”
A study published last month by the Office of the Rail Regulation also showed the impact of the Ale Trail on Colne Valley stations.
The Trail has been criticised by many residents for bringing drunken behaviour into the villages along the line.
But Slaithwaite and Marsden stations showed big increases in passenger numbers, up from 185,594 to 208,418 and 166,910 to 182,170 respectively.
Huddersfield station was the fourth busiest in Yorkshire, behind Leeds, Sheffield and York, with 4,816,107 journeys (4,656700).
See images taken on the ale trail during summer 2014 below.
