MORE than fifty young 'evacuees' dressed in 1940s clothing were left waiting on the platform at Newport railway station yesterday after their train was cancelled.

And that was after organisers had been told they could not travel by train from Abergavenny to London as they had wanted to.

The 57 youngsters (pictured at Newport station) were from Harold Road Junior School, Abergavenny, and they were on their way to visit the Cabinet war rooms in Whitehall.

Teachers felt it would be more authentic if they dressed as evacuees, and travelled by train for the history lesson with a difference.

But staff organising the visit were first dismayed to find they could not travel by train from Abergavenny, and had to hire a coach to take them to Newport because of the numbers involved.

And when they arrived at Newport, they found their train had been cancelled. That meant an extra half-an-hour wait for the next train, and delay to their plans in London.

Tim Bowcock, for First Great Western Trains, said: "It was deeply unfortunate that we had to cancel their train due to a mechanical problem with one of our trains.

"Fortunately since last year we have run the service between Cardiff and London every half hour so they did not have to wait long."

Jane White, one of the teachers who had planned the trip, was furious about the cancellation. "It is unbelievable because hundreds of thousands of children were evacuated on trains over 60 years ago. They say things have improved in terms of transport but yesterday's fiasco was just pathetic.

"It is difficult enough planning a school trip without having to go through all of this. Everyone, the children, teachers were all so excited." School governor Councillor Douglas Edwards said: "This is diabolical. There were 57 children waiting to enjoy a day out to London and it was so disappointing." Christine Thomas, aged 9, said: "I am very excited to go but now I am bored waiting."