LNER Media Update: Retford Concern for Welfare Incident, Significant Disruption Expected

After many customers were caught in severe disruption, LNER would like to apologise unreservedly for the experience of all those travelling and wants to thank everyone for their patience and understanding in such difficult circumstances.

At around 19:30 on Thursday evening, an LNER train driver contacted Network Rail control teams after seeing a person on the railway close to Retford station. This alerted British Transport Police (BTP), and all trains were stopped in the area due to the immediate threat to life.

BTP and Network Rail teams arrived at the reported location and found a vulnerable man on top of a railway bridge over a river at around 20:20. While officers and specially-trained police negotiators managed the situation, to protect the safety of those involved, trains were unable run through the area.

Police brought the incident to a safe conclusion at around 03:20 on Friday morning (17 April 2026).

LNER is expecting significant disruption to services today (Friday) due to trains and crews being out of position. While some services will be running, these will be very busy, and customers are strongly advised to check their journey before travelling.

David Horne, Managing Director at LNER, said: “I would like to offer my profound apologies to all those whose journeys have been affected. We are aware that people were waiting at stations and onboard our trains for a long time, and we know that our customers will have been travelling for important reasons.

“I want to reassure everyone that our teams, both on the ground and behind the scenes, were working hard to get people moving towards their destinations as quickly as possible. However, due to the sensitivity of the incident and with the safety of everyone involved being paramount, we could only run our services through the affected area when British Transport Police determined it was safe to do so.

“We thank our customers for their patience and understanding while teams responded to the sensitive situation.”

LNER customers with tickets dated Thursday 16 April or Friday 17 April 2026 can use their existing tickets on any LNER service to their destination up to, and including, Monday 20 April 2026. It is recommended that customers make a new seat reservation, for free, via the LNER app, website, or at its Travel Centres.

Further information for customers whose journeys were affected can be found here.

A BTP spokesperson said: “We were called just before 7:40pm yesterday (16 April) to reports of a trespasser on the line near Retford railway station.

"Officers responded alongside Nottinghamshire Police and other emergency services, and a man was located in a precarious position on a bridge. A specialist police negotiator also attended the scene to bring the incident to a safe conclusion due to concerns for the man’s welfare.

"At 3:20am on 17 April the man was arrested on suspicion of obstructing the railway and taken into police custody where he remains.

Gunnar Lindahl, joint operations director for Network Rail and LNER, said: “Our teams worked closely with the emergency services and train operators during this serious and sensitive incident to keep everyone safe and reopen the railway as soon as it was safe to do so. We’re sorry to anyone whose journey was affected while the situation was brought to a safe conclusion. Once the line was clear, our teams worked quickly to restore services and support operators in getting trains on the move again.”