LANCASHIRE County Council's Labour group has called for Transport for the North (TfN) to have powers take over the operation of the region's rail services if the current chaos does not improve.

It is also demanding franchise holder Northern give full details of the scale and caused of the problems which have caused weeks of delayed an cancelled trains.

The party's County Hall spokesowman on transport Cllr Erica Lewis put forward a four point plan to tackle the crisis: granting powers for TfN to cancel the franchise and take the trains into public ownership; establishing a fully-integrated transport service, including buses, across Lancashire; Northern bosses appearing before a meeting of the county council's External Scrutiny Committee; and full access to information.

Cllr Lewis said "What disturbs me is that paying passengers can't get anyone to own up, front up and speak up."

She added: "The government blames the train company, the train company hides. This is what happens when public services are privatised. Who is actually going to explain to the tax paying, ticket buying, standing and waiting, endlessly inconvenienced travelling public what is happening?"