Parkinson's disease sufferer David Rees says he had a 'journey from hell' on a train with broken air conditioning, as his illness prevented him standing by a window.

Mr Rees, 61, and his wife Merilyn, 52, of Quarry Hollow, Headington, Oxford, say they travelled from Manchester to Oxford in an 'unbearably hot' carriage.

He said: "With Parkinson's disease, you get stiffness and rigidity problems when you're at the end of a dose of medicine. You have to move around a lot and can't stay in one spot.

"That was why I couldn't stand by the window of the carriage. I was forced to sit there with the sun pouring in the window on one side.

"It was like a greenhouse effect."

Mr Rees explained that the aches and stiffness he endured were not helped by standing on a part of the train which swung and swayed about.

Mr Rees said passengers could only get respite by standing near one of two windows in carriage doors.

He and his wife were sitting in an area of the train reserved for disabled passengers. A woman on crutches and a man in a wheelchair also suffered the same conditions. The man had spent eight and a half hours travelling from Dundee to Banbury.

Mr Rees, who developed Parkinson's disease five years ago, stopped driving long distances two years ago, and had so taken the train instead.

He said he was still waiting for an apology and compensation from Virgin Trains. Company spokesman Richie Redfern said: "We certainly don't enjoy receiving complaints of this nature, which we take very seriously indeed."

He added that Mr Rees should receive a reply to his complaint within ten working days.

Mr Redfern said Virgin trains had inherited very old rolling stock, which would all be replaced by the year 2000.

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