I'm in touch with some friends currently stranded at Liverpool Central, with Merseyrail telling them no rail replacement buses are possible as it's too late in the evening. This appears to be on multiple services heading out of Liverpool. I'm told there's an unmanageably large queue for taxis, which passengers are having to pay for themselves, including kids stuck trying to get home, and a confused man who has just been sent on his way not knowing where he is going.
Are Merseyrail within their rights here to not make any arrangements for those stranded? I've been looking at National Rail Conditions of Travel etc but am struggling to find a definitive answer here. My friends are unsure how to proceed and are now resorting to putting pressure on Merseyrail via social media to sort out buses, but do they have any concrete obligations on the part of the operator they can point to here?
If it makes a difference, I'm told some people were on the platform when the decision was made to boot them out of the station, but some were on trains stopped at Liverpool Central.
Any assistance in clarifying whether Merseyrail has some responsibility to these stranded passengers would be much appreciated, thank you all.