Presuure is mounting for "shambolic" rail operator, Northern, to be stripped of its franchise after more train cancellations chaos left passengers stranded.

MPs Tim Farron and John Woodock have renewed their calls to have the franchise taken off Arriva Rail North after rumours surfaced the beleaguered company was planning to close the Lakes Line which runs between Oxenholme and Windermere as of next weekend - a move which could see a number of GCSE and A Level students as well as Lake District tourists stranded.

In a letter to Secretary of State for Transport, Chris Grayling, Tim Farron, MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale said the company had a "cavalier" attitude towards cancellations and were "incompetent" at running the service and had "abdicated responsibility" for providing a rail-borne service into the central Lake District.

Speaking about the plans to cut all services from the Lakes Line, Westmorland and Londale MP, Mr Farron said: "The government has got to get a grip right now and take the franchise off Northern Rail.

“They are killing this railway line by stealth.

“Not satisfied with cutting half the services in the last few months, it now looks like Northern are looking to cut all of them.

“It’s time the Government intervened and made sure that we had a world class railway service to match the world class Lake District that it serves.”

John Woodcock, MP for Barrow and Furness, also waded into the argument adding the company needed to "take full responsibility" for the situation.

He said: "It is unbelievably frustrating to see another day of cancellations and disruptions for passengers going to and from Barrow. It is making journeys to work and school a nightmare on a regular basis now which is untenable and intolerable.

“Our Parliamentary summit for Cumbrian MPs has prompted a promise of talks from the government but this shambles will take more than words to fix.

“Northern rail should lose the franchise is they can’t provide the staff but government must take full responsibility for the monstrous mess they created when they awarded this combined franchise to the company.”

Today a number of passengers were left stranded after last-minute cancellations saw all services in and out of Barrow to Lancaster, Preston and Cartmel cancelled due to driver shortages.

Darren Ireland, Regional Organiser for the RMT North West backed the MPs' calls for a new provider.

He said: "It's quite clear that they are incapable of providing a service at this moment in time. We believe that they are in breach of their franchise obligations.

"It is shameful, Northern are so abysmal, they can't get passengers to their destinations- they should be stripped of the franchise."

"We are asking passengers not to attack front line staff as this a lack of management in the company, senior management created this. They are totally incompetent."

A spokesman for Northern said: “We are looking at a number of options to address our current performance and as part of this process we are looking at a number of routes. No decision has yet been made.”