Off the rails

But what would normally be a simple four hour trek from the capital turned into a mammoth 13-hour journey from hell for the plucky pensioner.

Hilda had planned to spring a surprise by turning up at the secret 50th bash of her son Jeff at The Lord Nelson pub in Whalley Old Road, Langho.

Everything seemed to be in order when she left London Euston train station on a Preston bound train at 10am. But within hours the wheels had fallen off her perfect plans when four hours later - at 2pm - the train got stranded between two broken down carriages near Wolverhampton.

A further hold up followed when damaged overhead cables prevented the train from moving off.

By the time they were able to move, gale force winds meant that the train was only able to slowly track its way up towards Stafford and it was only at 6pm - already four hours behind her estimated arrival time in Preston - that they arrived.

But instead of rolling on smoothly at Stafford, Hilda faced a futher nightmare when she was directed to the wrong platform to get a connecting train to Manchester - and she missed the train altogether.

Eventually at 9pm Hilda managed to get a train to Manchester - finally arriving at 10pm.

Virgin Rail staff organised a taxi direct to the party by way of an apology for the inconvenience and Hilda made her grand entrance to the party at 11pm - NINE hours late!

Jeff's partner Ann, who was left waiting patiently at Preston train station for hours, for Hilda to arrive, said: "I started planning the party about three weeks ago and it was so hard to keep it a secret, especially as things started to go wrong. I was running out of excuses. At about 9pm I really believed the whole thing was ruined and I would have to cancel.

"There did not seem to be any co-ordination of staff and eventually they told us to ignore the arrival board because the information they were working on was so scatty.

"Jeff found out eventually which was frustrating but it didn't stop the fun."

Jeff of Northcliffe, Great Harwood, who moved from London two years ago, last saw his mother in October. He said: "All is well that ends well I guess and the party was excellent.

"I don't know how they managed to keep it a secret as long as they did -- it was wonderful! And it's a good job my mum is made of strong stuff. I think Ann was just determined that it had to work."

A spokesperson for Virgin rail apologised for the "serious delays" which they said were due to very difficult circumstances.