No peace for the wicked. And due to events of yesterday meaning I didn’t do any work in the evening, I had to get up at 5am to write my speech (or rewrite it) for the big rally at Lib Dem conference in Harrogate tonight. I am one of three keynote speakers before the entry of our new leader.

And I have to pack, and clear my emails etc etc. I get to Kings X around 11am – early for a midday train. Only to find that all trains are cancelled and by the time the first train to Leeds / York is ready to roll – the queue to get onto it is four or more trains-worth of frustrated and fed up people. The crowding is ominous – and you can see that because there is no crowd control and no proper queuing that things could get ugly and dangerous – crushing and trampling not impossible. A journalist from Associated Press comes up to me as he recognises me and we chat in the queue. Suddenly the bells start ringing and station staff evacuate the whole of Kings X because there is a security scare. It’s lucky there wasn’t a bomb – as it was almost impossible to leave the station as the crowding was so severe. We wait outside in the freezing cold – but within about 10 minutes we are let back in.

think this was a “fake” security alert because they were worried about the crush building up for the next train. Normally when there is a security alert – the fire fighters and emergency services arrive to check it out. Here there was nothing! Anyway – when they let us back in – we go straight to the train and as I have spent an extra tenner to upgrade to special weekend first class I get on the train. The journo comes too – as do two other Lib Dems, Flick and Jill who I know. These three haven’t upgraded for a tenner – but there have been tannoy announcements saying due to the circumstances of so many cancelled trains trying to get onto the one train now about to leave – all seat reservations are removed and we should sit anywhere we can find.

You have to envisage people and cases in every nook and cranny. People standing in the bit between carriages and indeed, in the carriages. A ticket inspector comes around and when he finds that Flick is second class – he says she will have to move. He says this to most of the carriage who are all in the same boat. A couple of people get out of their seats – and perch on the arm – leaving the actual seat vacant, which strangely enough seems to satisfy the inspector. One man points out how stupid it is to leave a seat empty when no one is going to sit on it and so many people, albeit second class, don’t have seats. And he insisted. GNER policy is if you are not first class you cannot be in first class. The people explained that announcements had lifted seating restrictions because of the nightmare situation. The inspector persisted – but there were many, many people who simply would not accept the stupidity of what was being asked – to stand by the side of an empty seat given the awful time they had had waiting for hours and having been told they could sit anywhere.

The ‘jobsworth’ (who I don’t blame – because it is GNER policy and lack of GNER training) could see he was outnumbered by very angry passengers and left saying he was going to get the British Transport Police (BTP). Well – coming from the Met Police Authority and knowing a bit about the BTP – I doubted whether he would be able to find any – they are a bit thin on the ground generally speaking. Anyway – eventually we arrive in York and our carriage doors are not opened – so we assume that the BTP are coming – but actually I think the doors were just stuck. In the end they open – and we escape. We have missed our connection so myself and my Lib Dem colleagues and the journo get a cab to Harrogate (car sharing at least!).

But it’s not over – the snow starts – gently at first. Before long it is a white out – and traffic at a standstill. Having started at around 10am – I am now wondering if I will make it to speak at the rally. But we arrive in the end and I just have time for a quick check in and freshen up – and I’m on.