NET took the highly unusual step of withdrawing all tram services after a major communications failure
Helen Smith and Liz Testa were among the frustrated passengers affected by Saturday’s disruption (Image: Nottingham Post/Oliver Pridmore)
NET has defended its reputation after being dubbed “the worst tram system in the country” on a day of major disruption across Nottingham.
Frustrated travellers turned up to catch a tram on Saturday morning (February 28) to find that every single NET service had been cancelled because the operator couldn’t run them “safely.”
Tram passengers had already faced disruption earlier in the week due to overhead line damage, but the situation rapidly deteriorated on Friday night and into Saturday morning.
NET then confirmed just before 6am on Saturday that it had taken the highly unusual step of withdrawing all trams – one of the only times this has happened since the day of the Nottingham attacks three years ago.
Liz Testa, from Wollaton, and Helen Smith, from Hucknall, were among those affected by the tram disruption when they turned up to The Forest tram stop.
The women, both in their 60s, were due to meet a group of friends in the city but said they were running very late as a result of the tram cancellations.
Helen said: “It’s going to massively disrupt us, there’s a big group of us meeting and we’re going to be late.
“The problem is that they don’t make allowances when things like this happen, they left me stranded in Hyson Green once and just said that I’d have to catch a bus, but I’m not from here and so I didn’t know where I was.
“I thought they’d have put buses on instead today because I thought the whole point is that they don’t want cars in the city.”
Liz added: “We must have the worst tram system in the country. It’s an absolute farce.”
One NET staff member was on hand to give people guidance at The Forest tram stop and many passengers expressed their frustrations to him.
When told that people parking in The Forest Park and Ride would not be be clamped during the disruption, one passenger sarcastically responded by saying “that’s nice of you isn’t it” and adding “isn’t it nice to have a reliable public transport system?”
A turbulent start to 2026 for Nottingham’s tram operator has seen well over 100 services cancelled, two vehicles crashing into trams in quick succession and another crash between a tram and an NCT bus.
Sarah Turner, the managing director at NET, said: “We recognise that over the course of the past few months, tram users have experienced a series of cancellations and service disruptions. We apologise for the frustration and disappointment this has caused.
“Many of these incidents have been beyond our control, such as road traffic collisions involving trams and motorists, as well as this weekend’s service disruption which was caused by an electrical failure with one of our customer communications channels.
“When such incidents do occur, we always work to restore regular service levels as quickly as possible once it’s safe and practical to do so.
“Outside of these incidents, we run a reliable service with an average of 95% reliability. In addition, our customer satisfaction continues to grow, currently standing at a score of 85%.
“This is incredibly strong for this industry, especially when you compare it to the average transport sector satisfaction figure which is 71.5%. Furthermore, 96% of our customers have stated that they would recommend NET, and that’s something we’re really proud of.”
An empty tram running through the Old Market Square (Image: Joel Moore/Nottingham Post)
Trams were initially unable to run between The Forest and Bulwell due to damage to the overhead line, which began on Thursday night.
NET eventually confirmed just after 3pm on Saturday that services were finally running to all stops again, though the operator warned that timetable disruption would last for some time.
Saturday’s disruption was put down to “an electrical failure” with a customer communications channel that then “tripped other systems, resulting in a loss of communications with trams.”
Other passengers affected at The Forest stop included 59-year-old Fiona Corbett, of Sherwood, who said: “I’m heading into town because I’m going to a work meeting and then I’m coming back here to meet friends.
“It’s not ideal at all and you’d think they would have more signs up to tell people – I didn’t know about it until I got here.”
Martin Devonshire, 76, from Gedling, said: “I’m going to have to drive to the hospital then. I’d heard about the disruption yesterday because I’ve been catching the tram every day this week, but I’ve been lucky in that I always get on at The Forest, so I haven’t been affected by that, but I hadn’t heard that it had got worse.”
Another disrupted passenger, who didn’t want to be named, added: “It’s annoying more than anything, but I understand these things happen sometimes.
“I’ve been told I can leave the car here without being clamped, but I’m going to drive back and get the bus into town – I’m already running late.”
“However, we’re committed to doing all we can to ensure we provide a reliable service for all our passengers and where incidents do happen, we always try to limit the impact to the customer experience.
“This includes making sure we keep tram times as close to the timetable as possible, with minimal wait time between them, as well as providing prompt and regular communication with tram users through the NET X and Facebook channels, the NETGO! app and the website.
“We value all customer feedback and take all comments on board. Each year thousands of passengers rely on our trams for travel across the city for work, study and leisure, and we remain committed to ensuring the network is the very best it can be.”