A HEAVILY-PREGNANT Dunfermline woman was reduced to tears by a "shoddy" ScotRail service.

Faced with the prospect of standing on a train, Nicola Grant has to assess what's happening on the Fife Circle line throughout the day often ending with her working long hours – just so she can avoid a hellish journey.

West Fife commuters are being let down by the the Fife Circle on a daily basis – highlighted over the past year by the Press' Crush Hour campaign.

Nicola, 44, who works for Standard Life, said: "You feel quite vulnerable when you're pregnant. I've suffered quite a bit from pelvic issues so I'm struggling to stand for any length of time.

"It's reduced me to tears sometimes with the discomfort and pain.

"When the trains are cancelled left, right and centre, they're not putting on any extra carriages.

"It's not fit for purpose. The Fife Circle line is shoddily run."

Nicola, who has a five-year-old daughter, travels from Dunfermline Town to Haymarket and back three days a week.

She heads for the 6.50am service just so she can get a seat and waits for the 17.12 peak service because it normally has five or six carriages.

"Getting to work is normally fine but there have been so many problems over the last several weeks," Nicola explained.

"However, getting back you're struggling to get a seat. You'll be standing at a door and more and more people are pushing to get on.

"I get the peak services because they're supposed to have five or six carriages.

"If they are cancelled then I just stay at work until after six. It's normally a long day as it is.

"I have a five-year-old daughter, I don't see her in the mornings so the time I get back on those days I have five minutes with her before she goes to bed.

"There's no reason for me to stay at work but I cannot physically do it."

With no badge for expectant mothers to wear from ScotRail, Nicola told the Press the awkward situation she finds herself in.

"I don't feel comfortable asking people to give up their seat," she said.

"A lot of people just seem to ignore me, and I've had a noticeable bump for quite some time.

"I have been offered a seat a few times but interestingly only by females.

"My only saving grace is that it's my last week at work. It's not actually being off work that I've been counting down to its the commuting that I can't wait to end!"

Politicians have recently been calling for train operator Abellio to have the ScotRail franchise taken off them and Nicola agrees.

She added: "A few weeks ago, I witnessed a train that was travelling to Aberdour go past at Haymarket with five or six carriages.

"It was cancelled. It was quite sickening for us all at the station to watch that and then have to get on a packed train.

"Surely they could have added those carriages to the next service. There is just no forward planning.

"They charge an absolute arm and a leg. When things go wrong there's not even any buses.

"There's no explanation and many ScotRail staff don't seem to really know what's going on either.

"My train this Monday morning got in on time for the time first time ever but I'm already looking at getting home to find my train is cancelled.

"The franchise should definitely be taken away. Each year it has just got worse and worse."

A ScotRail spokesperson said: “We know that one of the biggest concerns for our customers is busy trains – we do all that we can to meet demand, which can peak at different times.

“We’re currently trialling different badges for customers who may need a little extra help when travelling, which includes expectant mothers, and we hope that they will make a big difference.

“Next year, we will begin to redeploy our existing Class 170 trains to Fife and the Borders. These trains will add more than 5,000 extra seats each day."