There will be no Central Trains for much of the Midlands on Sunday

Central Trains has called off all its services out of Birmingham after finding it had too few drivers prepared to work.

Gary Clarke, chairman of the West Midlands Passenger Authority, said the cancellations would cause huge disruption to passengers.

Chiltern and Virgin services will not be affected.

Drivers' rotas

Central drivers are not contracted to work on Sundays, with services covered by staff working voluntary overtime.

The shutdown extends along lines to Lichfield, Walsall, Redditch, Coventry, Rugby, Northampton, Cardiff, Worcester, Hereford, Rugeley, Wolverhampton, Stratford-upon-Avon, Leamington Spa and Stourbridge.

Central will run most East Midlands services, except Birmingham to Stansted Airport via Leicester and Cambridge.

A few late night trains from Leicester to Nottingham and Birmingham are also affected.

The drivers' rotas only run from Monday to Saturday but such a small number of volunteers have offered to work this Sunday that the firm said it could not run any trains.

Rachel Webster, from Central Trains, said: "We have not got enough drivers from our West Midlands-based depots to run any level of service.

"Rather than promise to deliver something we know we almost certainly won't be able to deliver fully on Sunday, we have taken the decision to not run any services in the West Midlands."