It is one kick in the teeth after another." Avanti said it has removed peak restrictions over the Christmas period, from December 22 to January 7, in a bid to help spread demand. Ahead of December 9, Avanti has also cancelled a number of Saturday services between London and Manchester. A spokesperson apologised for the ongoing cancellations, which they acknowledged are "not good enough". "We have been seeing some short-notice cancellations on our network and would like to apologise to our customers for the inconvenience caused," said the spokesperson. "We know this is not good enough and are working hard to make sure we can minimise these cancellations. These service changes are a result of resourcing challenges where we have seen a shortage of train crew due to historic leave agreements and ongoing industrial disputes."