Virgin Trains East Coast accused of stealth 100% fare increase

Virgin Trains East Coast has been accused of imposing a near 100% fare rise “through the back door” after pulling many of its cheapest advance fares on popular routes.

In March 2015 a new consortium took over the east coast rail franchise with a promise by the then transport minister that the deal would be “fantastic” for both customers and staff.

But the new operator, which is 90% owned by Stagecoach but prominently features Virgin’s branding, has in effect doubled some passengers’ journey costs by removing the cheapest advance fares.

One customer, who lives near Darlington in County Durham and travels each Friday to work in London, said the cost of a single fare had jumped from a reasonable £14.50 for a single to a minimum of £27.45, because the cheapest fares were no longer offered.

The taxi driver, who does not wish to be named, has long booked his tickets at the earliest possible date to get the cheapest fares. “I travel down every week and buy the cheapest fares as soon as they go on sale 12 weeks in advance. I have been doing this ever since the days of GNER, and until now I have been able to buy Darlington to London Kings Cross train tickets for £14.50 each way,” he said. “I always travel down on Friday and return on Monday. This gave me a choice of four to six trains each way at that price. But as soon as Virgin took over they cut back on the number of tickets available at this price – and now they have disappeared altogether.”

He said the company recently sent out an email saying it would now be releasing tickets up to 24 weeks in advance, but when he looked the cheapest fares on his chosen days were £27.45, £36.75 or £47.55.

“They may appear reasonable, but are nonetheless nearly twice to more than three times more expensive than pre-Virgin. There are some £14.50 fares still available but not at times when anyone would want to travel. It’s a big fare increase through the back door,” he said.

He is not the first passenger to complain. Numerous rail companies which use the advance fares to flag up the low prices on offer in their advertising have been reducing the number on sale. It is impossible to know the degree to which train companies make available – or restrict – how many of the cheaper advance saver tickets are available, because they are unregulated and sold at the discretion of the rail operators.

Anthony Smith, chief executive of passenger group Transport Focus, has been calling on the train industry to publish the number of discounted fares sold. “We have always had concerns that quotas and availability of advance fares are not transparent. They are sold on a first-come first-served basis, but the industry still resists calls to advise us in confidence of the size of quotas, let alone publish the details of the numbers of advance fares available. So far, this has fallen on deaf ears.”

A Virgin Trains East Coast spokesman did not dispute that the lower fares had disappeared on some trains.

“Since we launched our service in March we have reduced standard anytime fares by 10% and reduced some higher-priced standard advance fares to reflect this. The full range of fares continues to be available to customers, including our cheapest advance fares. We always recommend booking online for the best savings – customers can book up to 24 weeks ahead for weekday journeys between points north of York and London.”

• This article was first published on 1 July 2015 but was temporarily removed pending investigation. The article was reinstated on 24 July 2015.