The Courier & Advertiser (Perth and Perthshire Edition)
Corbyn ‘shown passing empty seats’ before busy train claim
Virgin Trains issues CCTV images after it takes issue with the Labour leader’s claim that he could not find a seat
A train operator has launched a withering rebuttal to Jeremy Corbyn’s claims he could not get a seat on a “ram-packed” service.
The UK Labour leader appeared in an on-board video filmed by his staff in which he bemoaned the lack of seating on a Virgin Trains service from London to Newcastle and called for renationalisation of the railways.
But rail executives say he was captured on CCTV walking past available seats – before he was able to secure a pew two hours before end of the journey.
The bizarre row led to Virgin Trains’ communications department releasing a lengthy statement refuting Mr Corbyn’s claims, as well as CCTV images of the leader of the opposition as evidence that seating was available.
Sitting on the floor, Mr Corbyn told the camera: “This is a problem that many passengers face every day on the trains, commuters and long distance travellers.
“Today this train is completely ram-packed. The staff on the train are absolutely brilliant, working really hard to help everybody.
“The reality is there are not enough trains, we need more of them and they’re also incredibly expensive. Isn’t that a good case for public ownership?”
A Virgin Trains spokesman said: “We have to take issue with the idea that Mr Corbyn wasn’t able to be seated on the service, as this clearly wasn’t the case.
“We’d encourage Jeremy to book ahead next time he travels with us, both to reserve a seat and to ensure he gets our lowest fares, and we look forward to welcoming him on-board again.”
A source in Mr Corbyn’s campaign said they were analysing their own video evidence of the journey and suggested the Virgin footage could have been from a later stage in the trip.