‘Held to ransom’

As the biggest fare increase in half a decade came into force this week, the TUC has found that UK commuters spend up to 5 times as much of their salary on rail fares as other Europeans.

Fares are set to rise a third faster than wages in 2018.

Someone on an average salary travelling from Chelmsford to London will have to fork out 13 per cent of their pay for season tickets — ÂŁ381 a month.

By contrast, comparable commutes would cost a mere 2 per cent of the average salary in France, 3 per cent in Italy, 4 per cent in Germany, and 5 per cent in Spain and Belgium.

Wages in the UK are set to grow by only 2.6 per cent in 2018, while season tickets will go up by 3.6 per cent — over a third faster than wages.

“Millions of commuters are being held to ransom by the greedy privatised rail companies,” said Unite national officer for the rail industry Bobby Morton.

“Rail travellers, who are seeing their wages lag far behind this fare increase, are being asked to take another hit to their incomes to pay for expensive and often unreliable trains.

“Every day the case for the public ownership of the rail industry grows stronger.”

TUC general secretary Frances O’Grady added, “Another year, another price increase. Many commuters will look with envy to their continental cousins, who enjoy reasonably-priced journeys to work.

“Employers can help out by offering zero-interest season ticket loans, or offering more flexible work hours and locations.

“But ultimately the government need to take our railways back into public hands,” she went on to say. “That will stop hundreds of millions being siphoned off by private rail firms, and allow us to put passengers first.”

“And this is without even counting the scandalous cost of parking at certain stations.”

Unite’s Bobby Morton also hit out against transport secretary Chris Grayling, who was conveniently absent on the day the rail fare hike was announced — he’d flown to Qatar.

“Chris Grayling’s sudden trip to Qatar smacks of running scared as millions of commuters faced unacceptable rail fare increases for 2018, including his constituents in Epsom and Ewell,” Morton said.

“The transport secretary should have had the guts to have faced the media in the UK, so he could explain what he is going to do to curb such draconian increases in the future.”

Find out more about the TUC’s analysis on rail fares in the UK and Europe here.