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CCTV images cast doubt over Jeremy Corbyn’s ‘packed train’ claims

Richard Branson, owner of Virgin, also took to Twitter to highlight the latest CCTV footage.

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A spokesperson for Mr Corbyn said: “When Jeremy boarded the train he was unable to find unreserved seats, so he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to find a seat”.

Footage shows Mr Corbyn later taking his seat on the train after filming his video, with Virgin Trains claiming he remained seated for the remainder of the journey.

A statement said Mr Corbyn and his team walked the full length of the train before setting up camp on the floor and filming the campaign video.

But Virgin Trains released CCTV images which appear to show Mr Corbyn and his team walking past empty unreserved and reserved seats at 11.07am.

He’s later shown sitting down in a seat 45 minutes into the journey – but before the train’s first stop in York.

He tells the camera: “This is a problem that many passengers face every day”.

Did Jeremy Corbyn really “walk past empty seats” before his packed train claim?

Virgin Trains has released an extraordinary response to Jeremy Corbyn’s claim that he was forced to sit on the floor of one of its London to Newcastle services because there were no seats left. Mr Branson used the image in his tweet. After the photo of Corbyn on the floor went viral, he was praised for reportedly refusing a first-class ticket and sitting on the floor instead.

The Guardian reported last week that the footage of the Labour leader was taken by Yannis Mendez, a freelance filmmaker who volunteers for his campaign.

But, alas, while Jez was sitting on the floor complaining about the company and hailing the merits of public ownership, there were vacant seats.

“The reality is there’s not enough trains, we need more of them, and they’re also incredibly expensive”.

The latest and most freaky scandal to engulf Jeremy Corbyn – about whether there were seats available on the “rampacked” train he used to illustrate his case for re-nationalising the railways – has triggered a defiant response from his supporters.

The Transport Salaried Staff’s Association Union’s general-secretary Manuel Cortes accused Virgin of being disingenuous for releasing video “that does not show empty seats”.

Former shadow cabinet minister Chris Bryant, another critic of Mr Corbyn, said: “I think the wheels just came off Jeremy’s campaign and he’s about to be shunted into a siding”. How could we allow a state of affairs to continue, he asked, where people have to sit on the floor for a three-hour journey?

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“After the video was shot we managed to get a seat at around 11.40am, because Virgin staff moved people around the train, but other people were unable to get a seat”.

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