A Virgin Train spokesperson 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”. Could there be a better case for taking the railways back into public ownership?
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Branson’s photos, from a train surveillance camera, shows Corbyn walking past empty seats before squatting on the floor.
A major British train operator has rejected United Kingdom opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn’s account of a train journey in a freakish twist in the Labour party’s leadership race.
They say it shows that “Corbyn and his team walked past empty, unreserved seats in coach” before they chose to sit down on the floor.
Footage from the train operator also shows Mr Corbyn sitting down in an empty seat more than two hours before getting to his destination. Minutes after filming the video, he took up a seat for the remaining journey of his trip from London to Newcastle.
Later in the journey, seats became available after a family were upgraded to first class, and Jeremy and the team he was travelling with were offered seats by a very helpful member of staff’.
The Islington North MP said the train was “ram-packed” and used the opportunity to film a video calling for renationalisation of the railways. The staff on the train are absolutely brilliant, working really hard to help everybody.
A Virgin Trains spokesperson said they would encourage Mr Corbyn to “book ahead” next time to reserve a seat – but they look forward to welcoming him on board again.
The spokesman also said they were looking into whether Virgin Trains breached Information Commissioner’s Office data protection guidelines by releasing the CCTV.
Mr Corbyn was travelling to a debate with Owen Smith in the Labour leadership hustings in Gateshead, and was filmed at about 11.30am.
But Virgin Trains claimed on Tuesday that seats were available on the train.
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”.
After the original video was posted, some social media users were quick to suggest the incident could have been a stunt.
A Virgin Trains spokesman said Mr Corbyn was right to raise the need for more trains, which they say are doing with 68 more coming into service from 2018.
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Separately, The Guardian newspaper also reports that one passenger interviewed after Virgin’s claims were made said “there were people standing in all the corridors”.
