A BRIT has been left speechless after being quoted an eye-wateringly high price of £786 for two return tickets from Newcastle to London.
Lee Williscroft-Ferris was pricing up the approximately 550-mile round trip yesterday but couldn’t believe the final cost that he was quoted.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) were looking for a whopping £786 for a standard return journey – or an even more ludicrous £1,049 if passengers fancied the same, but in first-class.
This price means the train tickets for two could cost over three times as much as the price of flying – with return flights from Newcastle to London Heathrow starting from as low as £110 per person.
A screenshot of the booking screen on Lee’s phone shows the prices quoted, with two anytime standard return tickets costing £786.80.
Below this, the cheapest first class return tickets available for Lee and his fellow passenger price out at £1,049.20.
Lee shared his booking dilemma to social media, where fellow Brits tried to explain away the high pricing by suggesting that the times he was trying to book were the problem.
Lee, however, explained that he was booking a week in advance, hoping to travel to London on Tuesday and return on Thursday.
With the distance between Newcastle and London being 277 miles, Lee would effectively be paying £5 per mile for a standard ticket and £7 a mile for a first class.
Lee’s post to social media yesterday was captioned: “For a return from Newcastle to London. LNER, are you out of your actual minds?”
His post received over 26,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments from social media users left speechless by the prices.
One user said: “Train operating companies have long held a licence to print money. It’s utterly obscene.
“And, yes. I’m aware that if you do some digging, you can find a cheaper way of making that same journey, but the point is that you shouldn’t have to.”
Another added: “Here is an idea. Flight to Paris, eat a nice lunch. Flight to London, TfL Underground to destination. Quick maths this would be £178”
A third wrote: “I looked at [the] train to Newcastle for a university open day with [my] son. Cheaper to buy a car and drive there.”
Another replied: “Uber works out at £630… and you are unlikely to have to change to a bus halfway.”
An LNER spokesperson today said: “We haven’t been provided with the full details for this journey.
“However, it appears the prices quoted are for peak time travel during a period of very high demand.
“Alternative trains have much cheaper Advance and 70 Minute Flex tickets available for travel in Standard from Newcastle to London King’s Cross, subject to seating capacity being available.
“We always encourage customers to book as early as possible for best value fares.”
