ONE of the main Scotland-London train operators has incurred the wrath of ministers by charging passengers to reserve seats, The Scotsman has learned.
The move by National Express East Coast was also condemned by passenger watchdogs and experts, who said it would harm the image of the rail industry by introducing airline-style "hidden charges".
The £2.50 fee, which the train operator said would
affect one in four passengers, comes as speculation mounts over its future because it has been badly hit by the recession.
The firm has already axed restaurant cars and announced plans to cut ticket office opening hours, which was followed by fare hikes this month of up to 11 per cent – the second this year.
However, NXEC denied speculation it was also introducing an excess baggage charge. The company said it could charge passengers £5 per bag for carrying more than two large and one small pieces of luggage, but was not planning to do so.
The seat reservation fee, due to be introduced on Sunday, would be first among current rail operators. It will be charged per person per journey.
A Department for Transport special advisor told The Scotsman: "Ministers have indicated they are angry about this and will be raising the issue privately with National Express."
The advisor also stressed there were no plans to renegotiate the company's franchise, and suggested a more likely option would be the government taking it over directly, as happened with another train operator.
This may be echoed later today when the Rail Maritime and Transport union calls for the franchise to be renationalised rather than renegotiated.
Passenger Focus, the official watchdog, said the seat reservation charge was unacceptable for NXEC whose routes are among the longest in Britain, including London to Inverness and Aberdeen.
Ashwin Kumar, a director, said: "Charging passengers to reserve a seat beggars belief. This is another example of 'back door' fare rises. Some of the National Express routes cover extremely long journeys, cost considerable amounts of money and passengers expect that a seat is covered in this ticket price."
Nigel Harris, the managing editor of RAIL magazine, said: "National Express is undermining rail's image. They are squeezing everything, which has made cheap airlines so unattractive."
Rail unions accused the train operator of "mugging" passengers. Gerry Doherty, general secretary of the Transport Salaried Staffs Association, said: "This is an outrageous imposition on millions of passengers and amounts to the fourth increase in overall prices in just five months."
The Association of Train Operating Companies declined to speak up for NXEC. A spokesman said: "We are leaving it entirely to National Express to defend this practice."
A spokeswoman for NXEC said seat reservations were not compulsory, and came free with various fares, including advanced purchase and season tickets. Passengers with disabilities were also given free reservations.
The spokeswoman added: "We want to improve the on-board environment for our customers. We do find that people are often reserving multiple seats as they're not sure which train they are going to catch.
"While we understand this, by asking people to pay for a seat reservation, seats will no longer be left empty with a reserved sign, therefore being made available for other customers to use."
However, Virgin Trains, which operates Glasgow-London and Edinburgh-Birmingham services, said it had never charged for seat reservations. A spokeswoman said: "This is not an issue for us."
