Rail fare increases branded 'daylight robbery' during West Midlands protests
Rail fare rises for West Midlands passengers have been described as 'extortionate' by an MP – as he called on Transport Secretary Chris Grayling to 'either get a grip or get out'.
John Spellar said it was outrageous that fares had gone up at a time when services across the region were getting worse and rail bosses were raking in multi-million pound salaries.
It came as fares increased by 3.4 per cent and season ticket prices went up by 3.6 per cent – a move furious commuters have branded 'daylight robbery'.
The price hike, which is the biggest in five years, has seen protests at stations across the country.
Members of the National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers (RMT) descending on Birmingham stations New Street and Snow Hill and handing out flyers bearing the message: "Cut fares not staff."
Stephen Joseph, chief executive of the Campaign for Better Transport (CBT), accused the Government of choosing to 'snub rail passengers' by continuing to raise fares while fuel duty is frozen for a seventh consecutive year.
Mr Spellar, the Labour MP for Warley, told the Express & Star: "These are extortionate increases with worsening services across the country.
"Passengers will also be rightly outraged when they look at the amount of money being taken home by some of these company bosses.
"Particularly with the East Coast line there is something deeply wrong – and Chris 'Failing' Grayling should either get a grip our get out."
People travelling between New Street and London Euston now face paying £10,567 for a Virgin Trains season ticket – up £2,539 since the start of the decade.
The Lib Dems said commuters in the Black Country were bearing the brunt of the 'scandalous' price increases.
They have called on the Government to change the way it calculates rail fares from the CPI to RPI index – a move that would have lowered the increase by one per cent.
Lib Dem campaigner Paul Butters said: "Like thousands of people this morning I went to the station, bought my ticket, and saw an eye watering increase.
"It's daylight robbery. These massive fare hikes are making work unaffordable for thousands of people in our area.
"The Government could do something to fix this, they could switch the rate they calculate the increases by and that would instantly save people money. At the moment the Government are not playing fair with fares."
Ken Usher, a Midlands regional organiser for the RMT, said: "The increases to fares have greatly outstripped increases to pay. Since 2010 fares have gone up by around 32 per cent, depending on what type of ticket you buy.
"When you consider the conditions that people are dealing with at times...the fact that you don't get a guaranteed seat, toilets are not working, services are disrupted, and still they are being forced to pay through the nose.
"All of this is bringing about huge profits for mainly foreign operators, when the profits should really be going back into our railways system."
Rail bosses have defended the increase, although Mr Grayling was unavailable for comment as he had flown to Qatar.
Paul Plummer, the chief executive of the Rail Delivery Group, claimed the increases would help improve services.
“The fares are actually leveraging more investment from private sector and government,” he said, adding: “It underpins that investment, so we can continue to improve.”
He insisted he understood the frustration of commuters and said no one wanted to pay higher fares.
“I’m a commuter myself," he said. "I have travelled 30 years on the railway. All we can do in the industry is use the money, whether it be from taxpayers or fare-payers, as best we possibly can to improve as fast we can.”
Mark Carne, chief executive of Network Rail, said passengers would see a 'huge change' in the coming year due to investment in rail networks.
"We all share the desire to try to keep fares as low as possible," he said. "My job is to run the network as efficiently as possible."
A Department for Transport spokesman said: "We are investing in the biggest modernisation of our railways since the Victorian times to improve services for passengers - providing faster and better, more comfortable trains with extra seats.
"This includes the first trains running though London on the Crossrail project, an entirely new Thameslink rail service and continuing work on the transformative Great North Rail Project.
"We keep fare prices under constant review and the price rises for this year are capped in line with inflation, with 97p out of every £1 paid going back into the railway."
