Rail fares to London need to be reduced before businesses are forced over the Shropshire border into Mid Wales, a county businessman warned today.
Craig Marston said he was “gobsmacked” and thought the conductor had got it wrong when he was asked to stump up £241 for a day-return to London for an urgent meeting in the capital.
Mr Marston, who runs architectural services company Ke-Design in Oswestry, said he had to arrive in London for a last-minute business meeting at 11am so boarded the 6.57am train at Gobowen to arrive in London at 10.15am.
He said the ticket office was not open to purchase a ticket at Gobowen.
Mr Marston, who has been a regular commuter to London since moving back to his hometown of Oswestry, said he knew arrival after 10am was off-peak.
But he was told by the conductor “off-peak” hours were now for arrivals after 11.30am which he said prevented anyone spending the day in London at a reasonable price.
When changing at Shrewsbury, he was later told if he was travelling from Welshpool to London the return ticket would have cost just £54 as there were no restrictions at the Welsh station.
“I regularly used the 5.30am Shropshire and Wrexham service priced at £40 return.
“I could not believe it last week when I asked for a cheap-day return and was told the ticket price was £241.
“The conductor said I was travelling and arriving in London at peak time which I questioned and was told the hours had changed and peak times were now up to 11.30am rather than 10am and you cannot travel back before 7pm,” the designer said.
“I really was gobsmacked – especially after travelling so regularly in the past for less than a sixth of the price.
“I don’t believe there should be a train journey in the country worth £241. How can they justify that price?
“Imagine if I had to do that journey twice a week or if a family fancied a day trip to London – it would cost them over £500.”
Mr Marston said despite the huge cost of the journey the return train arrived late in Birmingham forcing him to miss his connection in Birmingham.
“Business owners always budget for commuting within a business plan and always compare locations.
“With prices like these, if a business owner was considering setting up a business in Oswestry or Welshpool and compared the prices for travel it could easily push them over the border resulting in the Shropshire economy losing out.
“These prices seriously need looking at urgently before Shropshire loses any more business opportunities,” he said.
Rail campaigners plan to stage demonstrations at train stations across the country calling for the West Coast main line to be re-nationalised.
It comes after the Government decided that Virgin had lost its franchise to FirstGroup, but then announced that the process would have to start again because of flaws in evaluating the bids.
Business leaders and MPs who have fought for a direct rail link from Shropshire to London have vowed to continue their fight to get the winning operator to ensure a direct rail link is launched.