Virgin Claims That Jeremy Corbyn Did Have A Seat On The Train When He Sat On The Floor
A couple of weeks ago, Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn was filmed sitting on the floor of a crowded London to Newcastle train, drinking coffee and reading Private Eye.
He’d refused to upgrade to First Class (“is it fair that I should upgrade my ticket whilst others who might not be able to afford such a luxury should have to sit on the floor? It’s their money I would be spending after all”), instead using the opportunity to make a statement about the state of the UK rail service:
“This is a problem that many passengers face every day, commuters and long-distance travellers. Today this train is completely ram-packed. The staff are absolutely brilliant, working really hard to help everybody.
The reality is there are not enough trains, we need more of them – and they’re also incredibly expensive.”
You can check out the video here:
This won Jeremy adoration from his many fans, who applauded how down-to-Earth he is.
Well, Virgin Trains aren’t exactly thrilled that Jeremy has been calling their service “ram-packed”, and so they’ve challenged the footage. Saying that they had “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”, they’ve released CCTV images from the day, showing Corbyn and his team seemingly walk past empty seats.
Richard Branson has even chimed in…
Mr Corbyn & team walked past empty unreserved seats then filmed claim train was ‘ram-packed’ https://t.co/R5hawIpQek pic.twitter.com/22t8EkjW5l
— Richard Branson (@richardbranson) August 23, 2016
Alongside the images, Virgin have issued a statement, claiming that shortly after Corbyn finished filming, he was shown to an available seat:
“The same [CCTV] footage then shows Mr Corbyn returning to coach H and taking a seat there, with the help of the onboard crew, around 45 minutes into the journey and over two hours before the train reached Newcastle.
Mr Corbyn’s team carried out their filming around 30 minutes into the journey.”
They thanked Jeremy for praising their staff, and added:
“We’d encourage Jeremy to book ahead next time he travels with us, both to reserve a seat and to ensure he gets our lowest fares, and we look forward to welcoming him onboard again.”
Owen Smith - Corbyn’s rival in the Labour leadership contest - is loving it, and posted possibly the worst joke we’ve ever seen to his Twitter…
My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people.
— Owen Smith (@OwenSmith_MP) August 23, 2016
Oh Owen….
Corbyn’s team, in any case, are sticking to their story, releasing the following statement:
“When Jeremy boarded the train he was unable to find unreserved seats, so he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to find a seat.
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 the seats by a very helpful member of staff.
Passengers across Britain will have been in similar situations on overcrowded, expensive trains.
That is why our policy to bring the trains back into public ownership, as part of a plan to rebuild and transform Britain, is so popular with passengers and rail workers.”
Passengers from the same train are also coming forward to defend Jeremy, claiming that the train was “chocka” for the first 45 minutes, and then began to quiet down.
Let us know what you think in the comments!