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Jeremy Corbyn walked past empty seats on 'packed' train, says Virgin Jeremy Corbyn fends off Branson's attack over 'ram-packed' Virgin train
(35 minutes later)
Virgin Trains has disputed Jeremy Corbyn’s filmed account of having to sit on the floor of a “ram-packed” London-to-Newcastle service, releasing CCTV images that it said showed the Labour leader walking past empty, unreserved seats. Jeremy Corbyn was drawn into an extraordinary row with Virgin Trains after the rail operator disputed the Labour leader’s filmed account of having to sit on the floor of a “ram-packed” train, releasing CCTV images of him walking past free seats beforehand and sitting down shortly after the film was shot.
In a statement on Tuesday supported by Sir Richard Branson, Virgin Trains said it wanted to “clarify” Corbyn’s account of the journey on 11 August. Backed up by Virgin Group founder Sir Richard Branson, the train operator said it 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” on a crowded train that the Labour leader had taken from London to Newcastle on 11 August.
The train operator published a picture that it said appeared to show the Labour leader sitting in a seat at 11.46am, shortly after a freelance film-maker travelling with his team had finished shooting. But the Labour leader stood by his description of the train journey, saying while there had been some available seats he had not been able to sit with his wife, Laura Alvarez, and that he was only able to sit later because train staff had upgraded another family to first class to create space.
It said the footage showed “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.” Virgin Trains took the unusual step just more than a week after Corbyn was filmed sitting on the train floor after he could not find a seat on the morning train. In the video he laments the lack of available seats, saying: “This is a problem that many passengers face every day; commuters and long-distance travellers. Today this train is completely ram-packed.”
Virgin said earlier CCTV footage from the train, taken before the film was shot at 11.10am, “shows Mr Corbyn and his team walked past empty, unreserved seats in coach H before walking through the rest of the train to the far end, where his team sat on the floor and started filming”. One of the images released by Virgin Trains, which shows a time code of 11.10am – 10 minutes after the service had departed from London – showed Corbyn walking past seemingly unoccupied seats which did not have slips attached to them indicating they were reserved. Virgin Trains also released another CCTV still, from 11.43am, about 15 minutes after the video was shot. This showed Corbyn and his travelling companions returning to the same carriage to sit down.
The company statement was quickly followed by a tweet from Branson, the head of the Virgin Group, who said he had walked past available seats, showing a different image of the train timestamped at 11.11am. A Corbyn source said a handful of seats had been available, but not two together, and the Labour leader wanted to sit with his wife. As a result he, his wife and team were among a series of other passengers forced to sit or stand in the corridor.
The source added that when Virgin staff spotted Corbyn sitting in a vestibule they offered him a complimentary upgrade to first class, which he refused.
He added: “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.”
Corbyn’s spokesman sought to tie the row to the Labour leader’s wider transport policies. “Passengers across Britain will have been in similar situations on overcrowded, expensive trains,” he said.
“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.”
Branson also tweeted to his 8.2 million followers a third image of Corbyn walking through a crowded carriage, timed at 11.11am, where the seats were clearly marked with reservation tickets. The Virgin entrepreneur wrote: “Mr Corbyn & team walked past empty-unreserved seats then filmed claim train was ‘ram-packed’”.
Mr Corbyn & team walked past empty unreserved seats then filmed claim train was ‘ram-packed’ https://t.co/R5hawIpQek pic.twitter.com/22t8EkjW5lMr Corbyn & team walked past empty unreserved seats then filmed claim train was ‘ram-packed’ https://t.co/R5hawIpQek pic.twitter.com/22t8EkjW5l
In the brief film of Corbyn, the Labour leader lamented the lack of available seats on the train, saying his only option would have been to upgrade to first class. Yannis Mendez, who filmed the original video – he has been following Corbyn and volunteers for his leadership campaign against Owen Smith – added that some of the seemingly empty seats shown in the first Virgin Trains image had bags and coats on them, so were not free.
“This is a problem that many passengers face every day; commuters and long-distance travellers,” he said. “Today this train is completely ram-packed. The staff are absolutely brilliant, working really hard to help everybody.” The Corbyn team’s account was supported by a woman who said she sat on the floor next to the Labour leader, having sent a social media photo of herself and her daughter with him.
The Virgin statement said that, as well as unreserved seats, Corbyn walked past seats that were reserved but not taken, meaning they were available for other passengers to use. Branson used the image in his tweet. Ellen – who asked to not be named in full– told the Guardian that Corbyn had seemingly gone through the entire standard-class section of the train but had not been able to find a seat. The 26-year-old, who was with her one-year-old daughter and son, aged six, said she had similarly been unable to find seats.
A Labour source said Corbyn’s recollection of why the Labour leader walked past seemingly empty seats, as shown in one CCTV still, was that there were no vacant pairs of seats, and he wanted to sit next to his wife, Laura, for the journey.
The source said when Virgin staff spotted Corbyn sitting in a vestibule they offered him a complimentary upgrade to first class, which he refused. The staff then upgraded a family to first class so Corbyn and his team could sit in their seats.
Other passengers sitting in corridors were also found seats during this period, as Virgin staff moved some people to booked seats which had not been occupied.
The video was shot by Yannis Mendez, who has been following Corbyn and volunteers during his leadership campaign. Corbyn was travelling to a debate with Owen Smith in the Labour leadership hustings in Gateshead, and was filmed at about 11.30am.
The party leader said the apparent lack of seats emphasised the need for the railways to be returned to public ownership, one of his flagship transport policies. “The reality is there are not enough trains, we need more of them – and they’re also incredibly expensive,” he said.
Mendez disputed Virgin’s account of the trip, sending the Guardian footage in which someone standing next to Corbyn says, in seeming reference to a lack of seats: “Hopefully at York some people will get off.” He also sent footage of the Labour leader walking through a packed carriage.
Mendez said that the seemingly empty seats shown on an image released by Virgin Trains, timestamped 11.10am, had bags or coats placed on them by passengers.
The filmmaker said there were a number of other passengers sitting on the floor during the initial part of the trip. “We filmed Jeremy Corbyn at 11.30am, sat at the front of the train. There were many other people sat on the floor during that journey.
“After the video was shot we managed to get a seat at around 11.40am, because Virgin staff moved people around the train, but other people were unable to get a seat.”
Virgin’s version was contradicted by a woman who said she had also sat on the floor of the train next to Corbyn, having sent a social media photo of herself and her daughter with the Labour leader.
Ellen – who asked to not be fully named – told the Guardian that Corbyn had seemingly gone through the entire standard-class section of the train but had not been able to find a seat. The 26-year-old, who was with her one-year-old daughter and son, aged six, said she had similarly been unable to find seats.
“He’s not lying,” she said. “When I saw him he was in coach A, right at the front. He hadn’t managed to find a seat in the whole of the train. I was sat on the floor, there was no space for me to get a seat. There were people in every space between every carriage. It was totally overcrowded. They were full of bags and full of people.”“He’s not lying,” she said. “When I saw him he was in coach A, right at the front. He hadn’t managed to find a seat in the whole of the train. I was sat on the floor, there was no space for me to get a seat. There were people in every space between every carriage. It was totally overcrowded. They were full of bags and full of people.”
Like Corbyn, the woman was seated about 45 minutes into the trip, after Virgin staff moved people into reserved seats that were unoccupied. Another woman, Keren Harrison, tweeted a photo of herself with Corbyn on the train, saying there was only a seat for him about 45 minutes into the three-hour trip “when staff started shuffling people around”. This process appeared to involve Virgin staff directing other passengers sitting in corridors to reserved seats which had not been occupied.
A Virgin Trains spokeswoman said the company would look into whether it could provide CCTV footage of vestibule areas to show whether or not other passengers were sitting in them. A spokesperson for Virgin Trains said: “We know that some of our services on our east and west coast franchises are extremely popular, and it can be hard to find a seat.” It usually happened in particular circumstances, the operator added, for example when there’s a big sporting event, or on the first off-peak train out of London.
Corbyn’s leadership rival, Owen Smith, was quick to respond on Twitter: “Unfortunately we can’t do anything about cup finals or fares regulation, which could spread demand much more effectively if it was less of a blunt instrument,” the spokesperson said, arguing they would be “delighted to work with ministers if they were interested in reviewing the fares structure for long distance services, with the aim of reducing the overcrowding that can occur”.
Smith, who is challenging Corbyn for the Labour leadership, was quick to poke fun at the situation, tweeting: “My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people.”
My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people.My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people.
Smith will try to regain the initiative in the leadership contest today with a pledge to block Brexit in parliament.
The Pontypridd MP will say a Labour party led by him would vote against the triggering of article 50 – the formal process for Brexit – until the Conservatives agreed to put the final negotiated departure to the people, either through a referendum or at a general election.
The track record: how the journey unfoldedThe track record: how the journey unfolded
11.10am Jeremy Corbyn and his wife, Laura Alvarez, board the train. Virgin Trains CCTV shows seemingly unoccupied seats without reservation slips. A source close to the Labour leader said there were not enough free seats for Corbyn to sit with his wife.11.10am Jeremy Corbyn and his wife, Laura Alvarez, board the train. Virgin Trains CCTV shows seemingly unoccupied seats without reservation slips. A source close to the Labour leader said there were not enough free seats for Corbyn to sit with his wife.
11.11am A second CCTV image, with a time stamp of 11.11am, tweeted by Virgin’s owner, Richard Branson, shows Corbyn clearly walking past empty seats. However, these all seem to have slips indicating that they are reserved.11.11am A second CCTV image, with a time stamp of 11.11am, tweeted by Virgin’s owner, Richard Branson, shows Corbyn clearly walking past empty seats. However, these all seem to have slips indicating that they are reserved.
11.30am A few minutes later, Yannis Mendez, a freelance filmmaker accompanying Corbyn, films him sitting on the floor. He says the ‘ram-packed’ train’s lack of seats ­emphasises the need for the railways to be returned to public ownership.11.30am A few minutes later, Yannis Mendez, a freelance filmmaker accompanying Corbyn, films him sitting on the floor. He says the ‘ram-packed’ train’s lack of seats ­emphasises the need for the railways to be returned to public ownership.
11.43am Corbyn takes a seat in coach H after staff directed passengers to use booked seats that had not been taken. A Corbyn source said the leader’s seats were provided after Virgin staff upgraded a family to first class to make space for him and Alvarez.11.43am Corbyn takes a seat in coach H after staff directed passengers to use booked seats that had not been taken. A Corbyn source said the leader’s seats were provided after Virgin staff upgraded a family to first class to make space for him and Alvarez.