SOME commuters have seen a massive hike in the cost of an early morning train from York to Bradford and Scarborough.

TransPennine Express says it is bringing the rules for Off Peak Returns on those journeys into line with most other routes.

Head of revenue management James Cohen said that previously on the routes between York and Bradford and Scarborough, an Off Peak Return ticket was valid at all times but it was now only valid after 8.30am.

“This change has been made to make things fairer and more consistent for all our customers,” he said.

“On most other routes, the Off Peak Return is not valid in the morning at peak time so we are seeking to bring all routes into line with this. “These changes are part of our work towards simplifying fares to make them more understandable.

“We have notified booking offices across the TPE network of these changes in advance.”

But one passenger who commutes from York to Bradford two or three times a month, Helen Mead of Earswick, said the change had increased the cost of her return journey by almost £5 at a stroke.

She said that since January, the fare had been £18 to travel on her normal train at 7.19am. But now that fare only applied after 8.30am and she had been told she would now pay £22.60.

She also claimed the increase had been introduced in an ‘underhand’ fashion, with no prior warning to passengers like her and other commuters, who were equally outraged by the changes.

She said she was told on inquiring at the York Travel Centre that there had been no pre-publicity and there had not been a ‘rise’ - merely a change in conditions, but it was equivalent to a rise for passengers like her.”It’s totally disgraceful,” she said.

A TPE spokeswoman said the company briefed the changes to booking offices in advance of the change.

“At many booking offices, information posters were displayed to highlight the most important changes to customers,” she said.

She said journeys between Leeds and York, and York and Malton were not affected, and most commuters would use season tickets for which no changes had been applied anywhere on the network.

“We estimate approximately 0.1 per cent of journeys made on the TPE network will now involve purchasing a higher fare to travel in the morning peak,” she added.