A TRANSPORT row has erupted after motoring enthusiasts bought a car and drove it from Newcastle to London and back for less than the cost of two peak-time GNER train tickets on the East Coast Main Line.

Investigators from a motoring magazine bought an 11-year-old Ford Sierra, taxed and insured it and filled it with enough fuel for a trip from Newcastle and back for less than £200. The rail fares would have cost £314 for two people.

An open return train ticket from York to London would cost £122 if bought on the day of travel - or £244 for two people.

David Johns, the editor of Auto Express magazine, said: "It might take longer to get there, but the car is cheaper, more comfortable and more civilised than the train.

"The obvious key to tempting people out of their cars and on to the trains is to make them cheaper, a job the Government says it can't do."

The car trip took five hours one way, compared to three hours and 20 minutes on the train.

But a GNER spokesman said: "You can buy a push bike in the Halfords summer sale for £120 and cycle down, if that's what you choose to do.

"Price is a factor, but the speed of the journey, the fact that you can get up and walk about and that you don't have to stop to go to the toilet or get a cup of coffee is as well. People have a choice. We carry 30 million passengers a year, and I don't think we're going to see an increase of 30 million Sierras travelling to London."

He said by travelling off peak-time and booking seven days in advance, a return ticket from Newcastle to London would cost £33.

Meanwhile, Railtrack has announced that a signal gantry in the new-look Leeds station has been installed at the wrong height.

Gantry six, which affects trains travelling to and from the west of Leeds, was found to be at the wrong height during a safety check carried out before it was used. A spokeswoman for the company said: "We are working with Her Majesty's Rail Inspectorate and operators to provide a long-term solution, although I don't know when that will be in place."

She was unable to confirm reports that the fault had meant a 10mph cut in speed limits for trains entering and leaving the station.

Updated: 11:37 Wednesday, August 08, 2001