A Brit has been left speechless after being quoted an eye-watering £1,049 for two return tickets from Newcastle to London.
Lee Williscroft-Ferris, who was pricing up the approximately 550-mile round trip yesterday, couldn’t believe the final cost that he was quoted.
London North Eastern Railway (LNER) were looking for a whopping £786 for a standard return journey and an even more ludicrous £1,049 for first-class.
These train tickets would cost over three times as much as the price of flying, with return flights from Newcastle to London Heathrow starting at £110 per person (£220 for two adults).
For a return journey by car, from Newcastle to London, it would cost around £54 in petrol for a small vehicle and £82 for a large vehicle.
An Uber ride is still the most expensive option, costing around £564 one way, but it is still not far behind the first-class option for these train tickets.
Lee shared a screenshot of the quoted prices on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter, with the caption: ‘For a return from Newcastle to London, @LNER are you out of your actual minds?!’
A MailOnline graphic showing the difference in price to travel from Newcastle to London
Lee shared this screenshot of the quoted prices on ‘X’, formerly known as Twitter , with the caption: ‘For a return from Newcastle to London, @LNER are you out of your actual minds?!’
Social media users were quick to comment on the post, with some trying to explain away the high pricing by suggesting it was because he was booking last minute or during peak times.
But other users defended Lee by saying train travel within the UK should never cost hundreds of pounds regardless of where you’re travelling to or when you book.
One person said: ‘Incoming miss-the-point-merchants assuming it must be departing in the next 14 seconds and/or be cheaper elsewhere with a split ticket or something.
‘The fact these prices even exist at any point in the journey means the system is broken.’
Lee explained that he was booking a week in advance, hoping to travel to London on Tuesday and return on Thursday.
With the distance between Newcastle and London being 277 miles, Lee would effectively be paying £5 per mile for a standard ticket and £7 a mile for a first class.
His post received over 26,000 likes and more than 1,500 comments from social media users left speechless by the prices.
One user said: ‘Train operating companies have long held a licence to print money. It’s utterly obscene.
One user said: ‘Train operating companies have long held a licence to print money. It’s utterly obscene’.
One person said: ‘Uber works out at £630… And you are unlikely to have to change to a bus halfway
Another wrote: ‘I looked at trains to Newcastle for a university open day with son. Cheaper to buy a car and driver there.’
‘And, yes. I’m aware that if you do some digging, you can find a cheaper way of making that same journey, but the point is that you shouldn’t have to.’
Another added: ‘Here is an idea. Flight to Paris, eat a nice lunch. Flight to London, TfL Underground to destination. Quick maths this would be £178.’
A third wrote: ‘I looked at [the] train to Newcastle for a university open day with [my] son. Cheaper to buy a car and drive there.’
Another replied: ‘Uber works out at £630* and you are unlikely to have to change to a bus halfway.’
An LNER spokesperson told MailOnline: ‘We haven’t been provided with the full details for this journey.
‘However, it appears the prices quoted are for peak time travel during a period of very high demand.
‘Alternative trains have much cheaper Advance and 70 Minute Flex tickets available for travel in Standard from Newcastle to London King’s Cross, subject to seating capacity being available.
‘We always encourage customers to book as early as possible for best value fares.’