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Virgin accuses Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn of lying over train's empty seats

#TrainGate is happening.

Gianluca Mezzofiore

on August 23, 2016

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

UPDATE: Aug. 23, 2016, 5:18 p.m. BST

Virgin Trains has strongly challenged claims by Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn that he was forced to sit on the floor of a "ram-packed" London to Newcastle service because there were no empty seats.

Film footage released last week to the Guardian showed Corbyn sitting on the floor of a train, reading Private Eye, with a coffee and brown paper bag at his feet. Turning to the camera, Corbyn is heard saying: "This is a problem that many passengers face every day, commuters and long-distance travellers."

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But Virgin Trains claimed on Tuesday that seats were available on the train.

"CCTV footage taken from the train on August 11 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," the company said in a statement.

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Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

"The same 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."

Original image has been replaced. Credit: Mashable

Founder of the Virgin brand Richard Branson weighed in on the controversy:

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A spokesperson for Corbyn said the Labour leader was "unable to find unreserved seats" after he boarded the train so he sat with other passengers in the corridor.

"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 stuff," the spokesperson said.