Bill Gunn of Woolhope, Herefordshire, says plane fares better value than train (From Hereford Times)

Bill Gunn of Woolhope, Herefordshire, says plane fares better value than train

3:00pm Saturday 28th April 2012 in Letters

I TRAVEL to London Paddington regularly on an early 7am train from Ledbury, arriving at 9.47am.

On a senior railcard this costs me £32 return.

One morning in March I was obliged to travel from Hereford, leaving at 7.13am, arriving at 9.59am. Still using the senior railcard this cost me the eyewatering sum of £93.05.

The journey time is exactly the same (two hours 46 minutes), and the schedules are only 12 minutes apart. Both services are equally uncomfortable, unreliable and frequently overcrowded.

In the same month a standard British Airways return fare to Bologna cost £81, inclusive of all charges. With Easyjet or Ryanair it would have been substantially less.

Who is taking who for a ride?

BILL GUNN, Woolhope, Herefordshire