PA Media
ScotRail has been ordered to withdraw claims that it offers the “cheapest tickets” on its website after a watchdog ruled this was misleading.
In August, adverts on its journey planner claimed it was “unbeatable on price” and customers should “book direct for the best price”.
The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) upheld a complaint from long-time campaigner George Eckerton in finding that ScotRail had no evidence to back up those claims.
The rail operator said it has changed the wording on the website, and remains committed to offering great value for money.
George Eckerton’s complaint about misleading price promises was backed by the advertising authority
Following the ruling, Mr Eckerton told BBC Radio Scotland’s Lunchtime Live programme he hoped it would “set a precedent for how we market rail travel in Scotland and across the UK” from now on.
He said: “If you say you sell the cheapest possible fare, it actually needs to be cheaper than anywhere else, and that wasn’t case.
“It’s an inherently complex system – I get that. But that doesn’t mean that we can’t make it clearer through marketing and sell people the best fare for their circumstances.
“Hopefully ScotRail and others can reflect on how we sell train tickets across the UK, because I think we should be honest with passengers.”
His complaint to the ASA referred to an advert which appeared on the ScotRail website’s journey planner section in August.
It featured statements such as “get cheapest tickets” and “book direct for our best price”.
Another page titled “find the right ticket” featured a tab labelled “buy tickets”.
That tab could be clicked on to reveal a drop-down box with a journey planner, under which text stated “unbeatable on price”.
‘Unbeatable on price’ claim
ScotRail said the claim “book direct for our best price” referred to the fact that consumers who booked directly with ScotRail always paid the lowest price it offered.
A spokesperson said the rail industry operated under regulated fares with a centrally-controlled fares database from which all accredited retailers sourced their ticket prices.
They said they applied no additional booking fees to those standard fares, unlike some third-party retailers and competitors, which meant they could guarantee their best price when a consumer booked with them directly.
The ASA ruling said: “As stated, we considered the overall impression of the ad was that consumers would be able to find the cheapest ticket for a particular journey on the ScotRail website.
“As such, we considered that the claims ‘get cheapest tickets’, ‘book direct for our best price’, and ‘unbeatable on price’ discouraged consumers from searching elsewhere for cheaper tickets.
“However, they provided no evidence that, through purchasing tickets separately on the ScotRail website, they would always beat competitors’ prices.”
The ASA said that the ad must not appear again and told ScotRail to ensure they do not mislead consumers by claiming they could offer the lowest price available if that was not the case.
Campaign to lower prices
The ruling came as part of a wider piece of work related to online ads in the rail industry concerning “lowest” or “cheapest” price claims, with ruling against Abellio Greater Anglia and mytrainticket.co.uk also published.
George Eckerton had also complained to the UK government about price claims made by the rail operator Northern, which were subsequently changed without the need for ASA involvement.
Mr Eckerton, who has spent the past 10 years campaigning for cheaper rail travel in Scotland, said: “I complained to ScotRail but didn’t get much more of a response (other) than, ‘we’ll consider it’.
“I just hope that going forward, and in the spirt of Christmas, we can all learn and move forward.”
Claire Dickie, ScotRail’s commercial director, said: “Our aim is always to provide clear, accurate information to customers, and we regret that the website messages did not fully reflect the ASA’s requirements.
“We take great care to ensure all promotional material meets advertising standards and expectations and will further review our processes to make sure we maintain the highest standards of compliance.”