Tourists 'duped' as Gatwick Express-branded trains run on slow stopping services
This is the moment the platform at Gatwick Airport railway station is left almost empty as tourists and commuters pile onto a bright red ‘Gatwick Express’ train – only to discover they have actually boarded the slower stopping service to London Victoria - story by Evie Goodman.
The footage was filmed recently at Gatwick Airport station, near Crawley in West Sussex, by passenger Mike Leidig, who says staff told him the airport’s flagship “non-stop” link into central London is routinely being mimicked by ordinary commuter trains using the same red Gatwick Express-branded carriages.
In the first scene, he films the gleaming four-car unit pulling in with the words Gatwick Express splashed down the side in huge white letters, while the digital display above the doors quietly announces it is in fact a Southern all-stations service to London Victoria.
Leidig says he had specifically stopped a member of platform staff to double-check it was really the fast airport train.
He said: “The guard did his best to warn me that this wasn’t the Gatwick Express, even though it said Gatwick Express all over the side.
“But not everybody speaks English, and when a bright red train turns up with ‘Gatwick Express’ in huge letters – and everyone else is climbing on – it’s no surprise people trust what they can see rather than a shouted announcement.”
He added: “It’s not a great start to your UK holiday, or to a business trip, to be greeted by a Gatwick Express that isn’t actually a Gatwick Express.
“I don’t understand why they don’t just repaint the carriages – that’s surely cheaper than buying new rolling stock if they don't have enough?”
The second scene, filmed a short time later, shows the real non-stop Gatwick Express service arriving at the same platform to find only a handful of people waiting, after most of the crowd had already boarded the earlier stopping service in Gatwick Express colours.
Platform staff told Leidig the confusion has become a daily occurrence since Southern began running Gatwick Express rolling stock on ordinary stopping trains because of a shortage of their usual green-and-white units.
One platform attendant, who asked not to be named, said they tell people on the platform that it is not the Gatwick Express and make extra announcements, but that management have not changed the trains or the branding.
They said it was happening regularly, and that they now routinely tell angry travellers to complain online because that is all they can do.
The mix-up is not just about a few minutes’ delay. A standard Gatwick Express single between Gatwick and London Victoria can cost more than £20 one way, while passengers who tap in with contactless or Oyster on a Southern train to Victoria pay significantly less, especially off-peak.
In return for those extra pounds, Gatwick Express markets itself as a fast, non-stop service between the airport and London Victoria, with a journey time of about 30 minutes.
By contrast, Southern’s stopping services on the same line typically take around 15 minutes longer, calling at several intermediate stations such as East Croydon and Clapham Junction before reaching Victoria.
That means tourists who see the red Gatwick Express livery, assume they are boarding the non-stop airport train and end up on the slower commuter service will be paying Gatwick Express prices while spending up to a quarter of an hour longer on the train with multiple extra stops on the way into central London.
Although the trains look different, the Gatwick Express and Southern services are all run by the same operator, Govia Thameslink Railway, which holds the contract to run Thameslink, Southern, Great Northern and Gatwick Express.
Gatwick Express is sold as a premium fast, hassle-free link between London Victoria and the airport, while Southern is marketed as the cheaper stopping option on the same route.
Leidig said: “If it’s all the same company anyway, I don’t understand why they’re allowed to run Gatwick Express-branded trains as slow stoppers while charging a premium for the so-called non-stop service.”
A few years ago, the UK’s advertising watchdog ruled that Gatwick Express adverts claiming trains ran non-stop to Victoria in half an hour were misleading after data showed a significant number of services took longer.
Public rail guides now routinely warn that Southern’s slower trains can be much cheaper while adding only around 15 minutes to the journey.
Leidig says he understands that frontline staff are doing their best, but believes the branding and rolling-stock decisions are setting passengers up to fail.
He said: “The platform staff were helpful; they warned people when they could. But if you’ve just flown in from abroad and you see a big red Gatwick Express with everyone around you getting on, you’ll assume that’s the airport train. That’s what the branding is designed to make you think.
“It’s not the welcome people expect when they arrive in the UK, and I don’t think taxpayers will be thrilled that premium-branded trains are being used this way.”
Staff say they have been told the practice is likely to continue until more of the usual Southern rolling stock returns to service, leaving passengers to scrutinise the departure boards and digital signs carefully rather than trusting the big red Gatwick Express logo on the side of the train.
Story: NewsX