Virgin Trains challenges Corbyn’s train-too-full claims

Footage from the train operator also shows Mr Corbyn sitting down in an empty seat more than two hours before getting to his destination.

Mr Corbyn received a rapturous welcome from the crowd, with many rising to their feet and chanting his name as he walked on stage.

In a statement, a Virgin Trains spokesman said: “Our people deliver first-rate customer service day after day and we’d like to thank Jeremy Corbyn for highlighting this with the media”.

London’s Labour mayor Sadiq Khan on Sunday urged party members to unseat boss Jeremy Corbyn in the upcoming leadership election, saying he had “failed to win the respect of the British people”.

Virgin Trains has released an extraordinary response to Jeremy Corbyn’s claim that he was forced to sit on the floor of one of its London to Newcastle services because there were no seats left.

Mr Smith used a speech in Porth in South Wales on Monday to make a pitch to members that he will listen to their concerns.

But Virgin said CCTV showed Mr Corbyn and his team walking past available seating before starting filming.

Speaking to the Chronicle, she said she had felt compelled to speak out about the difficulties of working with Mr Corbyn, after supporters of the left-wing leader, including her own constituents, had demanded to know why she hadn’t done more to support him and questioned her decision to vote no-confidence.

The Guardian reported last week that the footage of the Labour leader was taken by Yannis Mendez, a freelance filmmaker who volunteers for his campaign.

He had been travelling to Newcastle to take part in a hustings against Owen Smith, who is challenging him for the leadership of the Labour Party.

He then called for public ownership of the railways.

The spokesman also said they were looking into whether Virgin Trains breached Information Commissioner’s Office data protection guidelines by releasing the CCTV.

He also sent footage of the Labour leader walking through a packed carriage.

According to the BBC, Mr Corbyn found a seat in a free carriage and sat for the rest of the journey following the filming. There were many other people sat on the floor during that journey.

His campaign team said he was unable to find unreserved seats for his group, which included aide Emma Rees and his wife Laura Alvarez, s o he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to secure a seat. There were no seats he was able to find and staff couldn’t find any either, ” the source said.

“He’s not lying”, she said. “I agreed strongly with the anti-austerity logic underpinning his economic vision, and felt that he had a long record of standing up on issues of human rights and civil liberties”.