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Gatwick Express stops ‘misleading claim’ that trains take just half an hour
Gatwick Express has been banned from claiming that its trains between the airport and London Victoria take just 30 minutes, even though almost 80% of services run on time.
The Advertising Standards Authority told the operator Govia Thameslink to remove the claims ‘Non-stop to Victoria station in half an hour’ and ‘in just 30 minutes’ from its adverts unless it could achieve that journey time in most cases, save for exceptional and unforeseeable circumstances outside of Gatwick Express’ control.
The ruling came after two people challenged whether the claim they’d seen on a Gatwick Express poster in March 2018 was misleading and could be substantiated.
In its defence, Govia Thameslink said 79.1% of scheduled Gatwick Express trains arrived on time, however, the ASA said that a ‘significant proportion’ of services were delayed for reasons that were within the operator’s control.
"As such, we concluded that the claims ‘Non-stop to Victoria station in half an hour’ and ‘in just 30 minutes’ had not been substantiated and were misleading," said the ASA.
Gatwick Express said that a new timetable was introduced on May 20 and that it was updating all third-party media sites to reflect the new timings and would remove the claims in question.
Linsey McNeill
Editor Linsey McNeill has been writing about travel for more than three decades. Bylines include The Times, Telegraph, Observer, Guardian and Which? plus the South China Morning Post. She also shares insider tips on thetraveljournalist.co.uk
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