Leeds fans outraged at eye-watering away day train costs

Leeds United fans are outraged at how much a return train ticket to Leeds from London King's Cross will cost after the FA Cup game with Chelsea next week.

The two historic rivals battle it out at Stamford Bridge in a fifth round clash on Wednesday (February 28) night for a place in the quarter-finals of the world's oldest national football competition.

But getting to and from south-west London will not only prove tricky and lengthy for fans of the Yorkshire club, but very expensive as well.

Sam Jacobs, a Leeds fan, posted on X / Twitter a screenshot of returning trains to Leeds after the game with their prices.

Although the game kicks off at 7.30pm, if visiting fans don't want to have to leave early, they would not be able to make the 10pm train, especially if the tie goes into extra-time and penalties.

The only option to get back on the train that night therefore is the one that leaves at 11.33pm.

But when Sam looked at booking it on the Trainline app, it would have cost £218.65.

Away tickets went on sale to Leeds United members on a first come, first served basis at 10.30am on Wednesday (February 21) morning, with Sam posting later that same day.

Some tickets had gone to other supporters before then.

Taking to X/Twitter, Sam wrote: "Country is a joke."

He was advised by one user to also check Trainpal, then uploading another screenshot showing it would still cost £196 to book.

He got a lot of sympathy from other users, with comments including "the whole UK rail network is a joke", "the UK continues to rip us all off and still the service is appalling" and "needs nationalising".

LNER replied to Sam's original Tweet, saying: "That service is fully booked so, you'd be buying an anytime ticket (the most expensive) in order to board hence the price difference. Apologies about this."

But users then called "to put on a second additional train" or "add some more carriages", and Sam said there are only five on that last train.

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