NICK WINTERTON - A FIRST CLASS PRAT

The other day I had something in common with Nick Winterton - I travelled first-class. I travelled that way because it was the cheapest way of getting from London to Manchester at a time when business travellers have long deserted their laptop stations and digested their business breakfast.
I almost had to pay twice because the kindness of a friend in dropping me by car at Euston station meant of course we hit wall-to-wall traffic en route and I missed the (first-class) train I had booked.
Subterfuge was called for.
I plonked myself in an appropriate carriage, ordered a coffee and hoped for the best. In the event, I got away with sitting on a train which left 20 minutes after the one I should have been on. And therein lies the madness of it all.
Not only do we have a class-ridden, two-tier railway service. The whole privatised caboodle is an on-line lottery where it is sometimes cheaper to travel first and enjoy the undoubted benefits - nice gin and tonic, wine, free tea and coffee, and sandwiches and snacks all provided too .
If you're unlucky, it's standing-room only, long delays, clapped-out kitchens and all at premium prices. Cheap tickets, much-touted in the trade, have to be booked weeks in advance. Fine if you're on a tourist trip. Not so great in an emergency.
What we want, and what Labour Party members have been demanding for years, is a first-class railway for all , back in public hands, and providing everyone with fair fares. Not the shambles which we have at the moment, whichever part of the train you choose to sit in.