As of 10am this morning, the price of more than a million train tickets have been slashed in half.
For the months of April and May, travellers will be able to get up to 50% off some train tickets in a move by the Department of Transport designed to restore train travel numbers to pre-pandemic levels.
However, the reduced cost tickets are not available for travellers making journeys at peak times - meaning they will be of no help to commuters battling the UK's cost of living emergency.
The discounted tickets went on sale this morning, reports The Manc, with passengers eligible to travel for cut prices on certain off-peak and advanced fares between 25 April and 27 May.
Image: Geograph
They are being sold on a first-come, first-served basis, and can be purchased online from participating retailers.
Cutting the cost of rail travel will help “ease some of the pressure” on finances at a time when inflation is rising, the Department for Transport said.
It is the first time that multiple rail operators have come together to offer nationwide savings.
Trips from York to Leeds are discounted from £5.60 to £2.80 at certain times. Elsewhere, travel from London to Edinburgh is available at £22 and £25 from London to Cardiff.
Still, the move ultimately only benefits those with disposable income and has drawn much criticism from transport campaigners and commuters alike.
The 'Great British Rail Sale' has been critiqued on a number of factors, primarily for not helping commuters who are facing increasing travel costs.
Labour’s shadow transport secretary Louise Haigh said the discounts this spring will be “small comfort to passengers” after years of “soaring fares”.
“A decade of brutal Tory fare hikes have priced people off our railways,” she said.
“This temporary respite will be small comfort to passengers who had thousands taken out of their pockets from soaring fares since 2010.
“And the decision to end the sale just before half-term will mean many families face the same punishing costs over the holidays.”
The Campaign for Better Transport, however, said that it had been pushing for action to improve passenger levels for months.
It welcomed the move by the government, but Norman Baker, its chief executive’s adviser and former transport minister said: “It can show the Treasury that the way to increase income is to cut fares, not keep ratcheting them up and driving people off the railway.”
Feature image - Wikimedia Commons
Leeds
Here’s how you can get FREE Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea in Leeds next week
In honour of National Chocolate Week, two big brands are joining forces.
Fancy a freebie? Silly question, of course you do.
Tony’s Chocolonely and Yorkshire Tea have joined forces for National Chocolate Week to ask Brits to declare themselves a ‘Melt’...yes, really.
It comes after the brands discovering a new Gen Z dunking trend, with research finding that 80% of 18–24-year-olds say chocolate is their preferred tea-dunking treat.
To understand why the perculiar pairing has become so popular, the brands recruited Associate Professor of Psychobiology, Dr Lorenzo Stafford, to investigate what happens when tea and chocolate come together.
Associate Professor, Dr Lorenzo Stafford said: "It's fascinating to see how much thought Brits put into what makes a great dunk. Flavour, texture and temperature all shape how we experience food, and the combination of hot tea with melting chocolate creates a particularly enjoyable sensory experience.
"When it comes to dunking, tea and chocolate have great chemistry so it’s no surprise young people have embraced it."
If you want to try it out for yourself, then you can for free - but there is one catch.
From Monday 19 to Friday 23 October, anyone who walks into one of Hyde Park Book Club in Leeds and says ‘I'm a Melt’ will get a free mug of Yorkshire Tea and bar of Tony's Chocolonely.
Not only that, but the first 100 customers will also get a limited-edition ‘Melt’ cap.
Yorkshire Tea & Tony’s Chocolonely said of the partnership, “Brits love their tea and their chocolate and now the science shows why. This National Chocolate Week, we’re inviting everyone to give it a go, embrace their inner Melt and discover just how well chunky chocolate and a proper brew can work together.”
Leeds Bradford Airport strikes will NOT go ahead following ‘late offer’ over pay
Clementine Hall
This weekend's strikes at Leeds Bradford Airport have been cancelled.
Around 130 workers were set to walk out this weekend, Unite said, but this has been suspended to allow air traffic controllers to consider a new pay offer.
The Unite members planning on to go on strike were a mixture of air traffic control workers, customer experience staff, security staff and cleaners.
The workers involved in the dispute had recently come out of a four-year pay deal, with some of the departments having fallen behind other airports in equivalent roles.
Pay talks have been happening since December 2025, with the airport's formal offer not going far enough to address the lack of pay parity which led to the decision to strike.
However, as of yesterday 15 October, the workers have been given new pay offers from the airport and the strikes will not take place to allow a ballot on the offers.
Air traffic controllers and hourly paid staff are being balloted separately on their respective offers.
Unite regional officer Neil Whitaker said: "After receiving offers from Leeds Bradford Airport, we have suspended this week’s strike action in good faith to allow members to vote on pay deals.”
In a statement, Leeds Bradford Airport said: "While the ballot process continues with certain members of our frontline colleagues, we remain hopeful that a positive outcome can be achieved and that an agreement can be reached which works for everyone involved.
"Regardless of the outcome of this ballot, LBA has a robust contingency plan in place and will be operating as normal this weekend.
"Our focus remains on supporting a smooth and reliable experience for customers while maintaining safe and efficient airport operations."
The Hoot -
19th April 2022 
