Jeremy Corbyn seen sitting on seat on 'rammed' train

CCTV appears to show Jeremy Corbyn walking past empty train seats - despite alternative footage where he sits on the floor complaining about "completely ram-packed carriages".

Last week, the Labour leader was filmed hunched on the carriage floor of a three-hour Virgin Trains service between London and Newcastle reading a newspaper.

Corbyn tells the camera on 11 August "This is a problem that many passengers face every day", before calling for re-nationalisation of the railways.

But now Virgin Trains has released counter CCTV footage which appears to show Corbyn and his team walking past empty, unreserved seats before the filming began.

  • Watch the CCTV released by Virgin Trains here:

The Islington North MP is also seen sitting down in an empty seat more than two hours before reaching Newcastle.

Sequence of Virgin Trains footage

Jeremy Corbyn is seen making his way to a seat Credit: Virgin Trains
The Labour leader is seen sitting down on a seat later on Credit: Virgin Trains

In separate footage, Corbyn is seen later sitting on the floor

Jeremy Corbyn is filmed sitting on the floor Credit: Guardian

Richard Branson, owner of Virgin, also took to Twitter to highlight the latest CCTV footage.

Labour leadership candidate Owen Smith also tweeted in an apparent swipe at his opponent.

Responding to the claims, a spokesperson for the Jeremy for Labour campaign said Corbyn was unable to find unreserved seats until a family travelling on the train were upgraded to first class.

Virgin Trains confirmed that two passengers were moved to first class so that Mr Corbyn could sit next to his aide.

TSSA union general secretary Manuel Cortes accused Virgin of being "disingenuous" and said Mr Corbyn had "highlighted this daily travel blight which means people sit on floors on trains every day because of overcrowding".