ASA Adjudication on London & South Eastern Railway Ltd

Ad

A radio ad for London & South Eastern Railway Ltd (SouthEastern Trains) began with the sound of a car starting up and featured a robotic voice-over, similar to those used in GPS car navigation systems, that stated "Please enter destination and desired journey type. You have selected work via fastest route. Proceed for 200 yards. Park in the car park. Enter the train station and catch the 0805 to London." A female voice-over then said "State of the art trains, improved punctuality and reliability, no wonder it's now the best way to get to work. SouthEastern. Putting London right on your door-step".

Issue

One listener, who was a regular passenger on SouthEastern Trains, challenged whether the claim "state of the art trains" was accurate and could be substantiated.

BCAP Radio Code

Response

SouthEastern Trains said considerable investment had been made on the network by the Strategic Rail Authority before the start of their franchise in April 2006.

They said they had continued to invest £70 million to provide an expanded rail service in Kent, East Sussex and South East London based on both existing train services and the new fast commuter service. They said they were reporting the best performance in 10 years with 92.6% of all trains arriving on time.

SouthEastern Trains said significant engineering work had taken place on power supplies, engineering design and electronically controlled traction on the train fleet that had led to more efficient use of power and a smoother journey.

They said that, while the majority of trains operating in the Metro area of London were 'Networkers', all of the fleet was refurbished by 2006 and continual maintenance and modification ensured passenger comfort. They said there were also suburban 'Electrostars', Class 376 trains, operating on the Metro routes which had many improvements to accommodate the number of passengers using Metro services. They said given that the life expectancy of trains across all UK rail fleets was anything up to 25 years old, SouthEastern Trains operated a service which was both modern and technically up to date.

The Radio Advertising Clearance Centre (RACC) said they had cleared a similar script, which was due for renewal in April 2007, but had not cleared the current version.

LBC said they had accepted the clearance code from the advertising agency and were not aware that that clearance had expired. As such they believed they had no reason to conduct their own clearance or to believe the ad was not pre-cleared.

SouthEastern Trains said they were unaware that RACC clearance needed renewal and would ensure their adherence to that in the future.

Assessment

Upheld

The ASA understood that just under half of the SouthEastern fleet, and noticeably a large majority within the Metro service area of Greater London, were 'Networker' class trains that were built between 1991 and 1993. We noted that a larger majority of the whole fleet, specifically those on Suburban, Outer Suburban, and Express routes, were 'Electrostar' class trains that were built between 1999 and 2005. We also noted that the latest model 'Electrostar', the Class 376, operated in small numbers on Metro routes. Because there were newer trains operating on the SouthEastern Trains network, we did not agree that the older 'Networker' trains used on Metro routes could be considered state of the art, nor did we accept that refurbished 'Networker' trains could be considered state of the art. However, we did consider that the newer model 'Electrostar' trains used mainly on Suburban, Outer Suburban and Express routes, and specifically the Class 376 'Electrostar' which operated on Metro routes, could be considered state of the art.

We acknowledged that SouthEastern trains had won the franchise to operate the new Class 395 high-speed train services on the Channel Tunnel Rail Link but we did not consider that was adequate substantiation for the claim because those trains would not be operational until December 2009.

We considered that the experience of SouthEastern Trains customer's depended largely on which routes they travelled. We understood that, because the majority of trains on the Metro service were older 'Networker' trains and could not be considered state of the art, passengers who used those trains were likely to have a different experience to those passengers who travelled on 'Electrostar' trains on Surburban, Outer Suburban and Express routes. We acknowledged that a small number of Class 376 'Electrostar' trains operated on the Metro route, alongside the older 'Networker' trains, but did not consider that sufficient numbers of those trains operated to substantiate the claim state of the art. Because not enough of the newer 'Electrostar' trains operated on the network, and because SouthEastern Trains customers did not have an equal chance of boarding the newer trains for their journey, we concluded that the claim "state of the art trains ..." was not accurate and was misleading.

The ad breached CAP (Broadcast) Radio Advertising Standards Code section 2 rule 3 (Misleadingness).

Action

We told SouthEastern Trains to remove the claim "state of the art trains" from the ad.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Broadcast)