ASA Adjudication on National Express Dot2Dot Ltd

Ad

A newspaper wrap-around, for the Dot2Dot minibus service from London to Heathrow Airport, was headlined "London to Heathrow Travel from your door From £17.50*" on the first page. Text on the second page gave details of the "Dot2Dot City Challenge" in which four people made the journey from the City to Heathrow, in the morning rush hour, by different modes of transport. Text on the third page stated “… Four volunteers raced to Heathrow Terminal 5 during London rush hour, each using a different mode of transport …”, underneath was a table with the mode of transport, cost of travel, time taken and an overall percentage score for each of the four methods of transport; text stated "Dot2Dot £17.50 1hr 22mins 88% ... Black Cab/Heathrow Express £40.00 1hr 12mins 58% ...". Text on the last page stated "Travel to Heathrow from your door for less than half the price of a taxi with Dot2Dot, the smarter airport transfer from National Express"; small-print at the bottom stated "*Per person, based on 2 people travelling one way".

Issue

Airport Express Alliance challenged whether:

1. the claim "London to Heathrow  Travel from your door From £17.50*" on the first page was misleading, because it did not make sufficiently clear that that price was based on two people travelling together;

2. the comparison table on the third page was misleading, because it implied that one person could travel for a price of £17.50 on Dot2Dot but that price was based on two people travelling together; and

3. the comparison table misleadingly implied that most journeys on Dot2Dot in the morning rush hour would take around 1 hour 22 minutes, because they believed it would take around 2 hours at that time of day.

CAP Code (Edition 11)

Response

1. National Express Dot2Dot Ltd (D2D) said the price of £17.50 was widely available and was reflective of, if not higher than, the price paid by most of their customers. They sent the pricing of their core Heathrow to Central London service, which showed the each way price of £17.50 was available to single passengers on a return journey or per person for two people travelling in a single direction. They said passengers in groups larger than two would pay a lower fare per person.

D2D said, in their first six months of operation, 47% of their passengers had travelled in a group of two and they therefore believed it was most appropriate to use the price for two people to set out their prices. They said 27% of their passengers had travelled in larger groups and therefore paid a lower fare. D2D said 25% of passengers travelling on their own would have paid more than £17.50 for a one-way trip and £17.50 for a return trip. They argued, however, that because the ad stated prices were "from £17.50", that demonstrated that some passengers might have to pay a higher price.

D2D accepted that the design of the wrap-around was not ideal, because it meant that the footnote "*Per person, based on 2 people travelling one way" only appeared on the reverse of the ad. They said they had instructed their agency to ensure that, in future, a footnote was included on each page  featuring their pricing.

2. D2D said the price of £17.50 in the table was calculated on the price that one person would pay for a return ticket. They believed that price comparison was valid with the prices paid on other modes of transport, because the London Underground and private hire cars did not offer return fare discounts; they argued that the return fare discount of 50 pence on the Heathrow Express was negligible. They said the prices quoted were the actual fares paid by their contestants in the "challenge" and they could submit the receipts if required.

D2D accepted that the comparison table did not make sufficiently clear that it was based on an each way fare of a return journey and therefore they could have accidentally misled some readers. They said they had taken steps to ensure they made that pricing information clear in future comparisons.

3. D2D said the comparison table showed the actual journey times that the four travellers had taken from their starting location to the final arrival point of Heathrow Terminal 5. They said the "challenge" to Heathrow Airport Terminal 5 was undertaken at 08.00 on a normal working day in London. They accepted that at some times traffic would be worse and said, for that reason, they planned for a longer journey from the City of London to Heathrow. They said they recommended an estimated journey time of 1 hour and 45 minutes and not 2 hours as AEA had suggested. They said, however, the journey could be faster than their recommended time depending on traffic conditions, as it had been on the occasion of the "challenge"; they believed, as such, the table was not misleading.

Assessment

1. Upheld

The ASA noted the price structure for D2Ds service showed it would cost £17.50 each way for one passenger on a return journey or per person for two people travelling on a single journey. We also noted it would cost £22 for one person travelling on a single journey. We noted many of D2Ds passengers  had not travelled alone and that D2D had said they would amend their ads to make it clear on each page that the £17.50 price was based on two people travelling. We considered, however, that readers were likely to understand from the claim "London to Heathrow Travel from your door From £17.50*" that  an individual could obtain a one way journey between the two destinations for £17.50. Because £17.50 was less than  the minimum a passenger travelling alone would pay for a single one-way trip, we considered that the claim was misleading. Although we acknowledged that the claim was qualified on the reverse of the ad, we considered that the qualification was not sufficiently prominent to avoid the misleading impression created by the headline claim.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clause 7.1 (Truthfulness).

2. Upheld

We noted D2D said the price was calculated on one person paying for a return ticket. We considered, however, that readers were likely to understand from the "challenge" text and comparison table, particularly the text above the table that stated "Four volunteers raced to Heathrow Terminal 5 during London rush hour, each using a different mode of transport", that it was based on one person travelling in one direction. We noted all the other prices were worked out on the basis of a single journey and that there was no mention of a return journey in the description of the "challenge". We considered that, because the cost shown was based on a return journey but the ad implied the cost was based on a single one-way journey, the ad was misleading.

We welcomed D2Ds assurance that they would make clear in future comparisons that the cost was based on a return journey.

On this point, the ad breached CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 18.1 and 18.3 (Comparisons with identified competitors and/or their products).

3. Not upheld

We noted D2D recommended a journey time of 1 hour and 45 minutes for the journey from the City to London Heathrow to allow for traffic problems. We considered that the ad made clear that the journey time quoted of 1 hour and 22 minutes was the length of time it had taken the individual in the "challenge" and did not imply that was a guaranteed time that it would take on every journey. We considered that readers would be aware that a journey on the roads would be affected by any traffic problems at the time they left. We concluded that the time of 1 hour and 22 minutes was unlikely to mislead.

On this point, we investigated the ad under CAP Code clauses 7.1 (Truthfulness), 18.1 and 18.3 (Comparisons with identified competitors and/or their products) but did not find it in breach.

Action

The ad must not appear again in its current form. We told D2D to make their pricing information clear and to make clear if future comparisons were based on a return journey. We advised them to seek advice from the CAP Copy Advice team before advertising in future.

Adjudication of the ASA Council (Non-broadcast)