SEATS on East Coast Main Line trains are selling out fast for passengers wanting to travel over the Christmas period.

GNER said yesterday that almost a third of the seats available from December 21 to January 3 were already sold, just days after the company published its emergency Christmas timetable.

News that passengers would have to have reservations to be able to travel prompted a stampede for tickets as people became anxious that they would be unable to get home over the festive season.

A GNER spokesman said they were selling about 20,000 tickets a day.

He said some services, including trains from London to the North-East on December 23 and from the North-East to London on January 2, were proving particularly busy.

He said: "The reservation system seems to be working but we want to encourage people not to leave it until the last minute, otherwise they could be disappointed."