VIRGIN trains confirmed last night that it is considering sending passengers' luggage by road - and charging for the service.

The company is exploring the possibility of introducing "door-to-door" luggage delivery to homes or hotels on its CrossCountry route, which serves the North-East and North Yorkshire.

Stewart Francis, the chairman of the Rail Passengers' Council, told a Sunday newspaper he suspected the cramped nature of the new Voyager trains might be behind the proposal. "We warned Virgin about luggage space when they were designing the Voyager and they simply ignored us," he said.

"If they had listened there would be no need to spend extra money on road transport and pass the cost on to passengers," he said.

"Do they really think that confidence in railways is so high that people will hand over their luggage and believe that it will be waiting for them when they reach their hotel?

"We just want the railway to be run efficiently and for passengers' convenience.

"We want to get on a train, put our luggage somewhere near us, take a seat and reach our destination on time. But that seems to be asking too much."

Transport 2000 has also voiced concerns about increasing the traffic on Britain's roads and is urging Virgin to find an alternative.

Dennis Lovett, deputy director for corporate affairs at Virgin Trains, told The Northern Echo: "This is very much at the trial stage at the moment. It hasn't been talked about fully yet.

"We are talking to several logistic companies to see if it is a possibility."

He said that the idea had to be affordable and practical to meet the requirements of passengers. If it was not, then the idea would be abandoned.

Mr Lovett denied that there was a design fault in the Voyager train.

He said: "Luggage has changed over the years. It has got bigger and bulkier and people tend to carry more. It has nothing to do with the design of the train."