TRAIN companies have rejected claims that they have cut back on cheap fares for Christmas.

Passenger user groups have claimed train companies are exploiting high demand for rail travel over the Christmas period.

They say anyone who has yet to book rail journeys for the holidays will have difficulty finding a cheap deal.

But rail companies hit back, saying they were not Scrooges - only responding to the laws of supply and demand.

GNER spokesman Richard Allan said last night: "Discount tickets for Christmas have been available since October 20 and we have had more than 100,000 reservations - an increase on the last two years."

He said the fact there was no longer availability on specific dates did not mean tickets would not become available between now and Christmas.

He said: "GNER's revenue management system allocates prices and availability on a train-to-train and day-to-day basis. The fact there is no availability at the moment on some days suggests the very lowest fares - as one would expect - have already been snapped up by passengers who have booked in advance.

"But there are still tens of thousands of very low fares available."

The company's chief executive, Christopher Garnett, told a committee of MPs yesterday he understood why passengers complained they were unable to buy cheap tickets from the North-East to London.

But he insisted the complaints stemmed from a failure to make information available, rather than from a lack of cut-price tickets.

GNER and fellow rail company Virgin were asked to give evidence to the all-party transport committee amid rising concern over ticket prices.

Committee chairwoman said 60 per cent of passengers were unhappy at having to pay fares significantly higher than those offered in most parts of Europe.

In reply, Mr Garnett said criticism that the fares structure had been too complex was "totally justified", a problem rectified recently by creating only three basic fares.

But he added: "I went on our website this morning to check something and it's not easy to find fares. I accept that it takes a fair amount of time."

A Virgin CrossCountry spokesman said: "We have already sold 100,000 cheap tickets in the run up to Christmas and New Year, since they went on sale in October.