ScotRail's 'cheapest tickets' claim ruled as misleading by advertising watchdog

A complaint was made after several adverts appeared on its journey planner tool in August this year which claimed it could offer customers the lowest price on tickets.

The advert text raised in the complaint stated “Get cheapest tickets”, “Book direct for our best price” and “Unbeatable on price”.

The Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) - the UK’s advertising watchdog - has now ruled that ScotRail misled customers in those claims and that they were not backed by evidence.

The ASA has ordered the train operator to withdraw such claims from online adverts to avoid misleading consumers.

ScotRail said the claim “Get cheapest tickets” appeared as a “call-to-action button” for people searching for journeys, and clicking through returned a list of results in which the cheapest available fare was highlighted.

In relation to the claim “Book direct for our best price” it referred to the fact that consumers who booked directly with ScotRail always paid the lowest price they offered.

They said that the rail industry operated under regulated fares with a centrally-controlled fares database, managed by the Rail Delivery Group (RDG), from which all accredited retailers sourced their ticket prices.

They said they applied no additional booking fees to those standard fares, unlike others, meaning they could guarantee their best price when a customer booked directly.

Regarding the claim “Unbeatable on price”, ScotRail said it believed that due to not charging booking fees, their prices could not be beaten.

It also referred to its price promise, whereby consumers can be reimbursed if a genuine lower fare was found elsewhere.

However, the ASA said it considered the statements “lowest” or “best price” claims and therefore they had to be backed up by evidence that ScotRail would always beat - not merely match - competitors’ prices.

The ruling said: “As stated, we considered the overall impression of the ad was that consumers would be able to find the cheapest ticket for a particular journey on the ScotRail website.

“As such, we considered that the claims “get cheapest tickets”, “Book direct for our best price”, and “unbeatable on price” discouraged consumers from searching elsewhere for cheaper tickets.

“However, they provided no evidence that, through purchasing tickets separately on the ScotRail website, they would always beat competitors’ prices.”

It concluded the advert “must not appear again” and that ScotRail must ensure that they do not mislead consumers by claiming they could offer the lowest price “if that was not the case”.

Claire Dickie, ScotRail's commercial director, said: "Our aim is always to provide clear, accurate information to customers, and we regret that the website messages did not fully reflect the ASA's requirements.

"We take great care to ensure all promotional material meets advertising standards and expectations and will further review our processes to make sure we maintain the highest standards of compliance."