Virgin Trains Hits Back at U.K. Labour Leader Jeremy Corbyn's Overcrowding Claims

Updated | A major British train operator has rejected U.K. opposition leader Jeremy Corbyn's account of a train journey in a bizarre twist in the Labour party's leadership race.

Earlier in August, footage of Corbyn on a train shot by a member of his campaign team was covered in The Guardian. The video showed him sitting on the floor of a train traveling from London to Newcastle for a hustings, claiming that he was unwilling to spend taxpayers' money on an upgrade to first class.

"Today this train is completely ram-packed," Corbyn says in the video. "The reality is there are not enough trains, we need more of them—and they're also incredibly expensive."

But stills from CCTV footage released by Virgin Trains, which ran the service, appear to show Corbyn walking past empty, unreserved seats before sitting on the floor and filming his video. They then show Corbyn returning to take a seat after filming.

"CCTV footage taken from the train on August 11 shows Mr Corbyn and his team walked past empty, unreserved seats in coach H before walking through the rest of the train to the far end, where his team sat on the floor and started filming," Virgin Trains said in a statement.

"The same footage then shows Mr Corbyn returning to coach H and taking a seat there, with the help of the onboard crew, around 45 minutes into the journey and over two hours before the train reached Newcastle. Mr Corbyn's team carried out their filming around 30 minutes into the journey."

"We have to take issue with the idea that Mr Corbyn wasn't able to be seated on the service," the company added, "as this clearly wasn't the case. We'd encourage Jeremy to book ahead next time he travels with us, both to reserve a seat and to ensure he gets our lowest fares, and we look forward to welcoming him onboard again."

A spokesperson for Corbyn's leadership campaign said that at the time the video was made, Corbyn had been unable to find a seat, but later got one after a family was upgraded to first class: "When Jeremy boarded the train he was unable to find unreserved seats, so he sat with other passengers in the corridor who were also unable to find a seat," the spokesperson said.

"Later in the journey, seats became available after a family were upgraded to first class, and Jeremy and the team he was traveling with were offered the seats by a very helpful member of staff.

"Passengers across Britain will have been in similar situations on overcrowded, expensive trains. That is why our policy to bring the trains back into public ownership, as part of a plan to rebuild and transform Britain, is so popular with passengers and rail workers."

Virgin boss Sir Richard Branson weighed into the row, tweeting a link to the company's statement.

Corbyn is currently campaigning for re-election as Labour leader after a challenge was launched by former Shadow Cabinet Minister Owen Smith.

This article has been updated to include a response from Corbyn's campaign spokesperson.