Commuters heading into London from Swanscombe are paying in excess of £500 more for their annual season tickets than those travelling from a station just three minutes down the line.

The cost of a yearly ticket to the capital from Swanscombe is £2,992, compared to £2,440 from Greenhithe, which is only 1.6 miles away.

Southeastern has been forced to defend the prices following the launch of a ‘fair fares for Swanscombe’ campaign, with the discrepancy described as “unfair and unjustified”.

Labour’s Claire Pearce, who is running for the Swanscome and Greenhithe seat in the Kent County Council (KCC) election, said: “Rail passengers in Swanscombe are getting a bad deal.

“It cannot be fair that people using Swanscombe station pay significantly more in fares than those using Greenhithe station, even though its only three minutes further down the line.

“An annual season ticket to London costs £502 more from Swanscombe that it does from Greenhithe. That’s £184 a minute.”

She has promised that she will continue to campaign for cheaper fares from Swanscombe, and fight against any cuts to local rail services, if she is elected to County Hall.

Voters go to the polls next Thursday, with the results of the elections across Kent due to be announced the following morning.

Responding to the criticism of the difference in prices between Swanscombe and Greenhithe, a Southeastern spokesman said: “Just as with other train operating companies, fares across our network are calculated using a number of factors.

“This means the price of a train ticket can vary from one station to another. In the case of season tickets, prices are regulated by the government and linked to the Retail Price Index.

“Today, passengers commuting into London from Swanscombe pay around 30p per mile. However, Greenhithe is an example of a station on our network where passengers still benefit from a lower-than-average increase under previous Department for Transport regulation.

“We continue to keep any fare increases to a minimum across our network and indeed have frozen a number of ticket prices for the past three years, including advance fares which remain at January 2016 prices.”

Also standing for Swanscombe and Greenhithe in the KCC elections are independent Peter Harman, who holds the seat, Keith Kelly from the Conservatives, and Ukip’s Linda Moore.