Clair Hawkins, the Labour candidate for Dover and Deal has spoken out over the rising cost of season train tickets.

The prospective parliamentary candidate says season tickets for people in Dover and Deal has gone up by 32% since 2010.

She claims the Government has allowed train company Southeastern to hit passengers with massive fare rises despite many people struggling through a cost of living crisis with ever rising prices and stagnant wages.

The new fare prices came into effect on Friday, January 2, 2015.

A season ticket from Dover or Deal to London using the High Speed service has gone up from £4,648 in 2010 to £6,144. Passengers are also facing the same 32% increase on non-high speed trains from £3,880 to £5,136.

Southeastern says the extra cash will be spent on improvements to services, including more than 95,000 extra seats off-peak and up to 75 extra staff at stations.

However, Ms Hawkins plans to campaign for a better deal for rail passengers. She says this can be done by reforming the railways, simplifying the ticketing system and enforcing a strict cap on fares on every route.

She added: “David Cameron and his Tory-led government have failed to stand up for people in Dover and Deal struggling with the cost-of-living crisis by allowing train companies to hit passengers with massive season ticket fare rises of over 30% since 2010.

“Commuters in Dover and Deal are some of the hardest hit by the rip-off railways and it’s got to stop. Especially as people are being forced to pay thousands of pounds more to get to work on increasingly overcrowded trains for a service known for high levels of complaints and cancellations.

“‘Fair fares for comfortable commuting’ has got to be more than a sound-bite that Government Ministers trot out and become something politicians actually deliver for people here in Dover and Deal.”

Southeastern’s managing director David Statham said: “Customers want more value for money and an improvement to their service – and we’re committed to providing just that.

“More than 250,000 people rely on our trains for their journeys every day and we’re investing fares directly in schemes that will make those journeys easier.”