A PASSENGER group has hit out at new restrictions on rail travel between London and Worcestershire which it says will land users with increased fares.

Changes by First Great Western to the use of cheap day return tickets to London on the Hereford-Worcester-Oxford line mean that, as of the new year, such ticket holders will be barred from returning from London on the key 17.22, 17.52 and 18.22 trains.

Passengers wanting to use the restricted trains will instead have to pay for a saver fare, which will increase the cost of their journey.

In the case of passengers travelling from London Paddington to Worcester it would mean they would pay a fare of £35.60 instead of £29.60.

But the Cotswold Line Promotion Group has now taken the issue up with the rail company as it says the cheap day return ticket is already heavily restricted to Cotswold Line Users in the outward direction, with effectively only one train available.

The group's publicity officer Julian Palfrey said: "These draconian restrictions on the return trains will deter many leisure passengers from travelling or encourage them to look for cheaper alternatives.

"Our group has worked hard with train companies to build up off-peak and leisure travel over the route and these new measures could destroy that."

The news comes as it is revealed that off-peak travellers using the Cotswold line have been dealt a double blow - as the Cotswold Line Railcard offering discounted travel between Oxford and Worcester is set to increase from £5 to £7.50.

However, First Great Western spokesman Adrian Ruck said restrictions on on-peak services were nothing new and were there to prevent over-crowding.

In 1996 a total of 14.5m people used First Great Western's services, compared with more than 22m now.

Mr Ruck added: "What we're trying to do is encourage leisure rail users to travel off-peak.

"Although there are particular services that won't be available, saver fares will still be on offer for off-peak services - really it's a case we need to manage demand."

The group has called for a meeting with First Great Western and is due to meet some of the line's MPs at a meeting in London this month.