Nurse campaigns for 'urgent' train ticket reform

Alicia Arias, an NHS nurse, says her monthly train ticket cost regularly exceeds £200

A Surrey NHS worker has launched a campaign calling for urgent train ticket reform after revealing she spends more than £200 a month commuting to her job at a London hospital.

Alicia Arias moved from London to Woking a year ago to save on rent and said her train travel costs remains high despite using a discount Flexi Season ticket.

Her campaign on Change.org has collected more than 24,100 signatures and she is urging rail bosses to introduce 24-hour train tickets.

A Department for Transport (DfT) spokesperson said: "While we are not planning to introduce 24-hour return tickets, we are overhauling the complex fares system to make rail travel simpler and more flexible for passengers."

Ms Arias, who works as a paediatric cardiac intensive care nurse at Great Ormond Street Hospital, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she sometimes "regrets moving to Woking".

She added she works 12-hour shifts, often overnight, and purchases two tickets for each shift, one to travel in and another to get home the next morning as existing train tickets expire at 04:29 BST.

"When we work a night shift, we don't have a break and then we have to pay for another ticket. It's just not fair," she said.

Although there are other hospitals in Surrey, Ms Arias said she never wanted to leave her current job.

'Expensive and inflexible'

"Working at Great Ormond Street Hospital is a great sense of achievement," she added. "It's the best thing I've ever done."

Originally from Spain, Ms Arias moved to the UK 13 years ago and said she was "shocked" by how expensive and "inflexible" British transport was.

She added that in Madrid, commuters could purchase transport passes for bus, train and rail for £70 a month.

Another campaign which Ms Arias started was a petition for an NHS railcard which has reached more than 3,000 signatures on the House of Commons website.

The DfT spokesperson added: "We've already delivered ticketing innovations such as contactless pay as you go to additional stations in Surrey this year.

"This gives passengers the best value ticket for their journey, with additional stations expected to get the technology soon."