Eurostar Criticised by UK Advert Body

The ASA’s ruling found that Eurostar’s advert had breached rules 3.1, 3.17 and 3.22 of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code.

Channel Tunnel rail operator Eurostar has been criticised by the UK’s Advertising Standards Authority (ASA) for a “misleading” advert that offered tickets to Europe “from £39” in August and September last year. 

The ASA upheld a complaint from a member of the public who had said they had only been able to find one ticket from London to Paris at the £39 price tag, leading the regulatory authority to conduct further research concluding that a “very small percentage” of available tickets during the advertised time period were available at the price. 

The advert, which was sent to customers as a promotional email in July 2023, was deemed to be misleading after the ASA said that customers would likely understand the claim of tickets being offered “from just £39 each way” to “mean that a significant proportion of fares to the advertised locations of Paris, Brussels or Lille would be available to purchase at £39 throughout August and September 2023.” 

The operator also said that it had not received any direct complaints from customers about the email promotion, which was only sent out to each customer once partly as an effort to reduce the risk of exaggerating ticket availability.

The ASA’s ruling found that the advert had breached rules 3.1, 3.17 and 3.22 of the Committee of Advertising Practice (CAP) Code and told Eurostar to ensure that a significant proportion of fares were offered at an advertised price in the future. 

The news marks another issue for Eurostar which has already seen threats of strike action and may see competition on its channel tunnel routes from London for the first time in 30 years after the tunnel’s parent company GetLink’s CEO confirmed that it was in talks with at least two operators hoping to launch new routes.