Rail passengers travelling from London to Carmarthenshire and Pembrokeshire could be paying too much for their train tickets, warns local MP Simon Hart.

Mr Hart investigated ticket prices after constituent Graham Bowen from Llangain raised the issue with him. He discovered that some West Wales residents are being told they have to buy peak tickets when in fact cheaper off-peak tickets ARE valid.

"Mr Bowen asked me to look into the situation because he used to travel on the 17.45 train from Paddington to Carmarthen on an off peak ticket despite it being technically being an "on peak" time," said Mr Hart. "But when he went to do the same this year he was told he couldn't."

Retired Mr Bowen said: "We have a long way to travel and if we waited to travel on the off peak train then we would have missed the connection at Swansea and not got home until very late. It was quite a big difference in price between off peak and peak travel."

Mr Bowen wrote to the company about the apparent change in policy but was unhappy with the reply he got.

"I was annoyed because they didn't answer the question," said Mr Bowen. So he asked Mr Hart to investigate.

"When First Great Western looked into the matter again they clarified that off peak tickets for travel beyond Swansea are valid on all but the 18.15 service from Paddington," said Mr Hart.

The train company also confirmed that :

* Super Off Peak fares cannot be used on trains leaving Paddington between 15.15 and 18.45.

* The earliest London-bound train on which you can use off peak tickets is the 06.00 from Milford Haven, while super off peak tickets can be used from the 07.03 onwards.

* If people are booking trains on line they need to make sure they select "Advanced Options" and click on "direct services only". Otherwise the system will quote fares for the quickest journey which may be via Cardiff and for which off peak tickets are invalid.

Mr Hart added: "Allowing West Wales travellers to travel on off peak tickets at peak times is only fair as it is such a long journey. These travellers shouldn't be punished just because they are leaving London at the same time as the commuters going to such places as Reading."