NORTH-East rail passengers will see ticket prices slashed over the next ten weeks, starting today.

GNER is cutting travel prices for hundreds of thousands of passengers travelling between the North-East, Yorkshire, London and Scotland.

Standard class return fares will start at £19 for travel between London and York or Leeds, and tickets between London and Durham, Newcastle, Edinburgh and Glasgow will start from £25.

More than 300,000 seats are being offered at lower prices on GNER's less busy trains.

"We are starting the New Year with a great deal to attract more passengers on to trains," said Sabine Sharman, GNER's senior product manager.

The off-peak fares are on offer from next Thursday until March 31 and tickets must be bought at least seven days ahead, on a first-come, first-served basis.

The fares will be available between London and north of Scotland GNER-served stations.

The offer follows attacks on GNER for its highly-priced fares. The company says that, as well as attracting new passengers, it wants to persuade existing customers to travel more often.

The new fares can be booked at GNER stations, most Arriva Trains Northern stations, or by phoning 08457-225225.

GNER operates 124 trains a day and carries more than 14 million passengers a year.