A RAIL firm is cutting scores of jobs to pay for free travel perks for first-class passengers, a leading union claimed today.

The Transport Salaried Staffs Association said East Coast is cutting food trolleys in standard class as well as travel centre staff to give free alcohol and sandwiches to first-class passengers from March.

More than 100 jobs will be cut on the London to Aberdeen route, around ten per cent of all onboard, platform and travel centre posts, said the union.

General secretary Gerry Doherty said: "I know that Edwardian dramas like Downton Abbey and Upstairs, Downstairs are all the rage, but I never thought they would be used by a railway company as a basis for its industrial relations policy in this day and age.

"Here we are in the 21st century with a company running Toffs Specials with standard-class passengers having their food trolleys scrapped altogether while first-class passengers can drink as much beer and sandwiches as they want.

"It is an insult to both hard-working staff and loyal passengers. Ministers should stop it at once."

The union said it would make more sense to fully restore the first-class dining cars run by the previous operator, GNER, which it believed would encourage first-class travel and create extra catering jobs.

An East Coast spokesman said: "In response to customer demand, East Coast is planning to introduce a complimentary at-seat service for first-class passengers from May 2011, which will include meals and drinks served to customers in a sensible and controlled manner.

"It will help to protect onboard catering and safeguard jobs by attracting more customers and a trade-up from standard class, and we are planning to increase the number of jobs on board our trains.

"We are also responding to changes in customer demand for purchasing tickets by planning changes to our travel centres. This includes introducing five new managers to help improve the running of the centres and 15 new ticket machines to speed up the purchasing of tickets.

"We plan to reduce the number of travel centre staff by 28 across our 12 managed stations, and all of those staff will be advised on redeployment opportunities across the company."