The train to nowhere

Now the dust has settled, I thought it was time for an in depth look at some of the individual details of local MPs expenses claims.

Part 1: The train to nowhere.

The idea of publishing expenses is to show that our MPs have nothing to hide. Obviously you would expect things like credit card numbers to be blanked out but Gravy-Train Jane's staff do seem to have gone mad with the marker pen.

Several train tickets such as the one below appear (bizarrely) under the "Communications Allowance" with such basic information as the date travelled, the destination, and even the point of origin blanked out.It's bad enough we don't know who was travelling (Gravy-Train Jane's boyfriend perhaps?) but to cover up the date and destination only adds to the suspicion.

I know train tickets are expensive, but a quick search on trainline shows an advance ticket for even a peak journey to London tomorrow can be had for far less than £82 - but surprisingly a single from Liverpool to Brighton can be had for that very price.

Was the journey for a member of staff to attend an important meeting in Westminster? Or was it for a dirty weekend in Brighton? We may never know.