Virgin Trains release CCTV footage disputing Jeremy Corbyn was forced to sit on floor on over-crowded service

CCTV footage released by the train company today appears to show the Labour leader walking past empty train seats before he was filmed sitting on the floor complaining about the "completely ram-packed" carriages.

The incredibly popular video of the Labour leader speaking directly to camera while sitting on a carriage floor was shared thousands of times on social media after appearing on the Guardian's website.

Mr Corbyn said "this is a problem that many passengers face every day" before calling for public ownership of the railways.

However Virgin Trains say CCTV footage taken from the London to Newcastle journey on August 11 shows Mr Corbyn and his team walking past empty, unreserved seats in coach H before walking through the rest of the train to the far end, where his team sat on the floor and started filming.

The same footage then shows Mr Corbyn returning to coach H and taking a seat there, with the help of the on-board crew, around 45 minutes into the journey and over two hours before the train reached Newcastle. Mr Corbyn’s team carried out their filming around 30 minutes into the journey.

Virgin Trains boss Richard Branson has also waded in to defend his company by Tweeting: "Mr Corbyn & team walked past empty unreserved seats then filmed claim train was ‘ram-packed’."

Virgin claim there were also additional empty seats on the train which appear from CCTV to have been reserved but not taken, so they were also available for other passengers to sit on.

A Virgin Trains spokesperson said they were pleased he had highlighted the need for more trains on the East Coast mainline, however he had been wrong to suggest to people he had little option but to sit on the floor.

They said: "We have to take issue with the idea that Mr Corbyn wasn’t able to be seated on the service, as this clearly wasn’t the case. We’d encourage Jeremy to book ahead next time he travels with us, both to reserve a seat and to ensure he gets our lowest fares, and we look forward to welcoming him onboard again."

Labour challenger Owen Smith could not resist a dig at the report, Tweeting: "My campaign remains on track. Proud to be genuinely standing up for ordinary people."