The infirm couple, John and Peggy Huntley, aged 79 and 80, were told they would have to stand for the trip from Cardiff to London - or pay 50 per cent of an upgrade fee.

It infuriated the couple of Pentrebane, Cardiff, as they had reserved a seat on an earlier service that had been cancelled.

'We had already paid for our seats,' said Mrs Huntley, who turns 80 in three weeks. 'It's not our fault the train didn't turn up.'

The couple, who are both diabetic, caught the 9.25am service Paddington on August 8 to visit one of their daughters, Tracy.

Peggy, who has a tumour on each kidney, and John, who is crippled from arthritis, and suffers from asthma, booked seats on the 8.55am train, which was cancelled, so had to cram onto the later service. Former merchant seaman Mr Huntley added: 'We had to stand all the way to London.

'It reminded me of how it was in the war years. There were people crammed in everywhere.

'Every space was chock-a-block with cases and bags.

'I'm annoyed that my wife had to suffer it when there were empty seats. It's wrong.'

The grandfather of two said although his daughters had warned against it, he was considering driving to London the next time he visits.

To add insult to their injury, no-one offered their seat to the distressed couple.

Peggy added: 'People of today are different. There's no respect.'

A spokesman for First Great Western said: 'We would like to apologise for the difficulty they experienced.

'We expect our train staff to use a certain amount of discretion, especially where people with special needs are travelling.

'Our customer relations team is tasked with investigating the circumstances to ensure we give an appropriate response.'

* A report has revealed that the number of rail passengers who believe they are getting value for money is falling.

The Office of Rail Regulation (ORR) report revealed that 87 per cent of British trains this April and June ran on time - up from 84.3 per cent in the same period last year.

But only 41 per cent of customers think rail travel is value for money.

This 'should be of concern' to train companies, said the ORR in the first of a series of rail reviews.