COMMUTERS from Oxford to London will soon be paying more than £5,000 a year for the first time after the biggest fare hike in five years was revealed.

Currently passengers travelling from Oxford to London - on both Great Western Railway and Chiltern Railways service - pay £4,920 a year.

Unless the Government changes it policy by January commuters will be faced with a £5,097 annual bill after a rise of 3.6 per cent was announced by the Office of National Statistics.

The rise - based on the Retail Price Index measure of inflation - will affect all season tickets and some 'anytime' and off-peak tickets.

Protesters gathered at Oxford station yesterday morning calling for an end to privatisation and spiralling fares.

Cat Hobbs, from the Oxford-based campaign group We Own It, said: "Fares have spiralled out of control and this latest increase is beyond a joke.

"We are protesting because the rising fares are not sustainable - this is the largest rise in five years and people in Oxford and all around the country are being priced out of the railways.

She added: "We don't want to keep paying more and more, this has been going on for a long time now and it has not worked.

"We think the solution is public ownership."

But ONS said the RPI was 'flawed' and was concerned it should not be used by as a benchmark for the Government to increase fares.

Commuters and unions said the hike was made worse by overcrowded trains - last month the 5.18pm London Paddington to Didcot train was revealed as the 7th most overcrowded in the country.

Rail, Maritime and Transport (RMT) union leader Mick Cash said: "The huge hike in fares confirmed today is another kick in the teeth for passengers who already fork out colossal sums to travel on rammed out, unreliable trains while the private operators are laughing all the way to the bank."

Those travelling from Didcot Parkway face the same price as those from Oxford and it's no better for commuters in the north of the county.

The annual season ticket to London from Bicester would rise to £4,952 and Banbury's cohort of capital commuters will have to fork out £5,764 from January.

Great Western Railway spokesman, James Davis, said money raised by fares had gone into improving services.

He said: "The money raised by Government through fares ensures investment in more trains, better stations and faster services.

"This investment is already delivering new trains in London and the Thames Valley; and we will see the first of our new Intercity Express Trains in passenger service in just a matter of months – delivering more seats; and with the completion of the new fleet more frequent services and quicker journeys."

Mr Davis also said the price between Oxford and London equated to £10.62 per journey and just over 17p per mile over the course of the year.