Hard-pressed commuters will find their season tickets have gone up by an average of 5.8 per cent - with some up by as much as 13% - thanks to fare increases which came into effect on Sunday.

Fares on London's Tubes and buses also went up on Sunday, rising by an average of 6.8 per cent.

A new campaign calling for cheaper and simpler train tickets was launched this week to oppose the increases. Fair Fares Now from the Campaign for Better Transport is being backed by actor and comedian Michael Palin. The campaign aims to harness widespread anger felt by passengers to demand that the Government keeps their promise to make rail fares fair.

They want the Government to ditch the above-inflation fare rises in favour of more affordable, straightforward train tickets that provide good value for money and encourage people to choose the train.

The Campaign for Better Transport (CBT) has calculated that the new cost of season tickets works out at about 20% of the average UK salary.

CBT chief executive Stephen Joseph said: "Commuters feel like they are being pickpocketed by the government, expected to pay more year on year for the same poor quality service.

"Even with the promised extra investment, many passengers will see no actual improvement to their daily commute.

"Politicians need to start living in the real world and understand that people simply cannot afford to pay a fifth of their income just to do a day's work.

"The government pledged to create fair fares and we all expect them to keep that promise."