BRITAIN’S rail commuters will return to work this morning to news that they cough up nearly three times more of their wages than their continental counterparts on fares.

Campaigners will be at London’s King’s Cross to ram home the message that privatisation doesn’t pay as bleary-eyed passengers face the annual post-Christmas hangover — another big rise in fares.

The Trades Union Congress warned that ticket costs — up an average 2.5 per cent today — were now so high that it is having a major economic effect.