ASA upholds complaint about ‘misleading’ National Express advert

Coach company National Express has admitted to advertising incorrect journey times between York and London on a paid-for advert on Google, which the firm said was human error.

The Advertising Standards Agency (ASA) received a complaint about a paid-for search result on Google for National Express coach journeys from York to London, seen on 5 October 2017, which stated “Journeys From 4h 35mins”.

The complainant was unable to find any journeys from York to London under five hours and challenged whether the claim “Journeys From 4h 35mins” was misleading.

National Express explained that an incorrect journey time had been quoted as a result of human error. They supplied a copy of the amended advert showing the correct journey time.

The ASA upheld the complaint and in its ruling this week, stated: “The ASA considered consumers were likely to interpret the ad to mean that a significant proportion of coach journeys from York to London would be completed in four hours and 35 minutes as quoted.

“We welcomed National Express’ acknowledgement of the error and the action they had taken to correct the ad. Nevertheless, because the journey time originally stated was incorrect, we concluded that the claim was misleading.

The agency added: “We told them to ensure journey times were quoted accurately in future.”