THE Royal train should be scrapped because it costs a staggering £136.30 per mile to run, says Pendle MP Gordon Prentice.

He urged the Commons to get rid of "this expensive luxury" after learning through Parliamentary Questions that the train was used just 32 times last year.

The Queen used it eight times, the Prince of Wales 14 and on another 10 occasions it was commandeered by the Duke of Edinburgh, the Princess Royal or the Duchess of Kent.

The rest of the time it is kept in a secure siding in Buckinghamshire. Claiming the Royal train has a "pretty easy life", Mr Prentice said: "The train hardly has an energetic schedule yet it is serviced by no less than 11 full-time and four part-time staff.

"This a rarely used but quaint relic of the past and a luxury the nation can no longer afford.

"If a member of the Royal Family wants to travel by train I am sure appropriate arrangements could be made.

"Surely we don't need a special train to sit in a siding most of the year when it could be doing something useful."

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