A MILLIONAIRE Vote Leave donor travelled by train from England to the Highlands during lockdown, it has been revealed.
Jeremy John Hosking was spotted in Fort William last weekend after taking his company’s eight-carriage sleeper train on a trip to Mallaig with an overnight stop on the Glenfinnan viaduct.
Heritage rail company Locomotive Services Ltd described the five-day trip as “route learning/driver refresher”.
Online train forum Rail Focus said Hosking’s “Locomotive Services Limited is doing a driver refresher course all over northern England and Scotland for a few days” from March 4-8.
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Hosking, a former Conservative party donor, was seen at Fort William Station on Saturday.
The train travelled from Crewe up the east coast of England on Thursday and the timetable shows the train was “to dwell on the Glenfinnan viaduct” overnight on Friday.
It was to head to Oban on Sunday then overnight to London Euston, arriving this morning before returning to its depot in Crewe.
Locomotive Services managing director Tony Bush said Hosking was aboard as an “officer of the company”.
Bush said: “We asked Jeremy to come along to test a range of new equipment we have onboard. He is an officer of the company and one of the less IT illiterate people we have.”
He claimed the vintage sleeper coaches on the Midland Pullman train have new air conditioning, shower units and electrical equipment which had to be tested in live conditions.
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He continued: “We could not have the fare-paying passengers, who spend several thousand pounds, using equipment if we are not sure it can stand the rigours of a real train journey.
“That is why we had Jeremy as an officer of the company.
“We spoke to British Transport Police about the journey and they were satisfied that the testing could not be reasonably carried out at the depot.”
Hosking donated £1.7 million to Vote Leave in 2016 and supported pro-Brexit candidates in the 2017 General Election.
In 2019, Hosking submitted the paperwork to found a new party called Brexit Express, which would welcome Tory MPs unhappy with Prime Minister Theresa May's Brexit plans. At the same time, he launched a public campaign in favour of a no-deal Brexit.
He has also made donations to the Reclaim Party and Reform UK, which was set up by Nigel Farage.
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