Trainline's stock plunged 15% on Wednesday after the Competition and Markets Authority (CMA) announced a formal investigation into whether the digital ticketing service failed to include mandatory charges in the initial prices shown to customers on its app and website.
The CMA said its review flagged transactions where mandatory fees varied between 59 pence and .79 for rail travel, along with a .50 booking fee for coach journeys. The CMA noted such charges can accumulate for customers who travel frequently.
Officials opened the Trainline probe at the same time as formal investigations into two other firms. The regulator said it was looking at Virgin Atlantic over whether mandatory resort fees and local taxes - costs the CMA said can amount to hundreds of pounds for some package holidays - were included in upfront package prices. It also opened a probe into RED Driving School to examine whether a mandatory booking fee and a digital fee of more than 7 per booking were presented in the total price shown to consumers.
The three investigations form part of a broader CMA effort to tackle what it calls 'drip pricing' - the practice of separating compulsory charges from a headline price or adding mandatory costs later in the purchase process. The regulator said such practices can leave customers facing unexpected costs at checkout and may distort competition by making some firms appear cheaper than rivals who display total prices up front.
"The first price customers see should be the price they pay," said Emma Cochrane, Executive Director for Consumer Protection at the CMA. "Unexpected mandatory charges make this much harder, which is why the CMA initially put these firms on notice over concerns about their pricing practices and is now opening formal investigations."
The CMA emphasized that it has not reached any conclusions about whether the firms under investigation have broken the law. If the regulator finds an infringement, it has the power to require firms to compensate affected customers and to impose fines of up to 10% of a company's global turnover.
All three companies had previously received advisory letters as part of the CMA's initial consumer protection work after its enforcement powers were strengthened. The regulator said ongoing monitoring showed concerns remained, prompting escalation to formal investigations.
Since those enhanced powers came into effect, the CMA reported securing more than 1.95 million in refunds for UK consumers and levying fines totaling nearly 6.2 million. The regulator pointed to prior enforcement actions that resulted in fines and refunds for companies including driving schools AA and BSM and ticketing platform StubHub UK following separate inquiries into drip pricing.
Earlier this year the CMA launched a Clear Pricing campaign and issued a three-step checklist designed to help businesses present prices clearly and upfront. The regulator said the campaign aimed to reduce cases where consumers only discover mandatory charges late in the booking process.
Market impact was immediate: Trainline's shares fell sharply on the day the CMA made its announcement. The move reflects investor concerns about potential reputational damage, remediation costs and the possibility of regulatory penalties if breaches are found.
For passengers and frequent travellers, the CMA's intervention signals heightened scrutiny of how firms disclose the full cost of travel and related services. For the travel and transport sectors more broadly, the probes underline regulatory appetite to pursue transparency in pricing and the potential financial consequences for companies that do not comply.
The CMA's formal investigations will examine evidence and pricing practices before any determination is made. Until the conclusion of those investigations, the regulator said it has not taken a position on whether any firm has contravened consumer protection law.