How George Osborne failed to demonsrate 'we are all in it together' on the 3.15 from Wilmslow Unluckily for Mr Osborne, the embarrassing stand-off was observed by ITV Granada reporter Rachel Townsend who started to provide a live commentary to her followers on the Twitter micro-blogging website. She said later: "His aide approached the ticket collector right next to me. "The guard said "no." Mrs Townsend's tweeting was picked up journalists and meant that when Mr Osborne's train arrived at Euston 10 minutes late it was met by a gaggle of reporters, as well as some officers from British Transport Police. However the Chancellor was able to dodge further scrutiny from the waiting reporters by leaving the station through a goods entrance under the main concourse. Virgin Trains said that it does not operate a penalty fares system, which is common on many commuter trains. But the company said that if Mr Osborne had refused to move to standard class or pay the difference, guards could have called the police and pursued the Chancellor through the courts over the unpaid bill. Labour leapt on the news as further example that the Government was out of touch with ordinary people. Bob Crow, leader of the RMT rail union, criticised Mr Osborne for "attempting to bunk first class." He said: "This says it all about this rotten Government. A spokesman for the Chancellor said he had no idea of the discussion with the guard about paying for the upgrade, and denied that he had refused to pay for an upgrade. He said: "The Chancellor got a different train than planned due to diary change following a series of meetings in his constituency. As he had no seat reservation on the new train which was crowded, he decided to upgrade - and obviously intended and was happy to pay. A spokesman for Virgin Trains said that Mr Osborne paid £189.50 to upgrade the tickets for himself and one of his aides.He said: "The situation was dealt with amicably between the Train Manager and George Osborne's aide. At no time was there a disagreement or a refusal to pay for the upgrade. Nor was there any discussion between the Train Manager and Mr Osborne.