Stevenage borough councillors have backed a call from the Liberal Democrats for the first-class sections on Thameslink trains to be scrapped.

Rob Broom, the Labour-run council's cabinet member for transport, will now write to Transport Secretary Heidi Alexander urging the declassification of all remaining first-class areas on Thameslink and Great Northern services.

The council's Liberal Democrat group raised the issue at a full council meeting last week (Wednesday, October 21), and their deputy leader Tom Wren argued that declassifying the first class sections on trains running through Stevenage would "unlock extra seats" as well as "give more space for people to stand safely".

"It will cost very little, it requires no new infrastructure, and it will instantly improve the daily commute for many thousands of passengers," he said.

Thameslink, which was taken into public ownership earlier this year, currently offers 26 seats in first class areas on its services running through Stevenage.

Standard class season tickets for commuters travelling between Stevenage and London five times per week cost £4,908 a year, while the equivalent first class season tickets cost £7,852 for the same period.

Cllr Wren, who is a regular commuter, said that the current system leaves standard class "jampacked" with "people shoulder-to-shoulder in the aisles and vestibules" while the first class compartment remains "practically empty".

The Lib Dem group leader, Andy McGuinness, added: "When you see a whole area not being utilised, it does frankly pee people off; it pees me off."

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A number of Labour councillors spoke in support of the idea of declassification, including Jade Woods, who said it was "blatant classism" that railway operators were "offering seats for people to set themselves apart from the great unwashed".

Tom Plater, cabinet member for resources, joked: "I'm a good socialist and I always like to see a proposal to abolish class divisions … I just hadn't expected it to come from the Liberal Democrats."

Cllr Plater continued: "Anyone boarding a train should have every opportunity to find a seat and, where seats are available, we should make the best possible use of them.

"It's incredibly difficult to justify preserving a separate compartment at that sort of premium when the practical effect is to squeeze other passengers into less space."

A spokesperson for Thameslink told the BBC earlier this week that removing first class compartments on their trains would "worsen the experience of those who choose to buy tickets and also reduce overall fare revenue, which increases the level of taxpayer subsidy on the railway".

They added: "We recognise that trains can be busy at peak times and we make improvements where we can to provide more capacity."

The Lib Dems on Stevenage Borough Council accepted an amendment to their motion from the ruling Labour group that will also see the council call on LNER, whose trains also run through Stevenage, to reverse their decision to make northbound trains pick-up only and southbound trains set-down only.