Heathrow Express has to axe 'every 15 minutes' advert after disgruntled customer pointed out engineering works means service is less frequent late at night

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The rapid train service from London to Heathrow Airport can no longer claim it runs 'every 15 minutes' after a complaint.

Advertising watchdogs acted after the disgruntled customer pointed out that the frequency drops to once every 30 minutes late in the day.

The Heathrow Express takes a quarter of an hour to and from Paddington, leading to its slogan '15 minutes, every 15 minutes'.

The rapid train service from London to Heathrow Airport can no longer claim it runs 'every 15 minutes' after a complaint. Advertising watchdogs acted after a disgruntled customer contacted them and complained

But it said the major Crossrail engineering works were affecting the service.

This means that three trains in each direction have been cancelled after 10pm from Monday to Thursday, leading to a half-hourly service during this time.

This was the equivalent of 2.2 per cent of its trains across the week and was shown on timetables, said the company.

But the Advertising Standards Authority said consumers would understand 'every 15 minutes' to mean a service would run this often the whole day.     

It said: 'We understood that the service did not operate on a 24-hour basis, but only operated between 5am and midnight, and that it therefore was not available every 15 minutes. 

The Heathrow Express takes a quarter of an hour to and from Paddington, leading to its slogan '15 minutes, every 15 minutes'

'Furthermore, we understood that the service during post-10pm operating hours during the week was reduced to a half-hourly service. 

'We therefore considered that information regarding the hours of operation and the regular reduction in service should have been made clear to consumers as part of the claim itself.'

It noted that the information was available on the timetable section of the website and on printed timetables, 'but we considered that this was insufficiently prominent and also served to contradict the headline claim that the service operated every 15 minutes'.

The ASA told Heathrow Express not to repeat the claim 'every 15 minutes'.

A spokeswoman for the Heathrow Express said: 'We respect the decision made by the ASA and are now reviewing our advertising because we want to ensure we provide the best service possible for our customers.

'We are proud to offer passengers the quickest possible journey between central London and Heathrow but occasionally there are planned engineering works that may affect our service.

'We recommend passengers check online or on Twitter before they travel.'