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ScotRail said the claim “book direct for our best price” referred to the fact that consumers who booked directly with ScotRail always paid the lowest price it offered.

A spokesperson said the rail industry operated under regulated fares with a centrally-controlled fares database from which all accredited retailers sourced their ticket prices.

They said they applied no additional booking fees to those standard fares, unlike some third-party retailers and competitors, which meant they could guarantee their best price when a consumer booked with them directly.

The ASA ruling said: “As stated, we considered the overall impression of the ad was that consumers would be able to find the cheapest ticket for a particular journey on the ScotRail website.

“As such, we considered that the claims ‘get cheapest tickets’, ‘book direct for our best price’, and ‘unbeatable on price’ discouraged consumers from searching elsewhere for cheaper tickets.

“However, they provided no evidence that, through purchasing tickets separately on the ScotRail website, they would always beat competitors’ prices.”

The ASA said that the ad must not appear again and told ScotRail to ensure they do not mislead consumers by claiming they could offer the lowest price available if that was not the case.

“Lambswool – I love the name, it’s an old-fashioned Christmassy-time drink.

“It’s common throughout the UK, but in the Black Country it was known to be made for workers. Managers would give it to workers.”

Still made today but particularly popular in the Victorian period, this traditional festive drink of roasted apples in strong ale would be served in a large bowl called a jowl, the researcher said.

“They had to keep going until it was finished and it’s quite a large bowl and then they’d finish with singing a carol.”

She said “you’d mix it with a bit of” nutmeg, ginger and sugar and if “you didn’t strain it, you would see the apple kind of pulp in the drink”.

Also, people could “have tipples of home-made wines”, things like parsnip wine and elderberry wine, made in their washhouse where laundry was done.