Hard-pressed commuters are being forced to pay up to a third of their wages in rail fares and parking charges, transport union TSSA warned yesterday.

Some long-distance commuters have to cough up more than £9,000 annually for rail season tickets and car parking.

But average earnings are only £26,500 a year.

“It is an absolute disgrace the enormous burden that has been heaped on commuters’ shoulders since the railways were sold off 20 years ago,” said TSSA general secretary Manuel Cortes.

“Those on average earnings are paying a third of their salaries just to get to work — the equivalent of funding a £200,000 mortgage every year.”

Research also revealed that passengers handed over a staggering £9 billion to vulture profiteers last year while the firms contributed just £43 million to the industry.

TSSA released the figures to coincide with the launch of its “southern fares discomfort” campaign and a series of 10 protests, first targeting Peterborough railway station yesterday.

The independent research was carried out in south-east England and was based on commuter journeys to London. It took place in 20 marginal parliamentary constituencies.

The most expensive annual season ticket, from Swindon to London, cost £8,200, plus parking fees of £1,052, for a total of £9,252.

Including parking, annual travel from Great Yarmouth to London totalled £8,214, Peterborough to London £8,498 and Ipswich to London £7,201.

“Season tickets were meant to be protected when the railways were sold off,” said Mr Cortes.

“But while commuters and their families have suffered a harsh squeeze on their household budgets, with annual tickets doubling in many cases since 1995, the fat controllers running the private rail firms have seen their own salaries rocketing ahead.”

He called on Labour leader Ed Miliband to announce a 12-month-long rail fare freeze as part of an overall review of private rail franchises if Labour wins the general election in May.