The chairman of a commuters group has blasted the government's recent decision to hike up train fares by 3.6% for passengers, including those who travel with Greater Anglia and c2c.

Derek Monnery, the Chair of the Essex Rail User's Federation, said: "People's wages are not going to go up 3.6 per cent.

"People are really angry about this. They are going to take it out on the government and they will be quite right in doing so.

"Commuters can't afford a 3.6 per cent rise, it's outrageous.

"A £6,000 season ticket will now cost an extra £200 a year.

"People in low paid jobs will not be able to afford this."

Also angry with the price hike is Mick Cash, the Secretary of the National Union for Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.

He said in a statement: "The huge hike in fares confirmed today is another kick in the teeth for passengers who ‎already fork out colossal sums to travel on rammed out, unreliable trains while the private operators are laughing all the way to the bank."

As the government subsidises rail companies, they can dictate the prices of some of the fares.

These fares are called regulated fares, which are the basic fares such as peak-priced single and return tickets, and season tickets.

However, unregulated fares can be set by the service provider, and these are fares such as advance tickets purchased online or Groupsave tickets.

So whereas the price of peak-time return ticket from Basildon to Southend will be decided by the government, a Groupsave ticket between those destinations will not.

However, both Greater Anglia and c2c have not made it clear as of yet if they are going to raise the price of tickets which they have control over - but they have been given permission by the government to do so.

A Greater Anglia spokesperson said: “Fares policy for regulated rail fares including season tickets and standard day returns is set by the government of the day and linked to the previous year’s Retail Price Index.

Greater Anglia can set the price of some unregulated fares, including Advance Singles such as Norwich to London for £10 or Southend to London for £5.

“We are constantly working to improve services and offer better value for money to our customers.

"We are currently investing huge amounts in the railway in East Anglia including £1.4 billion replacing every single train with brand new trains from 2019 and we’re spending £60 million improving stations.”

A spokesperson from c2c said: "In line with Government policy, next January c2c's regulated fares will change by a maximum of 3.6%, which represents a real-terms price freeze.

"We will confirm next year's prices for all our fares later in the year."