A rail company has been told to stop suggesting that it was publicly owned after an advert was found to be misleading.
The Advertising Standards Authority received complaints about a Great Western Railway poster at London's Paddington station following a change of its name from First Great Western.
The phrase, "The railway belongs to the region it serves", was likely to be understood to imply that the company was publicly owned, said the ASA.
"We understood that the aim of the ad was to evoke a sense of identity between the organisation and consumers, and noted some of GWR's profits were used to support local groups.
"However, we considered that the use of the world 'belongs' was likely to be understood to imply public, as opposed to private, ownership, rather than, for example, that community groups received funding," said the ASA.
A GWR spokesman said: "We are disappointed by the ASA's decision. This campaign was designed to highlight the significant social and economic benefits the railway and our train services bring to the region we serve.
"It was never our intention to suggest GWR is a publicly owned company, instead we are proud of the work we do as a private company to benefit the region, and we are sorry if this wasn't clear.
"This specific advert was one of a series of six that mainly ran in September and October last year and we do not intend to run them again."
Mick Cash, leader of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union, said: "It is frankly disgusting that the privatised Great Western Railway have tried to kid people that they are somehow publicly owned when in fact they are just another bunch of corporate spivs looking to milk our railways for every penny that they can.
"The truth is that the private rail companies know that they are deeply unpopular for good reason and the fact that they have been pulled up by the Advertising Standards Authority for this outrageous stunt is good news."
Additional reporting by the Press Association.
