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Richard Branson was mocked by Virgin Trains customers after stating “people turning up late” annoys him.

The Virgin Group founder wrote: “There’s very little that annoys me in life, but people turning up late really does. Punctuality shows organisation and respect for others.”

The message was shared on Monday through his Twitter account, where he describes himself as a “tie-loathing adventurer, philanthropist and troublemaker”.

Soon after sending the post, Mr Branson, whose Virgin Group part owns the Virgin Rail Group, began to receive disgruntled responses.

One wrote: “I'm sorry, Richard. I set off on time but my Virgin train was late.”

While another said: “I take it that you don’t travel on your own trains then…”

It was also suggested he pass “that pearl of wisdom on to your train and airline staff”.

Others asked if the tweet was posted in attempt to “wind up” Virgin train passengers.

The original Tweet by Mr Branson was accompanied by a photo of him running down a street.

As well as this there was a link to a post he had written which expanded more on his passion for punctuality.

He said he does not think he has been late to a meeting, when it has been within his control, since his father questioned his tardiness when he was a teenager.

“If it becomes impossible to arrive on time, I make sure I absolutely let people know and apologise. But before that, I do everything possible to get there on time,” he wrote.

According to statistics published by the Office of Rail and Road, Virgin West Coast’s public performance measures at 84.2 percent in the period 2017 to 2018.

This is the percentage of trains arriving at their terminating station within five minutes for London, south east and regional services, and 10 minutes for long distance services.

Virgin East Coast’s measurement on this statistic was 81.5 per cent for the same period.

The Standard contacted representatives of the Virgin Group and Virgin Trains for comment.

Virgin Trains said to contact the Virgin Group.

A Virgin Group spokesperson said: ​"We know punctuality is hugely important to our customers - and rightly so. We work hard to make sure our trains run on time and we have one of the highest customer satisfaction scores in the industry. When our trains are running late, we believe customers should get compensation - which is why we have pioneered the use of automatic compensation for delays for people who book direct. Our teams go the extra mile to ensure our customers receive the best service possible.”