Nicola Sturgeon takes a regular train to parliament after losing her taxpayer-funded police chauffeurs

NICOLA Sturgeon rode the train to Parliament today, the first day after the summer recess, after losing her taxpayer-funded police chauffeurs.

The former First Minister has been spotted with an assistant on a ScotRail service between Glasgow and Edinburgh.

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And a fellow passenger in a standard class shared how Ms Sturgeon laughed at a ticket examiner who said she was a VIP and that “this is not a first class car”.

Ms Sturgeon was heard to quip in response, “I’m a woman of the people.”

One viewer said: “Obviously, traveling in a standard class ScotRail carriage is a far cry from the VIP treatment she has been accustomed to in recent years.”

“She was wearing big sunglasses like she didn’t want to be recognized and she got a few looks but then she took them off. Then there was this weird exchange with the ticket seller.”

A source close to Ms Sturgeon said Glasgow Southside MSP had a standard class ticket.

The Scottish Sun revealed last month how Ms Sturgeon was abducted from police in a behind-the-scenes “argument” over the spending of her £600,000-a-year VIP security team.

Leaders and the Scottish Government agreed to scrap 24/7 protection, which had been extended despite Ms Sturgeon’s resignation as First Minister in March.

Insiders said Police Scotland and the Scottish Government had pulled the plug after a behind-the-scenes debate about the appropriate level of coverage and justifiable costs for the public.

Former Chief Constable Sir Iain Livingstone, who retired in August, and the Scottish Government’s top official, Secretary of State John-Paul Marks, signed the amendments.

Ms Sturgeon resigned as First Secretary on March 28, a week before her husband Peter Murrell was arrested and their home ransacked. This was part of the inquiry into the fate of around £600,000 in donations to the SNP for a second independence referendum.

Sources said their police team – reportedly consisting of about six officers in rotation and vehicles – were initially kept in place by a “highly unusual” measure.

And Ms Sturgeon was under the protection of Police Scotland when she was arrested by another branch of police as part of the SNP financial investigation in June. She denies any wrongdoing.

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