The company’s November edition of its Hotline magazine, which is placed in the back of every passenger seat on the west coast main line, shows the famous bottle on its front page.

Blobs of brown sauce are splashed across inside page interviews with Michael Caine and Roy Hattersley, boasting the words “The Great British Issue”.

A spokesman for Virgin Trains said: “Firstly, we apologise if any offence has been caused to the people of the West Midlands.

“However, the HP sauce bottle has a label that features an image of the British Houses of Parliament, which was the main reason that Hotline’s November cover made use of it as a visual reference.

“HP sauce is a condiment that is almost exclusively associated with British café culture and which sits on dinner tables in the UK.”