Government cancels decision to award rail franchise for West Coast Main Line to FirstGroup

[whole diary]

[Chris from Nailsea]

Hmm. Talking of RMT^▸ (National Union of Rail, Maritime & Transport Workers) press releases - here's one today:

West Coast shambles rolls on with Virgin deal still not signed off two weeks away from end of current franchise

Rail union RMT today warned that the West Coast Main Line franchise shambles is still rolling along with the Government failing to sign off their lashed-up extension of the current Virgin deal just over two weeks away from the 9th December deadline for the end of the current deal.

Industry insiders say that Virgin have now got the DfT^» (Department for Transport - about) right over a barrel and can demand any terms that they like in the full knowledge that the Government have, for ideological reasons, ruled out the safe and cost effective option of renationalisation. 3200 WCML^▸ (West Coast Main Line) staff are left without any confirmation of their employment position just a matter of days away from the end of the current franchise. A further 1800 jobs at contractors associated with the contract are also left in exactly the same precarious position.

Technically, if Virgin were to now walk, the Government could be left with no one to run the services in the run up to Christmas as they are reported to have stood down the Directly Operated Railways mobilisation team.

RMT General Secretary Bob Crow said: ^3200 WCML staff, the vast majority of whom are RMT members, are left hanging by a thread without any formal confirmation as to who will be employing them in just over two weeks time. Hundreds more from associated contractors takes the total ^at risk^ to 5000. That is an intolerable position and questions needs to be asked about why this shambles is being allowed to drag on right up to the wire.

^As a result of sheer Government incompetence, right-wing ideology and desperation Richard Branson has muscled his way in to a monopoly contractor position on Britain^s biggest rail route where he can extract whatever price he demands in the full knowledge that this shower of mugs have left themselves with no Plan B. So much for Virgin^s PR^▸ (Public Relations) pledge to run the services for nothing in the interim after the First Group bid collapsed into chaos.

^A month away from the end of the current franchise, Virgin find themselves pulling the handle on a fruit machine that^s been fixed on jackpot at every spin of the reels. It^s no wonder they don^t want to leave the arcade.^

^For the thousands of staff, they are left in the run up to Christmas without any certainty at all as to what the immediate or long term future holds. With two more franchise rounds planned they could end up with three different bosses in three years with attacks on jobs, working conditions and pensions at every turn. The fight for full renationalisation of the railways, and an end to this casino-franchising, goes on.^

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the Guardian:

An official announcement on the terms of Virgin's new west coast deal is expected within the next eight days, when McLoughlin is also due to unveil the findings of Sam Laidlaw's inquiry into what went wrong in the franchising process. Virgin's contract extension is expected to last until February 2014.

[Chris from Nailsea]

From the BBC^» (British Broadcasting Corporation - home page):

Suspended Department for Transport worker takes legal action

A civil servant suspended following the West Coast rail franchise fiasco is to take legal action against the Department for Transport.

Kate Mingay was one of three officials suspended in October after the government scrapped its decision to award the franchise to FirstGroup. Mrs Mingay, DfT^» (Department for Transport - about)'s commercial and technical services director, has said her role was "inaccurately" portrayed.

An independent review into the franchise process is due shortly.

The government scrapped its decision to award the multi-billion-pound West Coast Main Line rail franchise to FirstGroup after "significant technical flaws" were discovered in the bidding process.

An independent inquiry headed by senior business figure Sam Laidlaw was set up, and has already issued some initial findings. It said that "an accumulation of significant errors... resulted in a flawed process".

Mr Laidlaw, who is a non-executive director of the DfT, is due to give evidence to the House of Commons transport committee next week.

Following her suspension last month, Mrs Mingay issued a statement saying: "'While it has been widely reported in the context of the award of the franchise for the West Coast Main Line that I have been suspended, my role has been inaccurately portrayed, mainly due to statements and other comment made by the Department for Transport itself.

"I would like to make it clear that I did not have lead responsibility for this project. Neither I nor any member of my team had any responsibility for the economic modelling for this project or for any Department for Transport project. Nor did I have any responsibility for the financial modelling in respect of this project."

It is believed that a court hearing relating to her case will take place on Thursday.

[TonyK]

This will be great business for lawyers.

[eightf48544]

This will be great business for lawyers.

and "Bean Counters"

[Andrew1939 from West Oxon]

Kate B should be commended. This government (and past ones) seem to think that public servants just sit around for much of the day gossiping and drinking tea but my experience as a public servant was very different in that although I had to keep to strict hours because of the then limited Cotswold Line available trains to return home, I inevitably took work home together with essential office reading documents for hours of unpaid evening homework. You must be more efficient they said, so the only way you could cope was by taking shortcuts that very often came unstuck such as seems to be the case with the rail franchising operations. I hope she brings some light onto these matters.

[TonyK]

Kate B should be commended. This government (and past ones) seem to think that public servants just sit around for much of the day gossiping and drinking tea

We mainly have coffee where I work

[trainer]

Andrew uses an interesting word: 'efficient'.  This term is beloved of many politicians as they cut resources (people and finance) to essential services and describe these as 'efficiency savings'.  The conscientious, already working hard, receive no more pay and need to work longer hours to meet targets.  The less conscientious lose their jobs and their work is passed on to the hard workers who become exhausted and make mistakes.  They are then blamed for those mistakes.  On the railways, these mistakes are always expensive and can be fatal and no politician is going to put their hands up to that.

The lawyers (about whom I have previously expressed a view) will step in to defend the Government and the unfortunate employees and have a right royal battle in the various tribunals.  The tax payer will cover these cost over which there is no control (happy to be corrected) and efficiency ceases to be monitored.

How long before the general public realise that the current franchise system is broken and the money allocated for the railways is disappearing into the quicksands of litigation?

Hmm...I think I may have written a rant...I'm going for a lie down.

[JayMac]

We mainly have coffee where I work

Ahh. So you're a coffee 'bean counter' then? 

[chuffed]

Wondered if this will percolate through....

For an instant, BNM's comment had me wondering whether the decision was going to be latte, or are we all going to be ground down by the costa of it all.....

[bobm]

Storm in a teacup if you ask me....

[TonyK]

Storm in a teacup if you ask me....

On what grounds?

[Chris from Nailsea]

Well, any legal action will be good news for the baristas ... 

[TonyK]

May Costa fortune... 

[JayMac]

I think these puns are beginning to make a mocha-ry of this topic.